Frequently asked questions

You have questions. We have answers — and sources.

If your question isn't here, it might be answered inside one of our fifty policy documents. If it's not there either, we want to hear it.

About the Party

What is the Common Good Party?

A policy platform and movement — fifty detailed policy positions covering healthcare, housing, immigration, criminal justice, climate, trade, the national debt, and more. Every position is researched, sourced, and published in full on this site. We provide the platform, the branding, and the campaign tools. Candidates who align with our values adopt the platform and run for office in their communities. We're progressive, proudly patriotic, and built on a simple idea: government should work for every citizen, not just the ones who can afford to buy it.

Who is behind this?

An American who spent two years building this platform from scratch — researching every issue, studying what works in other democracies, and designing an organization meant to outlast any one person. This isn't a vanity project or a protest vote. It's a serious attempt to build something that's been missing from American politics: a platform with real positions, real transparency, and no interest in asking you to just "trust us."

The institution is the point — not any individual. The Common Good Party is designed so that no single person's departure, ego, or ambition can break it.

Is this a political party or a policy platform?

We're a policy platform and advocacy movement. We publish fifty fully researched policy positions and provide campaign tools, branding, and materials to candidates who align with our values. Candidates who adopt the Common Good platform form their own campaign committees and run for office in their communities — from school boards to state legislatures. We provide the ideas and the infrastructure. They bring the local knowledge and the commitment to serve.

Is this a progressive party? A liberal party? A socialist party?

Progressive, yes. Socialist, no. The common good is not socialism — it's not communism — it's the greater good. It's the idea that a country this wealthy, this innovative, and this powerful has no excuse for leaving people behind. We believe in markets, private enterprise, and individual initiative — but we also believe the system has been tilted for decades, and it's time to rebalance it.

Our philosophy: a hand up for every American, never a handout to the wealthy few.

If you want to know exactly where we stand, don't take our word for it — read the platform. Every position is published here, with sources.

How is this different from the Democratic Party?

We share some policy goals with Democrats, but there are meaningful differences. We go further on campaign finance reform, government transparency, and anti-corruption — because we believe you can't fix any other issue if the system itself is rigged. We publish every policy position in full, with sources and implementation details, because we think voters deserve to see the homework, not just the headline. And we start local — school boards, city councils, state legislatures — instead of treating presidential elections as the only thing that matters.

Use the Compare tool on any issue to see exactly where we stand alongside both major parties — not their talking points, their actual records.

How is this different from other third parties that failed?

We studied every one of them so we wouldn't repeat the mistakes.

No Labels had ballot access in all fifty states and no platform — they couldn't tell voters what they stood for. The Forward Party was "bipartisan" as an end in itself, which meant it stood for nothing specific. The Progressive Party died when Teddy Roosevelt lost interest. The Reform Party collapsed when Ross Perot moved on.

The Common Good Party has a complete platform (fifty issues, published in full). We start local instead of running a doomed presidential campaign first. The institution is designed to outlast its founders. And we voluntarily disclose our finances beyond what the law requires. Those are the four things every failed third party got wrong, in order.

The Platform

Why are so many European countries brought up as comparisons?

Because they've already tried the things we're debating. When we write about universal healthcare, we don't speculate about whether it could work — we show you the countries where it already does, what it costs, and what the outcomes look like. When we write about housing policy, we look at Vienna's social housing model, Singapore's public housing system, and Finland's Housing First approach — not because we want to copy them wholesale, but because ignoring seventy years of real-world evidence would be dishonest.

American exceptionalism doesn't mean American isolation. Every serious policy analysis looks at what's been tried, what worked, what failed, and what would need to be adapted for the U.S. context. We cite European, Asian, and Latin American examples for the same reason engineers study bridges that are still standing — because the evidence matters more than the ideology.

We always note where international models would need to be adapted for American federalism, scale, and political reality. We're not saying "be like Denmark." We're saying "here's what the data shows, and here's what we'd do with it."

How do I read the policy documents?

Every issue on this site follows the same structure. Each page flows from top to bottom through clear sections — a sticky nav on the side (or bottom on mobile) shows you exactly where you are:

Overview — a plain-English summary of what's broken, what we'd do, and how your life changes. Two minutes, no jargon.

What's Broken / Our Plan / Impact — the sourced evidence, the specific policy pillars, and how each reform changes everyday life. Scroll as far as you want.

Compare — our position alongside where the major parties actually stand, side by side, sourced to their 2024 platforms and voting records.

Full Policy Paper — the complete legislative-grade document, sourced, cited, and costed. Opens in a new tab as a standalone, printable document.

