What is a Founder's Stance?
In July 2022, we published an open letter in The New York Times addressed to all who believe in democracy. In it, we wrote:
We the People of today’s United States are the Founders—and we won’t cede that to anyone. At this moment, our love for all requires us to step into our power and manifest the unrealized promise of our nation within our lifetime.
Much has unfolded since that letter was published, offering a powerful reminder of just how deeply our collective love, imagination, and action are needed. We've seen the consequences of allowing the nation’s promise to We the People go unfulfilled. We've felt the appetite—expressed through many different visions—to fundamentally redesign the nation.
Above all, this moment has revealed how essential it is for each of us to claim our rightful role as architects of what comes next.
As we approach the Fourth of July and the 250th anniversary of American democracy in 2026, we must remember that the work of founding is not finished—and it falls to us now to become the founders of a nation that finally lives up to its ideals.
At PolicyLink, we believe this work requires a new legal and regulatory design of the nation, a realignment of resources, and a new moral and civic consciousness.
Last week, we shared how the 13th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution offer a pathway to a nation that governs for all. This week, we turn to the consciousness we must cultivate—and the leaders we must become—to disrupt what is and build what has never yet been. Because our charge is not only to imagine a nation that governs for all, but to lead with the clarity, courage, and conviction to bring it into being.
We call this approach a founder’s stance—an expression of leadership grounded in foresight, radical imagination, audacity, humility, love for all, and self-renewal. It is both a mindset and a method. It is about delivering real outcomes for real people in real places. This is the work of our generation: to fulfill the nation’s promise for all people, not as an aspiration, but as a measurable and achievable reality.
The time to lead with the full weight of our abilities, vision, and love—and at the scale of the entire nation—is now. This is our moment to step forward, as leaders and founders of a nation finally ready to serve us all.
With unwavering commitment,
Michael McAfee, CEO
Ashleigh Gardere, President
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