We all want the same thing - a better America.
The answer starts with voters knowing the facts and how our government is designed to operate with high integrity and balance under our Constitution. Then our votes best serve the long-term common good.
We do not need to feel divided.
Don’t we all want these?
#1 – True equal rights. The law applies the same to everyone.
#2 – Religious freedom. Peacefully worship as you believe, or not at all.
#3 – The freedom to live as we choose. Without infringing on someone else’s rights.
#4 – A safe place to live. Children and adults can go anywhere without fear.
#5 – Opportunities to do meaningful work. Fulfilling careers, with room to grow.
#6 – Healthy surroundings. Clean air and water, food we can trust, care we can afford.
#7 – A stable, free nation to pass on to our kids. Better than we found it.
We all want these seven conditions of a great nation. Let’s start by focusing on where we agree.
Our Foundation
Here are the Simple Liberty Foundation’s cultural cornerstones as an organization:
Mission
Civic education that teaches Americans the thinking skills self-government requires.
To achieve this, we build a nonpartisan community where ordinary Americans learn a disciplined way to think about the hard questions facing our nation – clarifying meaning, testing evidence, anticipating consequences – so citizens can reach their own conclusions about what best serves the common good.
Vision
An America where ordinary citizens are hopeful because they know our history, weigh evidence on all sides, discuss hard things with kindness and clarity, and carry their share of self-government.
Scope of Our Work
Our work consists of published research and articles, educational materials and study guides, and moderated community discussion. Simple Liberty Foundation does not lobby, does not support or oppose legislation, does not endorse or oppose candidates, does not petition elected officials, and does not engage in political campaigning of any kind.
Values
Find the best way.
Do the right thing.
Everyone matters.
Commitment
Demonstrate our mission, vision, and values daily – in our thoughts, words, and actions.
We Are Not as Divided as the Media Claims
It feels like “everyone else” is extreme. The facts say otherwise.
Americans guess that 55% of the other side holds extreme views. The real number is closer to 30%. | More in Common, Perception Gap study, June 2019
Only 11% of Facebook users post or share at least some political content, yet 52% of users see political content in their feeds. A relatively small group helps create the political environment everyone else experiences. | How Americans Navigate Politics on TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram – Pew Research Center, June 2024
Negative news stories are 1.9 times more likely to be shared on social media, with people particularly inclined to share negative political stories about the opposing side. | Negative online news articles are shared more to social media – Scientific Reports (Nature), September 2024
Media and online algorithms benefit from dividing us. Emphasizing fear. Isolating us.
It’s time to stop listening to them.
Who wants us divided?
Our primary battle is not against a foreign enemy. It is against two groups inside our own country:
#1 – Our current ruling class
First, the system rewards staying in power, and most of the people in it respond to those rewards. Sixty-three percent of Americans say our elected officials ran for office to make a lot of money. Only 15% say they ran to serve the public. | Americans’ Dismal Views of the Nation’s Politics – Pew Research Center, September 2023
Second, a tiny donor class – wealthy individuals, corporations, unions, and industry groups – funds the campaigns, writes the exemptions, and shapes laws to its own advantage.
In 2024, the top 100 individual donors to super PACs – 0.02% of all super PAC donors – supplied 73% of the money. | Top Donors to Outside Spending Groups – OpenSecrets
None of them want commoners coming up with solutions that get in the way of their agendas. A divided country offers them more profits and power than a united one.
#2 – Tyrants aspiring to be our ruling class
There are bullies who want to replace our constitutional order with government systems that have failed everywhere they were tried. They are the minority, but they will only stay that way if we unite.
One example is the Democratic Socialists of America. Their 2026 program, Workers Deserve More, calls for abolishing the Senate, the Electoral College, and the police and prison system – and replacing the presidency and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary subordinate to Congress. Read it yourself.
Their answer to a corrupt Senate is a bigger House. Their answer to a troubled Supreme Court is more justices. Adding seats to a broken institution does not make it more efficient, more effective, or more aligned with our Constitution.
The math does not add up.
Their program promises free housing, free healthcare, free college, and a shorter work week. The federal government already spends more than a trillion dollars a year just paying interest on $39 trillion in debt – more than we spend on national defense. There is no plan for where the money comes from because there isn’t one.