Start wherever makes sense for you. If someone asks you what we believe about any issue, the answer is always: it's on the site.

Are these real policy proposals or just opinion pieces?

Real proposals. Every policy document includes the current state of federal law, the specific changes we'd make, how we'd pay for them (where applicable), what evidence supports the approach, and which existing legislation or international models we're drawing from. We cite the Congressional Budget Office, Government Accountability Office, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Reserve, academic research, and international data — not pundits, not talking heads.

These aren't blog posts. They're designed so that a state legislator, a Congressional staffer, or a policy analyst could pick one up and work with it.

Do you have positions on [issue not listed]?

We currently cover fifty issues across six categories. If you don't see your issue, it might fall under one of the existing positions — for example, childcare is addressed under both Affordability and Labor, and homelessness is addressed under Housing.

Use the search bar in the Issues Portal to find what you're looking for. If it's genuinely not covered, we want to know. We built this platform to be comprehensive, and we're always evaluating whether we've missed something that matters to people.

Why fifty issues? Why not five big ones?

Because people's lives aren't simple. Healthcare matters, but so does housing. Climate matters, but so does the cost of groceries. Criminal justice matters, but so does the state of your local school. A party that only talks about five issues is telling you the other thirty don't matter to them.

We cover fifty because that's what it takes to build a platform that actually accounts for the complexity of governing. Not everything can be a bumper sticker.

Getting Involved

Can I help?

Yes — and we'll need you. Right now, the most important thing you can do is:

  1. Read the platform. Know what you're supporting before you support it. That's our standard for ourselves and for you.
  2. Share the site. Send a policy page to someone who cares about that issue. The platform speaks for itself when people actually see it.
  3. Sign up for updates. We'll let you know when volunteer infrastructure, local chapter organizing, and candidate recruitment go live. No spam, no sold data, no obligation.

This is a movement that starts with the platform and grows through people. When it's time to organize locally, knock on doors, and run candidates — we'll need every person who showed up early.

Can I donate?

Not yet. We're not accepting donations until we have the proper legal and financial infrastructure in place — because a party that talks about transparency and accountability should practice it from day one.

When donations open, every dollar in and every dollar out will be published on this site. That's not a talking point. It's a commitment.

Sign up for updates and we'll let you know when we're ready.

Who are the candidates?

There are no candidates yet — and that's by design.

Most third parties start with a presidential campaign and work backward. That's how they fail. We start with the platform, build the organization, and then recruit candidates for local races first: school boards, city councils, state legislatures. The places where government actually touches your life every day.

We're also open to currently elected officials — at any level — who share our values and want to run under the Common Good banner. Party-switching isn't betrayal. It's alignment.

When we have candidates, you'll find them here. For now, the platform is the candidate. Judge it on what's written.

Can I run for office under this party?

We're building toward that. The Common Good Party will recruit, vet, and support candidates for local and state office — starting with the races closest to people's lives. Every candidate will be expected to know the platform, complete training, and commit to the party's transparency standards.

If you're interested in running — or you know someone who should — sign up for updates. Candidate recruitment infrastructure is being built now.

I'm a current elected official. Can I join?

Yes. We welcome currently elected officials at any level who align with the platform and want to represent the Common Good Party. Party-switching happens in American politics — what matters is whether the positions match. If you're interested, reach out. We'll have a formal process for this soon.

Trust and Transparency

How do I know this isn't just another political grift?

Read the platform.

No grift publishes fifty fully sourced policy papers. No grift invites you to compare its positions against the major parties using their actual records. No grift commits to publishing every donor and every expenditure before the law requires it.

We built this site so you don't have to trust us. You can check us. That's the point.

Where does your money come from?

We are self-funded during this platform-building phase. When we begin accepting donations, we will voluntarily disclose all donors and expenditures beyond what federal law requires. Every dollar, on this site, for anyone to see.

We believe a party that demands transparency from government must start with itself. If we can't live by our own standards, we have no business asking for your vote.

What about PAC money and billionaire donors? Can they buy this party?

No. And that's not a slogan — it's a structural commitment.

We will never allow any individual donor, PAC, super PAC, or corporate interest to exert control over party decisions, candidate selection, or platform positions. Period. The platform you see on this site was built without a dollar of outside money, and no amount of money will change what's written here.

If a billionaire — or anyone — shares our values and wants to support the work, we may accept funding under strict conditions: full public disclosure of the donation, complete transparency about who they are, and an explicit agreement that financial support comes with zero influence over party operations, zero access that isn't available to every other member, and zero expectation of favorable treatment. Support the mission or don't. There is no middle ground.

