Dear John,

From small towns to suburbs to big cities, communities all across the country have organized for decades to win powerful local solutions that address shared needs. Whether it’s good paying jobs, safe and affordable homes, clean air and water — people have worked together to look after each other and stand up to corporate greed. 

But corporations and billionaire CEOs have honed a strategy to block our efforts to check their power. While everyday people fight for solutions that make their lives better, corporations in turn buy, bully, and bamboozle state lawmakers into banning the local policies that protect and strengthen our communities.

The Hidden Heist: How Corporations Push State Bans to Keep us Broke and Hijack our Democracy reveals and traces how corporations in different states, industries, and eras have used the same playbook to ban a wide range of community-driven solutions. In it we explore the tactics, the repeat villains, the two-century history of corporations and wealthy elites hijacking our democracy, and five state-specific case studies. 

In their fervent quest to resist any checks on their power and profitmaking, corporations have created the political structures, the playbook, and the social and economic conditions that have fueled the rise of authoritarians today.

To fight back and win, we need to expose the tactics that corporations and the wealthy elite try to use to keep us broke and divided. And we need to make it clear to our elected leaders that they have a choice: help us build thriving, healthy communities or help line the pockets of greedy billionaires. 

Explore the full report, dig into the Missouri case study, and keep an eye out for the remaining four case studies focused on Tennessee, Texas, California, and Colorado!

In solidarity,

Jessie Vollmer

Campaign Director