GoodParty.org

72% of eligible Americans are politically disengaged—apathy is the biggest political force. That bloc is bigger than either party’s voters. The real divide isn’t left vs right; it’s insiders vs sidelined. Stop waiting—be the option.

Independent voters are the majority. Independent leaders? Almost none.

Both parties say the other is extreme. Most voters say: we want neither.

72% of eligible Americans are disengaged from voting. Not laziness—two-party politics feels rigged & irrelevant. Independents can win locally with real tools + data. Next leaders? Outside the parties.

Most politicians stop listening to voters 90 days after taking office. Then donors/lobbyists dominate. Your leverage is front-loaded. Fix needs infrastructure: public promise tracking + open constituent feedback loops.

One party blames the other. The other blames back. Meanwhile, airports stall and workers struggle. Duopoly = zero accountability.

Most officials stop listening within 90 days of taking office. Replaced by lobbyists, meetings, insiders. So your vote buys ~3 months of responsiveness and 3+ years of autopilot. Break it: run on accountability + transparency.

500,000 elected offices exist in America—and most are effectively abandoned by both parties. About 95% are local. So “democracy” in a lot of communities becomes a formality. If your local ballot is a one-name rubber stamp, why not be the second name and give voters a real choice?

Most elected officials become customer service reps—NOT public servants—within 90 days of taking office. Research shows a familiar shift happens fast: time moves away from constituents and toward donors, party leadership, and insiders. Their calendars change. Their incentives change. Their priorities change. So your vote decides who gets the job—but the job description quietly changes after the election. You hired someone to represent you. The system rewrites the contract by day 90. The fix isn’t only “better people.” It’s better structures, tools, and accountability once they’re in office.

The math is BRUTAL: 72% of eligible voters skipped the 2022 midterms. That’s more people than either party’s “base.” Nonvoters are the biggest bloc in America. Which means the “center of gravity” in our politics isn’t left or right. It’s the people who looked at the system and decided it isn’t worth their time.

Most politicians STOP representing you before they’re even sworn in. After Citizens United, outside groups poured $4B+ into federal elections in a decade, while small donors became a smaller slice of fundraising. Result: your member of Congress is more afraid of losing a big donor than losing your vote. “Constituents” become lobbyists and PACs—not neighbors and workers.

Local elections are the ONLY part of American politics regular people can still realistically hack. There are ~500,000 elected offices in the U.S.—about 95% are local. And in many towns, 30–50% of those races face little to no real competition. That means a huge share of your daily life (schools, housing, utilities, policing) is shaped by people who often win by default. But that’s starting to change. More ordinary people are realizing school board, city council, and utility board seats are winnable with strategy—not big money. If most of these seats go uncontested, the real question isn’t “why is politics broken?” It’s: why are you still on the sidelines?

72% of eligible Americans are checked out of voting. BUT... that may be the most rational response to a rigged, donor-run two-party game. In 2020, only about 28% of eligible voters backed either major party’s presidential nominee. Most adults either didn’t vote, voted third party, or left the top of the ticket blank. So “the will of the people” is often the will of a tiny, hyper-engaged slice of the population—curated by party primaries and funded by big donors. The shift is already happening: Independents are now the largest political identity in America.

Most reform talk focuses on candidates and campaign messaging. But the real engine shaping outcomes sits upstream: ballot-access rules and big-money infrastructure that decide “viability” long before voters ever get a real choice. That’s the system dynamic too many people miss—and it’s exactly where public empowerment has to begin.

Polarization is at all all time high. 😨

This group is actually deciding elections. And it's not who you think. 💡

Most elected officials stop listening before they’ve learned everyone’s name at City Hall. Research suggests many drift from real constituent contact within 90 days—defaulting to staff, party leaders, and donors instead. There has to be a better way.

Most voters are ready to move beyond the duopoly—and the data is clear. A recent poll found: • 60% support “top-two” primaries • 62% support Alaska-style open primaries + ranked-choice voting (RCV) That’s not a niche reform conversation anymore. It’s a majority of voters asking for more competition, more choice, and a system that rewards broad support instead of partisan gatekeeping. This is exactly why our mission matters: building elections where candidates have to earn support from more than a narrow base—and where voters can back their true preferences without fear of “wasting” a vote. Reforming primaries is one of the most direct paths to a healthier democracy. Source: Forbes (Mary Roeloffs) forbes.com/sites/maryroel…

Hot take: Winning an election is a sprint. Governing well is a marathon most candidates never trained for. Campaigns are optimized for three things: fundraising, messaging, and turnout. That’s the job—raise the money, control the narrative, get people to vote. But almost no time goes into learning how government actually works once you win: - How budgets are built, negotiated, and constrained - How policy gets drafted, vetted, amended, and implemented - How to run an office: hiring, managing staff, setting priorities, building systems - How to work with stakeholders without getting captured by them - How constituent service actually functions day-to-day So we end up with a predictable outcome: even good, well-intentioned winners walk into office and immediately face a steep learning curve—while bureaucracy, party infrastructure, and lobbyists already have playbooks, staff, and leverage. That’s the gap we’re focused on closing with Serve. Serve is being built to help new (and current) officials ramp faster on the operational side of governing—so they can move from “trying to figure it out” to delivering results with confidence. Practical support, repeatable workflows, and modern tools designed for the realities of public service. If campaigns hire consultants to win, why don’t we standardize the equivalent support to govern?

Hot take: Most politicians stop representing you long before they finish their first term. They stop within their first 90 days in office. Studies of legislative behavior show a sharp drop in constituent meetings, town halls, and local events once the first 3 months are over. After that, the priority list shifts: - Leadership - Lobbyists - Donors So when you vote, you’re often choosing whose office door donors will walk through—not who will stay accountable to your neighborhood. It’s not movie-style corruption. It’s quiet drift away from you. The fix isn’t another outrage cycle. It’s building tools that: - Track promises - Surface real-time feedback - Keep officials in constant two-way contact That’s starting to exist now—and it can be free and AI-powered. If staying accountable in office were as easy as getting elected, would you trust more ordinary people to serve where you live?