Read history. Run the numbers. The facts prove their promises are fantasies or lies. Decide for yourself based on the facts.
The wolves are at the door.
Let’s focus on three changes
This is not a time for revolution. It’s time for restoration of America’s unique blend of good character, equal rights, and commitment to the common good.
Government must serve us.
The people. Not the politicians, bureaucrats, and billionaires – our ruling class.
- More than 80% of Americans believe elected officials don’t care what people like them think. | Pew Research Center, April 2024
- 86% of Americans favor banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks. | Ban on Stock Trading for Members of Congress Favored by Overwhelming Bipartisan Majority – University of Maryland Program for Public Consultation, July 2023
The same rules apply to everyone.
No one should be able to buy better treatment, lower taxes, or access the rest of us cannot obtain.
- There are legal tax strategies available to people with large asset holdings that are unavailable to wage earners.
A wage earner pays tax on every paycheck, as it is earned. Someone whose wealth is held in assets can choose never to sell, borrow against those assets instead of taking income, and pass them to heirs with the unrealized gain erased at death under 26 U.S.C. §1014.
Statute: 26 U.S.C. §1014 – House Office of Law Revision Counsel
Commentary: What Is Stepped-Up Basis on Capital Gains and How Does It Affect the Federal Budget? – Peter G. Peterson Foundation, April 2026
Defenders argue the provision prevents the same asset from being taxed twice. Critics argue it lets the largest fortunes pass untaxed across generations. Both are describing the same rule.
Two perspectives: What is the difference between carryover basis and a step-up in basis? – Tax Policy Center | and Step-Up In Basis – Tax Foundation
- Only about one in five Americans – 24% of Democrats and 20% of Republicans – say political leaders face consequences when they act unethically. | Americans’ Dismal Views of the Nation’s Politics – Pew Research Center, September 2023
Ordinary citizens must lead again.
We have relied on the ruling class to improve things for decades. Things just get worse.
- Three-quarters of Americans say our political system needs major changes or complete reform.
- Only about one in four is confident that change can actually happen.
Americans stand out internationally for their pessimism about the nation’s political system – Pew Research Center, April 2026
We already hold the power we say we want. We just aren’t using it.
- In 2021, just 23% of eligible New Yorkers voted for mayor of America’s largest city. | Voter Analysis Report: 2021 – 2022, New York City Campaign Finance Board
- Two-thirds of Americans vote for president. Fewer than one in seven vote for mayor. As few as one in twenty vote for their school board – and school board members are the largest group of elected officials in the country. | Visualizing Voter Turnout in Local and School Board Elections – Carnegie Corporation of New York
This gap – between what we want and what we believe is possible – is our fault as citizens.
Our Constitution gave common citizens ultimate power. Our system of government – three branches, checks and balances, elections – is sound.
Accountability in politics is broken. Corruption, gerrymandering, and money have bent the process the Constitution created. This happens when common citizens are not fully informed of the issues and fail to hold elected officials accountable.
We don’t need a new structure. We need to restore the one we have.
The ruling class has had decades to solve America’s problems.
Now it’s our turn.
Our strategy: Learn the facts. Discuss issues calmly and respectfully. Confirm what’s best for the common good of all Americans.
How to Move Forward
Simple Liberty is a nonpartisan community of ordinary Americans – commoners – who research the facts, weigh all sides, and build real solutions. Issue by issue. In the open.
Learn more
Os Guinness warns in his book – A Freedom Like No Other: America 250 and the Restoration of the American Republic (Kildare, 2026), pages 10-11:
“There is no question that America has reached a turning point… The present is heavy with both crisis and opportunity…
“This is a moment that must not be missed. American leaders and American citizens must rise together to meet the present moment…”
Simple Liberty is one of the groups rising up to meet our nation’s challenges with data – historical facts, current facts, considering all sides against one standard – what’s best for the common good of all Americans.
Learn with us. Increase hope. Make a difference.
Not a revolution. A restoration.
We can do this.
We quote Os Guinness out of respect for him, and for his work. He has not endorsed the Simple Liberty Foundation.