In my fourth year as Dēmos president, we stand with courageous and deliberate intent to build economic and political power for the people.
We cannot sit silently, complicit with the new realities of what governance looks like in America.
We’ve learned in this most recent election cycle that no one constituency is a monolith but that people are hungry for change and frustrated with a status quo that enables the rich to get richer while their families are relegated to the crumbs of opportunity, and where the ultra-rich dictate what benefits and supports working families deserve while benefiting at our expense. We cannot sit silently, complicit with the new realities of what governance looks like in America. We must rewrite the rules so the people can rule.
True to our commitment to building and sustaining power for Black and brown communities, earlier this year Dēmos released The Power Agenda—our Framework to advance a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy and economy.
Our analysis made clear that we cannot retreat from centering those most harmed by historical exclusion and systemic racism, because if we do, we surrender our vision and our future to extremists and antidemocratic opponents. Not on my watch.
We also built the Power Scorecard—a 50-state spatial analysis mapping conditions of power—and we saw that no state provides optimal economic, civic, or democratic conditions to enable families to exercise agency or power in our economy or democracy. None.
That is unacceptable and should serve as a call to action for all of us to double down on our efforts to make our economy work for everyone and to ensure everyone can fully participate in our democracy.
Collectively, we are poised and ready to resist authoritarianism and anti-democratic, anti-voter efforts.
With the Power Agenda as a compass and the Scorecard as a map, Demos will advance long-term, people-centered solutions, decrease corporate power, and promote structural reforms state by state in partnership with our grassroots and civic engagement partners. We will leverage our vision, tools, and research and policy expertise to support our partnerships with state-based and national power-building groups. Collectively, we are poised and ready to resist authoritarianism and anti-democratic, anti-voter efforts.
We must cast a vision of the future that all people feel called to fight for: livable wages, affordable housing, building wealth, better working conditions, and a tax system that enables real investment in public goods—all indicators of a more inclusive and equitable society. This is what power looks like. Let’s continue to build it.