Brand Renewal: Common Cause, Amplifying All People’s Voices

Along with our bold and energetic new website, we’ve been updating our overall brand to better connect with democracy activists around the country like you. We welcome a new generation of leaders who, like our new brand, are bold, bright, and lifting all voices in our democracy.

Brand is about the senses; it’s about seeing, hearing, and feeling. Brand captures vision and lets people know what we stand for. At Common Cause our brand is our collective voice speaking truth to each other so that the people’s power has to be heeded by those we elect. We assert core democratic values that matter regardless of political party or ideology. Our brand speaks to hearts and heads whether we are white, black or shades in between; if or how we pray, how or who we love, where we live or work or how much money is in our pockets. The Common Cause brand is about everyone, all of us, joining together.

Brand is about taking what we believe from idea to reality. The ideal of America is that we, the people, set the course for the future of our community, state, and nation.

But a handful of wealthy people have rigged the rules of our democracy in their favor. They divide the people from each other, pointing the finger of blame at new immigrants and African Americans, union members and people needing a hand up, or whichever group it’s convenient to define as the undeserving “other” in order to ensure we do not unite.

Fifty-plus years ago the people rose up. Civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, disability rights — these movements proved that bad political decisions can be replaced with better ones when people, not money, greed, or power, motivate our politics. In that era we began opening government to the people, maintained balance in our politics with common sense limits on campaign contributions, and made disclosure of campaign contributions possible. Bipartisan majorities consistently renewed support for voting rights for all people and common sense rules governing how campaigns were funded.

By joining together across partisan and racial differences we can make this a place where our politics and government reflect who we are in the 21st Century and where freedom is for everyone, no exceptions. Lincoln’s Gettysburg address made plain that government of, by, and for the people is fragile, and in that moment at risk. It is again.

In 1970 John Gardner, a Republican who served in President Johnson’s cabinet, an author and statesman, again called the people to a period of democratic renewal by founding Common Cause. “Everyone in Washington is organized but the people,” Gardner said in asking Americans to join in a common cause to reinvigorate our democracy.

For 48 of the 242 years we’ve been struggling to live into the ideal of America, Common Cause has been a nonpartisan force promoting the belief that only the people can make America work and renew our civic and political life. It seems that every few decades, the people must rise up, organize, and remind politicians that they work for us.

The advances made 50+ years ago have been weakened by a few wealthy special interests who think they should decide what is best for the rest of us — from religion, to health care, to the private life decisions we make for ourselves, they want control. To get it they want to determine who can vote, spend unlimited sums on political campaigns and lobbying using paid speech to overwhelm the people’s free speech, and to be able to gerrymander to preserve their minority rule.

The evidence that the people are ready for bold, comprehensive political reform is literally pouring into the streets to march and rally and re-engage with democracy or get involved for the first time. Our dynamic growth over the past two years doubled the number of active supporters of Common Cause to more than 1.2 million today. Thank you, and please, join us; we need you, your voice, your ideas, and your activism because our democracy truly is our common cause.

Our bold, more vibrant brand and new website chock full of tools makes it easier for everyone to understand and engage with democracy to be sure your voice is heard. We have the solutions to the challenges our democracy faces, and we are working to make sure they succeed in cities and states until we elect a congress that listens to the people and acts on our priorities.

Our politics may be in a period of polarization and discord, but the American people are not.

We are dynamic, energetic, hard-working people from every part of the world, representing every belief, culture, and ethnic background. Together we’ve built, shaped, and defended our nation. We stand with previous generations who faced long odds to do great things to free the shackled, liberate women, and lift all voices so each and every eligible voter has a say in the future we share. When we work together, Republicans, Democrats, other small parties and independents, working across racial divides; we strengthen our democracy so it works for all of us. We invite you to join more than 1.2 million Common Cause supporters, people from every background and all parts of the country — Common Cause is about you.

More than 70% of our funding comes from individual small dollar donors giving $25, $50, or $100 — we don’t just talk about empowering people, we do it and our success depends on it. Help us amplify your voice and celebrate the ultimate power in our democracy — you! We need you, your voice, your activism — working together we are making democracy better for us all.