A working democracy must be grounded in transparency, public trust, and limits on private influence.

1. Lobbying

Advocacy before public officials should be transparent and free from material inducement.

Anyone seeking to influence legislation, regulation, or public policy should do so openly, with clear disclosure of who they represent, how they are funded, and whom they contact within government.

Labor unions, civic groups, and public-interest organizations should retain the right to petition and advocate on behalf of their members, so long as that advocacy is conducted openly and without financial exchange for access or outcomes.

2. Mitigation of Private Influence

To protect the independence of lawmaking and regulation, public officials should be subject to clear conflict-of-interest boundaries tied to the industries and sectors in which they have held significant power or financial stake.

People who move between senior roles in private industry and positions of public authority should not be placed in direct control of the same sectors they previously managed, represented, or profited from, nor immediately return to those roles after public service. Cooling-off periods before and after service are essential to prevent regulatory capture and preserve public trust.

During these periods, officials should not participate in decisions that are narrowly designed to benefit or burden a specific industry or sector with which they have had a substantial prior connection. Such restrictions should apply automatically and consistently, without discretionary waivers.

At the same time, these safeguards should not bar participation in broadly applicable legislation or prevent qualified individuals from serving in public office. The goal is not exclusion, but separation, ensuring that public decisions are made in the public interest rather than shaped by revolving-door incentives.

3. Transparency

Government should operate openly, so that the public can see how power is exercised and decisions are made.

Secrecy should be permitted only in limited circumstances and only with continuous oversight by a multi-partisan body of elected representatives. Transparency is a prerequisite for accountability, not a substitute for it.

4. Public Responsibility

Public office is a public trust, exercised on behalf of the people rather than for personal, partisan, or private advantage.

Those who hold power are accountable for the consequences of their decisions and must be subject to meaningful oversight and removal when that trust is abused. Authority without responsibility is not democratic governance.

Summary

A working democracy must be grounded in transparency, public trust, and clear limits on private influence over public power. Lobbying should be fully disclosed, including who is seeking to influence policy, whom they represent, how they are funded, and which officials they contact, with no payment exchanged for access or outcomes. Conflict-of-interest rules and mandatory cooling-off periods should prevent senior officials from regulating industries in which they recently held significant financial or managerial power, reducing the risk of regulatory capture and revolving-door incentives. Government decision-making must operate openly, with secrecy permitted only in narrowly defined circumstances subject to ongoing oversight. Public office should function as a fiduciary trust, with enforceable accountability when authority is abused. These safeguards protect democratic legitimacy by ensuring that public decisions are made in the public interest rather than shaped by concentrated private power.