"I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work.  Of course it doesn't work, it isn't supposed to work.  We are supposed to work it." – Alexander Woollcott

The mission of MontPIRG's Democracy Program is to promote a fair, open, and accountable government.  To that end we advocate for reforms in campaign financing, work to preserve the citizen's initiative process, and track the influence of money in politics.

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Majorities are spurned, stealth campaign committees funnel special interest money into political campaigns, corporate Goliath's spend billions to buy or kill legislation , and youth voter rates continue to plummet.  Is this what our forefathers intended?

As it becomes apparent that our government is increasingly beholden to wealthy special interests instead of to the people they supposedly represent, rigor mortis will set into our political system.

Unfortunately for these greedy interests, people are waking up to the fact that they don't have to take a backseat in our democracy.  Now, more than ever, we must defend vital democratic processes and cleanup a corrupted system.

Campaign Finance Reform
Big money is corrupting American politics and threatening our democracy. Once elected, most politicians return the favor with tax-breaks, special exemptions, and legislation that puts the interests of big money over the interests of the public.  But here in Montana, we have some of the lowest contribution limits in the country despite special interest attempts to overturn the law.  Learn more about money in politics.

Citizens' Initiative Defense
As Montanans, we are guaranteed by our state's constitution the right to direct involvement in our democracy.  The initiative process has created several  key Montana laws including some of the strongest campaign finance reform laws in the country and environmental protections such as a ban on the use of cyanide in mining processes.  But during the 2001 legislative session, several bills were introduced to weaken the ability of ordinary citizens to utilize the initiative process.   Learn more about our efforts to defend this right from recent anti-democracy attacks .