Our goal is to be funded primarily by small-dollar donors and ordinary members — the people the party exists to serve. We advocate for a public financing system that would make this the norm for all of American politics, not just us. See Issue 24 (Campaign Finance) and Issue 20 (Corporate Power & Antitrust) for the full policy framework.

The day this party answers to money instead of people is the day it deserves to fail.

What is your position on lobbyists?

Lobbyists are one of the reasons the system is broken. When pharmaceutical companies spend more on lobbying than on research, when fossil fuel lobbyists write the energy bills that are supposed to regulate them, and when former members of Congress walk straight into lobbying firms that paid for their campaigns — that's not democracy. That's purchase.

Our position is detailed in Issue 31: Government Corruption & Democratic Safeguards, but here's the short version: we support a mandatory five-year cooling-off period before any former elected official or senior staffer can lobby. We support a public, searchable database of every lobbying contact with every officeholder. We support banning lobbyist-bundled campaign contributions entirely. And we support closing the loophole that lets former officials call themselves "consultants" or "strategic advisors" instead of registering as lobbyists.

Lobbyists have a First Amendment right to petition government. They don't have a right to own it. See our full position in Issue 31 (Government Corruption) and Issue 24 (Campaign Finance).

Do you sell my data if I sign up?

No. Never. Your email address is used to send you updates about the party and the platform — nothing else. We don't sell data, we don't share it with third parties, and we don't use it for targeted advertising. Our privacy commitment is simple: your information is yours.

Why should I trust a policy platform?

You shouldn't — not on faith. That's why everything is published. Every position, every source, every piece of evidence we used to arrive at our conclusions. We're not asking you to trust us. We're asking you to read what we wrote, check the sources, and decide for yourself.

If the platform earns your trust, great. If it doesn't, at least you'll know exactly where we stand and why. That's more than most parties offer.

The Bigger Picture

Can candidates running on this platform actually win?

Yes — especially at the local level, which is where real change begins.

Over 70% of local races in America run with only one candidate or none at all. School boards, city councils, water districts, county commissions — these seats shape daily life more than most federal legislation, and they're wide open.

We advocate for ranked-choice voting and ballot access reform to level the playing field at every level. But you don't need to wait for systemic reform to run for your local school board. The path to a national movement runs through hundreds of local victories, not one presidential long shot.

Won't candidates running on your platform be spoilers?

This is a fair question, and it deserves a serious answer.

We focus on races where the spoiler dynamic is weakest: nonpartisan local elections, one-party-dominant districts where the other major party isn't competitive anyway, and open-seat races with no incumbent. We're strategic about this, not reckless.

We also advocate aggressively for ranked-choice voting, which eliminates the spoiler problem entirely. That's a core part of our platform — fix the voting system that makes spoilers possible in the first place.

What's your position on [hot-button culture war issue]?

If it's one of our fifty issues, the position is on the site — read the full policy paper, not the headline. If it's not one of our issues, it's probably because we believe the culture war is a distraction from the structural problems that actually affect your life.

We're not here to fight on Twitter. We're here to build a party that fixes things. If you want to know what we'd actually do about healthcare, housing, education, immigration, or any of the other issues people argue about without ever reading the policy — it's all here.

Are you anti-religion?

No. Absolutely not. We respect every faith — and every person's right to practice it freely, or not to practice at all. That's the First Amendment, and we take both clauses seriously: free exercise AND no establishment.

What we oppose is government officials using their public office to push their personal religious beliefs on the people they serve. Elected officials work for all citizens — Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, atheist, agnostic, and everyone else. The moment a government official uses their position to favor one faith over another, or faith over non-faith, they are failing the citizens they swore to serve.

Switzerland protects religious freedom while maintaining strict government neutrality. France has enforced secular governance since 1905. Both rank among the highest in the world for religious freedom. Neutrality doesn't weaken faith — it protects it. See Issue #44 (Separation of Church & State) for our full position.

What does "Good for You. Good for All." mean?

It means the common good isn't a sacrifice — it's a strategy. Policies that lift people up don't just help the people being lifted. Universal healthcare reduces costs for everyone. Good public schools strengthen every community. Infrastructure that works benefits every business.

"Good for You" means these policies are designed to improve your actual life — not some abstract greater good that never reaches your kitchen table. "Good for All" means they're designed to work at scale, for everyone, not just the people who already have enough.

It's not a zero-sum game. That's the whole point.

What does the sunflower mean?

The sunflower is the party's mark. Its twelve outer petals represent the months of the year — a commitment that shows up every day, not just during election season. The teal center and gold petals reflect the party's colors. And sunflowers do something worth noting: they turn toward the light. So do we. See the About page for the full breakdown of every symbolic element.

