Learn About the Issues
Deep-dive guides on every major policy issue. Each page explains what's broken, what other countries do better, and exactly how the Common Good platform would fix it — with facts, comparison tables, and no jargon.
Featured Guides
Healthcare — Universal Coverage as Infrastructure
You keep your doctor. You keep your hospital. The only thing that changes is who pays the bill. Medical debt is the #1 cause of personal bankruptcy — our plan ends it while covering every American.
Taxation — A Fair System That Funds the Common Good
The tax code has been rewritten, loophole by loophole, to serve the ultra-wealthy. Our plan makes it fair — and funds everything else.
Housing — A Roof Over Every Head
Housing costs have doubled in a generation. We're going to build the homes America needs and protect renters from predatory landlords.
Read the guideEducation — From Pre-K to Debt-Free College
Every child deserves a great public school, and no one should spend 20 years repaying a degree.
Read the guideImmigration — Borders With Humanity, Pathways With Dignity
A functioning immigration system must be secure, humane, and honest about what America needs.
Read the guideIsrael & Gaza — Security for Israel, Dignity for Palestinians
Security for Israel. Dignity for Palestinians. Accountability for both — under the same international law that applies to everyone else.
Read the guideUkraine & NATO — Backing Democracy, Deterring Aggression
Russia's invasion is an illegal war of aggression. A sovereign nation's right to self-determination is not negotiable.
Read the guideChina — Competition Without Catastrophe
China is both competitor and necessary partner. We reject the false choice between Cold War confrontation and naive accommodation.
Read the guideMilitary & Defense — Strength With Restraint
The US spends more on defense than the next nine countries combined — yet the Pentagon cannot account for $4.65 trillion in assets.
Read the guideGun Policy — Rights Respected, Lives Protected
The Second Amendment is real — and so is the evidence that licensing, red flag laws, and safe storage save thousands of lives every year.
Read the guideClimate & Energy — The Largest Job Opportunity in American History
The climate window is closing — but the clean energy transition is also the largest job-creation opportunity in American history.
Criminal Justice — Accountability Without Mass Incarceration
Every peer democracy has lower crime AND lower incarceration. This is not about being soft on crime. It is about being smart about crime.
Read the guideLabor — Wages That Support a Family, Rights That Support a Worker
Worker productivity rose 92% since 1979. Pay rose 34%. The difference went to shareholders — not to paychecks.
Read the guideTrade — Fair Rules, American Workers, Global Leadership
Trade generated $2.6 trillion in gains — while destroying 2.4 million jobs in communities that never recovered. The fix is fair rules, not blanket tariffs.
Read the guideSocial Safety Net — No One Falls Through
Social Security is not a handout. It is a contract — wages withheld, contributions made, a promise exchanged across generations.
Read the guideReproductive Rights — Bodily Autonomy, Nationally Protected
The US is one of only four countries since 1994 to roll back abortion rights. 62.7 million women now live under state bans.
Read the guideLGBTQ+ Rights — Equal Citizens, Equal Protection
The US is the only major Western democracy without comprehensive federal LGBTQ+ non-discrimination protections.
Read the guideVoting Rights — Every Citizen, Every Ballot
Democracy only works when every citizen can participate. Gerrymandering, voter ID laws, and polling place closures are making it harder — deliberately.
Drug Policy — Public Health, Not Prison
$1 trillion spent on the War on Drugs. 806,000 Americans dead from overdoses. Drug use rates: unchanged. Punishment doesn't work.
Read the guideCorporate Power — Breaking Up Monopolies, Rebuilding Competition
Competition requires rules. When corporations write them, the market is neither free nor competitive. We restore the rules.
Read the guideInternet & Privacy — Your Data Belongs to You
The US is the only major democracy without a federal privacy law. A $323 billion data broker industry extracts your life for profit. Your data belongs to you.
Read the guideRacial Justice — Equal Opportunity, Honestly Told
Median Black household wealth is projected to reach zero by 2053. Closing the racial wealth gap is not charity — it is economic policy.
Read the guideIndigenous Rights — Treaty Obligations, Real Sovereignty
The US signed 370 treaties as supreme law under Article VI. It has violated nearly all of them. The minimum legal obligation is to finally keep its word.
Read the guideCampaign Finance — Get Money Out
Just 1.05% of Americans provided 78% of 2024 campaign contributions. Economic elites have substantial policy influence; average citizens have near-zero. Money out. People in.
Read the guideInfrastructure — Roads, Rails, Grids, and Broadband
Nine of eighteen ASCE categories still in the D range. Poor infrastructure costs every American household $2,700 per year. Build it right. Build it fast.
Read the guideFood & Agriculture — Nourishing People, Sustaining Farms
The US produces more food than it consumes on more arable land than any country — yet 47.9 million Americans live in food-insecure households. This is a policy choice.
Read the guideVeterans Affairs — Keeping the Promise
6,398 veterans died by suicide in 2023 — 17.5 every day. 61% were not receiving VA care. The government asked them to serve. That promise is binding.
Read the guideNuclear Weapons — Fewer, Safer, On a Path to Zero
The Doomsday Clock sits at 85 seconds to midnight — the closest in 79 years. No single person should hold unchecked authority over the most consequential decision in human history.
Read the guideNational Debt — Honest Accounting, Honest Priorities
America doesn't have a spending problem. It has a revenue problem manufactured by four decades of tax cuts for the wealthy. The Clinton surplus years proved higher taxes on the wealthy work.
