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“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Two hundred and fifty years ago, the founders of our country wrote these words as the bedrock of a new and untested government. They rebelled against the tyranny of their day and built a new system where the power to rule derived not from crowned royalty, nor strength of arms, but from the will of the people.
Just two decades later, our first president, George Washington, in his farewell address, warned us that ceding control of the nation to a “permanent despotism” of faction and party could lead to our downfall. Our nation has withstood that threat for much of the last two and a half centuries. We have forged a society dedicated to liberty and freedom where each may use their talents to succeed and where we collectively strive to protect those who can not provide for themselves.
Today, however, as George Washington warned, our nation has fallen prey to the two legacy parties. They act like cartels, focused on winning elections to keep themselves in the halls of power, and not on making life better for every American. At our founding, this country rebelled against the tyranny of a king across the sea, but today our tyrant isn’t a monarch. It’s the corrupt political elite of the ruling parties in Washington. Our nation’s greatest strength has always been our ability to rise to any challenge and we must do so again now. It is time to recognize the shortcomings of our government – not just to lament our failings but to restore our nation’s spirit and better and more truly serve the American people.
The two legacy parties have failed the American people by:
• Inciting riots and insurrections against the peaceful transfer of power, and sowing doubt against the legitimacy of future elections to weaken our democracy and maintain their power.
• Canceling presidential primaries to protect incumbents that the public would replace.
• Holding our elected leaders hostage through money and influence to ensure that all party members vote only the way that leadership decrees, ousting and ostracising any duly elected representatives of the people who dare to put constituents and country before party.
• Drawing warped and contorted district lines allowing our politicians to pick their voters, not the other way around.
• Excluding more than thirty million voters from the primary process across the country – independents, who are treated as second class citizens in many states.
• Defending election structures that lock in a two-party-only system, stifling the full and natural expression of political opinion.
• Creating an artificial culture war between right and left, ensuring that the other side is always seen as the enemy. In truth, most Americans agree on most issues; only the legacy parties benefit from us believing that we do not.
• Manipulating the laws on access to ballots to ensure that their candidates have the easiest path to success and others hit walls built to keep them out.
• Enacting campaign finance laws to benefit themselves, their donors, and their lobbyists. The money they bring to bear in service of protecting their power effectively removes the common person from the electoral process.
• Above all, the legacy parties have ensured that it is only they who can meaningfully participate in our politics. No one is allowed to threaten their power, no matter what voters actually want.
In this era of deepest faction, our representatives refuse to listen to the needs of the many out of fear of retribution by the few. There is only one recourse ahead of fracture. It is time for Americans across our nation to reclaim our government and our rightful voice.
We stand to forge a new party for all America’s people, one that will not drive us left or right, but forward.
The founding values of our new party are simple. We represent people, not parties, in order to build communities from the bottom up. We insist that the rule of law and the framework of the constitution are paramount and can only be defended by a strong democracy where every voter has a real voice. We believe that America must once again lead by example, not just by might. We resolve that the best solution to any problem must be pursued, regardless of ideological source. We declare that innovation and entrepreneurship are key to this nation’s prosperity, but that success must provide for our neighbors as well as ourselves. We believe that individual liberty, personal responsibility, and civic engagement go hand in hand; that all people deserve respect and possess dignity; and that all leaders should act with ethics, integrity, and compassion.
These are the tenets that will create a vibrant, healthy, and responsive democracy that will stand for the next two hundred and fifty years and beyond. This is the calling of our generation.
Not Left. Not Right. Forward.
Declare your independence from the corrupt two-party machine in Washington. If you want, repost below on your favorite social media platform. Even better, post a video of you declaring your own independence this 4th of July.
Tag @fwd_party and use the following hashtags: #IndependentsMoveUsForward #DeclareYourIndependence #America250 #Forwardonthe4th.
It’s time we all took a stand against this corrupt system that pits us against one another and start working towards a better democracy.
After all, we independents are the majority – shouldn’t our voice be the loudest?
Because it’s the right thing to do. Problems that affect our communities are left unsolved by two parties that would rather fundraise on them than fix them. Politically motivated violence driven by extreme partisanship has become alarmingly common and widespread. People are distraught, disillusioned, and scared for the future of our democracy. No wonder nearly 60% of American voters say they want a new party, and 50% are no longer members of either major party.
A fishing community in Alaska, a metropolis in the Midwest, and a rural county in Georgia aren’t necessarily going to have the same interests or priorities. Yet, the two major parties hand down one-size-fits-all national platforms and expect us all to conform to one or the other. Ridiculous. We’re reforming the system so that independent-minded candidates outside the two major parties have access to compete with them on equal footing in every state. The state Forward parties determine their own priorities, not Washington. And individual candidates develop innovative policy solutions around those priorities. The rest is up to the voters.
Simple…we stand for the American people. We’ve been effectively shut out of the system, and it shows. But with more access, better choices, and a bigger voice at the table, the people will power a new American renaissance that breaks through dysfunction and heals our political culture. Through collaboration rather than polarization, we’ll advance realistic, sensible solutions that move us forward and past the extremes. Whether it’s abortion, climate change, or gun safety — the two major parties aren’t getting the job done. Keeping the fights going keeps them funded and employed, while the American people lose. Enough is enough. It’s time to move Not Left, Not Right, but Forward.
No. The systemic reforms Forward supports eliminate the spoiler effect that drives voters to support the lesser of two evils. Our current “winner-take-all” electoral system is a zero-sum-game that rewards candidates for smearing their opponents and for taking extreme stances on highly divisive issues. With reforms like ranked-choice voting and open, nonpartisan primaries, candidates are instead incentivized to appeal to the majority of voters. There are 520,000+ elected positions in the U.S., but under the current system, 70+% are uncontested. How’s that working out for us? We believe everyone deserves better choices—for some of us, maybe for the first time ever.
Any candidate who puts the interests of their constituents above ideology and works to heal divides rather than exploit them is a potential Forward candidate, whether they run on a Forward ticket or not. We’re unique in that we will cross-endorse candidates from other parties as well, if their values are in line with ours. So there are “Forward Democrats” and “Forward Republicans” out there, and we’re pleased to support them and work with them on shared priorities. Look here or on social media for updates about our official slate of candidates and endorsements ahead of local, state, and national elections.
Third parties have worked in the past—that’s exactly how the Republican Party got started. They offered something new, different, and better at that moment in history. We think it’s time for something new, different, and better right now. The Forward Party is building a grassroots movement from the ground up, empowering local leaders instead of centralizing power. It’s about time a party put power back in the hands of the people.
Absolutely. We don’t care about the letter next to your name. Forward is full of hardworking people from all across the political spectrum. If you are a problem-solver willing to work with people in good faith, you’re already a Forwardist—you just didn’t know it! So go ahead and make it official. Sign up today!
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