Are you anti-capitalist?

No. Capitalism works — when the rules are fair. We believe in markets, private enterprise, innovation, and the right to build something and profit from it. What we oppose is extraction: when the rules are rewritten so that the gains go to shareholders while the costs go to workers, taxpayers, and communities.

The difference between capitalism and extraction is accountability. We want markets with rules, competition with referees, and an economy where getting rich doesn't require making everyone else poorer. That's not anti-capitalist. That's pro-market. Read Issue #20 (Corporate Power) and Issue #35 (Affordability).

Are you trying to take my guns?

No. The Second Amendment is real, and we respect it. We are not proposing confiscation, and we never will.

What we are proposing is what the evidence shows saves lives without infringing on responsible ownership: universal background checks, licensing (the same way we license drivers), red flag laws, and safe storage requirements. These are the policies that every peer democracy uses — and every peer democracy has a fraction of our gun violence.

You can support the Second Amendment and support keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. Those positions aren't in conflict — they're common sense. See Issue #10 (Gun Policy) for our full position.

How do you plan to pay for all of this?

Every major proposal in our platform includes a specific funding mechanism. We don't make promises without math. Here are the highlights:

A top income tax rate of 45% over $10M. A corporate rate of 28% with a real minimum tax on book profits. A 2% wealth tax on net worth over $50M. Closing carried interest and offshore loopholes. Federal drug price negotiation that saves $450B over 10 years. Administrative savings from single-payer healthcare ($400–600B/year). A windfall profits tax on crisis-period price gouging. A financial transaction tax.

The question isn't whether we can afford this agenda. The question is whether we can afford not to — when the status quo already costs $5.3 trillion on a healthcare system that ranks last, $172 billion on a childcare crisis, and $3,546 per family in corporate profiteering. See Issue #2 (Taxation) and Issue #35 (Affordability).

Do you support open borders?

No. We support a secure border, a humane asylum process, and an immigration system that's honest about the workforce America actually needs. That's not open borders — it's competent borders.

What we oppose is performance cruelty: family separations, caging children, and policies designed to look tough on TV while doing nothing to fix a system that hasn't worked since the 1980s. See Issue #5 (Immigration) for our full position.

Where do you stand on abortion?

We support federal legislation restoring the framework of Roe v. Wade. Bodily autonomy is a fundamental right that should not depend on which state you live in.

The US is one of only four countries since 1994 to roll back abortion rights. 62.7 million women now live under state-level bans. Our position includes contraception access, an end to the Hyde Amendment, and clinic protections. See Issue #16 (Reproductive Rights).

Where do you stand on Israel and Palestine?

Security for Israel. Dignity for Palestinians. Accountability for both — under the same international law that applies to everyone else. We support a two-state solution, conditioning military aid on human rights compliance, and humanitarian access. See Issue #6 (Israel & Gaza) for our full position.

What about AI taking jobs?

AI and automation will transform the economy — the question is whether workers share in the gains or bear all the costs. We support innovation with guardrails: a $20 billion worker transition fund, portable benefits, lifelong learning accounts, and a 180-day advance notice requirement before AI-driven layoffs.

Denmark spends 2% of GDP on active labor market policies. The US spends 0.1%. We close that gap. See Issue #36 (AI & Technology) and Issue #43 (Automation & Future of Work).

What's your position on Trump / Biden / [current politician]?

We don't define ourselves by opposition to any individual politician. We define ourselves by our platform — fifty policy positions, each published in full, each sourced and cited.

The Common Good Party is an institution, not a reaction. Politicians come and go. The structural problems this party exists to solve have been building for forty years across administrations of both parties. If you want to know what we'd do differently, the answer isn't "the opposite of [person]" — it's the platform. Read it.

Is this site built by AI?

The platform was researched, written, and reviewed by real people. Technology — including AI — assisted with development, the way any modern tool assists with building anything. But every policy position, every source, every claim, and every decision about what this party stands for was made by humans.

We're a party that believes in using the best available tools to do serious work. We also believe in transparency about it. The homework is real. The positions are ours. Judge them by what's written.

How can I share this with someone?

Three ways:

  1. Share an issue. Copy the link to any issue page (e.g., thecommongoodparty.com/issues/healthcare) and send it to someone who cares about that topic. Social media link previews will show the issue title and description.
  2. Share the whole platform. Send the Complete Platform Book — all fifty issues in one printable document. Save it as a PDF and send it to anyone.
  3. Share the site. Send thecommongoodparty.com. The platform speaks for itself when people actually see it.

Still have questions?

Read the platform. If your answer isn't in the policy papers, we want to hear the question. Sign up and let us know what we missed.