Read the guideMedia & Press Freedom — A Healthy Public Square
3,500 newspapers closed since 2005. 213 counties have no local news. The US dropped from 32nd to 57th in press freedom. The press is the immune system of democracy.
Read the guideGovernment Corruption — Democratic Safeguards With Teeth
The post-Watergate reforms were built on norms, not law. The US fell to 29th on the global corruption index — its lowest ever. Every norm becomes law. Every watchdog gets teeth.
Read the guideCorporate Responsibility — Ending the Extraction Era
$7.37 trillion in S&P 500 buybacks over a decade. CEO pay grew 1,094%; worker pay 26%. Germany proves codetermination works. We end the extraction.
Read the guidePolice Reform — Guardians, Not Warriors
US cops train 20 weeks — less than hairdressers. Germany: 2.5 years. Japan kills 170× fewer civilians. We transform training, demilitarize, and end qualified immunity.
Read the guideEducation Reform — A System Built for How Children Actually Learn
American kids take 112 standardized tests K–12. Finland gives one. Our school calendar is a relic of 19th-century farming. We rebuild around how children actually learn.
Read the guideAffordability — The Capstone of Every Other Issue
Productivity rose 92.4% since 1979. Wages rose 33.6%. America is the wealthiest nation in human history — yet tens of millions cannot afford to live in it. This issue ties all 34 others together.
Read the guideAI & Technology — Innovation With Guardrails
The US has no federal AI law. Six companies control 90%+ of frontier AI development. 63% of Americans say AI needs more regulation. The EU passed its AI Act in 2024. We haven't started.
Disability Rights — Full Participation, Not Just Protection
70 million Americans have a disability. The employment gap is 43 percentage points. The SSI asset limit — $2,000 — hasn't changed since 1989. Protection on paper is not participation in practice.
Childcare — Every Family Supported, Every Child Ready
Childcare costs $13,128/year per child — more than college tuition in 33 states. 51% of Americans live in a childcare desert. 2 million women left the workforce during COVID. Sweden caps childcare at 1–3% of income.
Mental Health — Parity in Practice, Not Just on Paper
160 million Americans live in a mental health shortage area. The average delay from symptoms to treatment is 11 years. Insurers deny mental health claims at 2–10× the rate of medical claims. Parity was signed into law in 2008. It has never been enforced.
Elder Care — Dignity in Every Chapter
10,000 Americans turn 65 every day. A nursing home costs $108,405/year. Medicare covers zero custodial long-term care. 53 million Americans serve as unpaid family caregivers. Japan solved this 25 years ago.
Homelessness — Housing First, Excuses Never
653,104 people were homeless on a single night in 2023 — a record. It costs $35,578/year per person in emergency services. Permanent supportive housing costs $12,800. Finland is the only country that reduced homelessness. They used Housing First. It worked.
Rural America — Rebuilding the Communities That Feed and Power the Nation
180+ rural hospitals have closed since 2005 and 700+ more are at risk. 21% of rural Americans lack broadband. Rural counties lost 2.3 million people in a decade. The communities that feed and power the nation are being left to die.
Automation & Future of Work — Technology That Lifts Workers, Not Just Profits
30% of hours worked could be automated by 2030. Only 24% of displaced workers receive any retraining. Denmark spends 2% of GDP on active labor market policies. The US spends 0.1%. The future of work is here. The policy isn't.
Separation of Church & State — Neutral Government, Protected Faith
We are not against religion. We are against government officials using their office to push their faith on the people they serve. Elected officials work for all citizens — Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, atheist, and everyone else. Your faith is yours. Government's job is to protect it — not promote it.
DC & Puerto Rico Statehood — Full Representation for Every American
3.9 million Americans in DC and Puerto Rico pay taxes, serve in the military, and are subject to federal law — but cannot vote for the people who write it. This is colonialism by another name.
Supreme Court Reform — Accountability, Ethics, and Term Limits
The Supreme Court is the only branch of government with no term limits, no binding ethics code, and no meaningful accountability. 18-year terms. Binding ethics. Expand to 18 seats. Supermajority to overturn precedent.
Congressional Term Limits — Representatives, Not Rulers
82% of Americans support term limits. 12-year cap across both chambers, staggered so institutional knowledge is preserved. Representatives, not rulers. See also Issues #18 and #31.
Cybersecurity — Defending the Digital Infrastructure
3,205 data breaches in 2023. 500,000+ unfilled cybersecurity jobs. Colonial Pipeline shut fuel to 17 states. Change Healthcare disrupted 1/3 of US claims. The nation's digital infrastructure is undefended.
Water Policy — Every American Deserves Clean, Affordable Water
9.2 million lead service lines still poisoning children. 200 million Americans exposed to PFAS. The Colorado River at 25% of historical flow. 2 million Americans lack clean running water. Water is life — and America's water infrastructure is failing.
Ethics in Politics — Truth, Accountability, and the End of the Permanent Campaign
It should be against the law for elected officials to knowingly lie to the people they serve. 3-month campaign windows. Congressional housing so members can focus on governing. The job is legislating — not fundraising, not lying, not worrying about rent.
Read the guideAll 50 Policy Positions
Deep-dive guides are being published for every issue. In the meantime, each issue has a full policy page with detailed positions and a research-backed policy paper.
My Life & Family
Money & Economy
Rights & Freedoms
Justice & Equality
Safety & Our Future
America & the World
Want the full picture?
Read the complete platform with all 50 positions, or compare our approach to the Democrats and Republicans side by side.