The Nation has an extended post outlining what a "pro-democracy movement" looks like, featuring a discussion of Clean Elections, the recent activity at both the state and federal level in this regard, and how the various elements of campaign finance and electoral change can combine into a more empowered electorate.

Here's an extended excerpt on what it will mean to be "pro-democracy:

"The environment for public financing is strong," says Nick Nyhart, President and CEO of Public Campaign, "due to both the continuing political scandals and the steady, inexorable rise in the cost of campaigns. There are new state victories ahead and the federal work is moving forward, though we are really only at the beginning of the Congressional fight…. It really seems to me that the key thinking needs to move from policy to strategy and organizing."


Which is why Nyhart and many of his colleagues are working to knit these democracy issues into a larger whole. Nyhart says that focus groups reveal that Americans of diverse economic, racial, and geographic backgrounds share a common, core complaint about politics today: that their representatives don't listen to them and aren't accountable to them. Pro-democracy proponents are finding new ways to frame issues – ranging from the racket of protecting incumbents through gerrymandered redistricting, to unreliable and easily hacked voting machines, to getting people to the polls with Election Day registration rather than suppressing votes through bogus allegations of voter fraud – in a manner that makes those standing in the way of reform pay a political price.


Nyhart likes to draw an analogy with the environmental movement. "In 1964, saying ‘I'm an environmentalist' had no meaning," he says. "Ten years later saying that made a candidate more electable. Right now, saying ‘I'm a pro-democracy' candidate' doesn't mean much. There is no set of issues for the public to relate that statement to. And you can't establish it with a single issue. So organizations are working to find a politically salient group of issues to achieve that kind of impact."

What is in that group of issues for you? What does a candidate who is pro-democracy look like?