Citizens of a free and democratic nation have a vital stake in ensuring the integrity of democratic processes and government institutions. Government must adhere to policies that promote and sustain integrity in order to respond to citizens’ concerns, promote the public interest, and retain public confidence.
Trust in government is extremely low. The public believes that the government is less responsive to its concerns than to those of special interests. It feels increasingly frustrated with the government’s inability to address urgent societal problems. Increasing partisanship, crisis-driven decision making, and legislative gridlock add to the dissatisfaction with the public discourse. Unlimited and often undisclosed campaign spending threatens to make this situation even worse. Without reforms in such areas as campaign finance, ethical standards, redistricting, and voting systems, this decline in public confidence threatens the health and vitality of our democracy. Older citizens, who have the highest voter participation rates of any age group, are particularly concerned because they want to make sure that public officials act on urgent health and financial security problems facing the nation.