Forging a Democracy that Works for All: Institute for Policy Studies Launches Blueprint to Counter Power of Billionaires, Corporations, and the Pentagon ahead of Symposium
Washington, D.C. – On July 21, the Institute for Policy Studies released “Forging a Democracy that Works for All: Countering the Power of Billionaires, Corporations, and the Pentagon.” This new blueprint for a progressive policy agenda identifies key concrete measures to expand democracy by countering the power of billionaires, corporations, and the Pentagon:
- Priority policies to counter the power of billionaires: make the U.S. tax code more progressive; restore and expand progressivity of the U.S. tax system to ensure the wealthy pay their fair share, close tax loopholes that enable wealth hiding and massive tax avoidance, and support game-changing grassroots campaigns that tax excessive wealth to invest in broadly popular investments.
- Priority policies to counter corporate power: build the countervailing power of workers, use corporate tax policy to raise sufficient revenue for social needs – and to discourage harmful corporate behavior, wield the power of the public purse against corporate predators, and get corporate money out of politics.
- Priority policies to counter Pentagon power: cut the military budget in half, reinvest those hundreds of billions of dollars in programs prioritizing our families, reinforce our democracy by strengthening the constitutional power of the U.S. Congress to declare war, dismantle the current immigration enforcement apparatus and welcome immigrants by providing legal status and paths to citizenship for immigrants who are already here and accessible pathways to migration for those who wish to come, and strengthen review and approval processes to ensure that every nation receiving U.S. arms abides by the same human rights standards – with no exceptions.
Read the full progressive policy agenda.
This new resource comes two days ahead of the 3rd annual Henry A. Wallace Symposium, Forging a Democracy that Works for All, which Institute for Policy Studies will host in partnership with The Nation and We Build Progress on July 23 from 2:30 pm to 6:30 p.m. EDT at Eaton DC. This free event is both in-person and live streamed and open to press. For in-person attendees, the Symposium will also be followed by an evening reception from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.
The 3rd Annual Henry A. Wallace Symposium, Forging a Democracy that Works for All, features insights from movement leaders fighting to protect hard-earned rights and frontline communities, policy experts advancing a bold agenda to confront corporate and Pentagon power and create shared prosperity, and elected officials working to renew our democratic institutions from within. This conversation comes at a critical juncture, as a majority of Americans across the country are deeply concerned about affordability, about where their tax dollars go, and about the need for the government to invest in solutions that address the most urgent problems they and their neighbors face.
The Symposium and bold new progressive agenda to advance democracy take their inspiration from Henry A. Wallace, who as Vice President under Franklin Delano Roosevelt noted that American democracy would be “measured by its deeds, not its words.” He foresaw the kind of organizing and participatory-democracy-in-action that is needed to ensure American democracy lives up to the promise of liberty, justice, and a fair chance at prosperity for all.
“Every generation inherits the work of forming a more perfect union. Today, that work is ours. There could not be a timelier moment for us to come together to talk about how we not only safeguard but reenvision our American democracy,” said IPS Executive Director Tope Folarin. “Two hundred and fifty years into our nation’s experiment in democracy, we are still contending with the same questions that have hounded us since the beginning. How do we forge a democracy that works for all of us, not just some of us? Our democracy agenda report and our Symposium offer a bold blueprint to counter the three great concentrations of power that stand between us and the world we deserve: the power of billionaires, the power of corporations, and the power of the Pentagon.”
Read the full Symposium description.
This event is free to attend and open to press. To RSVP as press, please contact IPS Deputy Communications Director Olivia Alperstein at olivia@ips-dc.org.
This vital Symposium and democracy agenda blueprint are made possible by the generous support of the Wallace Global Fund.
About the Institute for Policy Studies
For over sixty years, the Institute for Policy Studies has served as a leading multi-issue research organization that provides key fact-based support for bold policy solutions to urgent issues from rising inequality to the climate crisis. Highlights from IPS’s programs and research can be found on Facebook, Twitter/X, and Instagram.
Learn more about the legacy of Henry A. Wallace.
Press contacts:
Olivia Alperstein, Institute for Policy Studies, olivia@ips-dc.org
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