Imagine a future where ALL people share power, benefit from a fair and just government, and experience a government that is accountable to their needs.

After this nation was founded under the revolutionary idea that all are created equal, its Constitution invited us to bring its ideal to life with the words “We, the People.” Today, this promise remains unfulfilled.

Yet it is precisely at this moment, when democracy is being challenged from all sides, and when the limitations of our nearly 250 years of governing are coming to a breaking point, that we must rise up and fulfill this mandate.

We must assume a new role as founders of a true multiracial democracy that delivers for all. We must remake the systems and structure of governing — the values, laws, practices, indicators, and legal standards — so that to serve all becomes the norm. The movements of today and tomorrow continue pushing us toward a multiracial American democracy, where all people experience the solidarity, opportunity, and freedom that comes from responsive and accountable government. 

Three structures of governing will be foundational to this transformation.

• A rule of law that puts equal protection for all people, in all places, at its core;
• A consistent and rational body of laws that brings those values and principles to life through governing; and
• A fair and functioning apparatus that distributes and ensures enforcement of the rules laid out by the body of laws. 

In the next founding of this democracy, we will need a proactive legal standard of equal protection to overcome the last 50 years of lawfare dismantling the rights and privileges of Black and Brown people, Indigenous people, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, workers, and the poor. We will need an outcomes-based affirmative standard that requires human thriving, not just protection from discrimination and exclusion. We will need a standard that catalyzes, promotes, and delivers fair and just population-level outcomes for all people.

At PolicyLink, we know it is within our collective power to deliver this new reality — for everyone. The United States is a perpetual work in progress. The promise of its democracy has been increasingly realized thanks to people working together toward a more just and fair future. The movements of the past supported major steps forward, like the 14th Amendment, civil rights, voting rights, fair housing, equal employment, and environmental justice regulations.

We can collectively make new decisions that create a future where all people — including the 100 million people living below 200 percent of the poverty level — share power, benefit from a fair and just government, and experience accountable governing structures.

• We must remedy and shape policies at all levels to deliver on the promise of democracy. PolicyLink works to advance local, state, and federal policies on key issues including fair housing, access to safe and affordable drinking water, infrastructure, and an equitable economy. 
• We work to shape the American political and judicial landscape at the state level. PolicyLink supports policy and advocacy at the state level, which includes work with state power-building organizations and intermediaries to develop legislation, tools, and strategies. We also work to protect cities from the growing use of abusive preemption, a practice by which states use their jurisdictional power to reverse policies of cities. 
• Standards can be developed and harnessed to provide guidance, clarity, and accountability for institutions to hold true to the promise of democracy. Through rigorous research and collaboration, PolicyLink produces actionable standards that offer guidance on an array of critical issues, whether it is the duty of government to prohibit and remedy the effects of discrimination or advancing equity through industrial policy. 
• We can recognize the power of the regulatory process to distribute social, physical, legal, and political benefits of democracy to the people, specifically through public spending. PolicyLink is exploring opportunities to advance standards for delivering democracy to all through regulatory analysis, development, and implementation. 
• We can develop and socialize a strong legal theory around equal protection and due process. In addition to our work to reshape regulations, standards, and policies to ensure a future where all people experience the benefits of democracy, PolicyLink is also preparing a strategy that includes both legal theory and litigation strategies.