The First Repair

The First Repair

Where We Begin — and How We Build.

Brick by Brick has a larger goal than campaign-finance reform:

Restore the ability of Americans to govern themselves through a political system that serves the public interest.

We have to start somewhere.

We begin with private campaign money because it creates a dependency at the very beginning of the political process.

OUR FIRST OBJECTIVE

Publicly finance our elections.

Take private money out of campaigns and allow candidates to compete for something more important:

The support of the people they want to represent.

Public financing won’t solve America’s problems.

It isn’t supposed to.

It is intended to give us a political system better able to solve them. Removing private campaign money is not the destination.

It’s the first brick.
1

MAKE THE PLEDGE THE TEST

Ask every candidate for Congress a simple question:

Will you pledge to replace private campaign financing with a publicly financed election system?

Not a vague promise to support campaign-finance reform. A clear commitment to vote to take private money out of federal elections.

If the answer is yes, sign the Brick by Brick pledge. If the answer is no, voters know where the candidate stands.

See the Pledge →

2

VOTE FOR THE PLEDGE

The pledge has to matter more than the party.

If both candidates sign it, vote your beliefs.

If only one signs it, Brick by Brick asks voters to consider something much harder:

Vote for the candidate who signed the pledge — even if that candidate isn’t from your party.

You may have to hold your nose. You may disagree with that candidate on many other issues.

But changing a political system this deeply entrenched will require Americans to demonstrate that reforming the system matters more than protecting a party.

Politicians will change when refusing to change begins costing them elections.
3

ORGANIZE

Don’t wait for Washington to do this for us.

Build a Brick by Brick chapter. Bring Republicans, Democrats and Independents together. Ask candidates to sign the pledge. Attend town halls. Ask the question publicly. Recruit your neighbors. Bring Brick by Brick to campuses. Build a coalition in your congressional district.

Make the pledge impossible for candidates to ignore.

Start a Chapter →

4

BUILD DISTRICT BY DISTRICT

We don’t need to change 435 congressional districts at once.

Start with one. Then another. Then another.

Elect enough representatives committed to changing the system and something politicians once considered impossible becomes politically necessary.

One voter.
One precinct.
One district.
One election.
One brick at a time.
5

THEN KEEP BUILDING

Getting private money out of politics isn’t the end of Brick by Brick.

It’s the beginning.

Once we’ve changed one of the most powerful incentives distorting representative government, we keep asking:

What else is preventing our government from serving the public interest?

Then we take on the next repair. And the next.

That’s how an American Renewal gets built.

Brick by Brick.

“One problem. One repair.
One brick at a time.”

The roadmap is yours. Here’s where to start.

Next: Get Involved →