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Heartland Democracy Principles

Heartland Democracy defines itself and its work, in part, by the progressive values it highlights:  Community, Justice, Equality of Opportunity, Sustainability, and Accountability. 

Many common principles and values guide the work of Heartland Democracy and other like-minded Midwesterners. We have grouped them together under five concepts we hold dear and fundamental to the kind of community we hope for. While we believe that other such values are important, and we may choose to emphasize different concepts in the future, Heartland Democracy is highlighting these principles in its work in its first year:

Community: Heartland Democracy believes that the greater common good is achieved through collaborative, community-wide efforts. We believe in the primacy of democracy and the democratic spirit, and the importance of integrating a diversity of people and ideas pragmatically to achieve the public good. We believe that government, being by, of, and for the people, is one crucial manifestation of our community and that government can and ought to serve its constituents in ways that others cannot.

Justice: Heartland Democracy believes in fairness, equality, religious tolerance, anti-racism and human rights.

Equality of Opportunity: Heartland Democracy believes in fairness and equality of opportunity achieved through freedom, self-reliance, security and independence.

Accountability: Heartland Democracy believes in accountability, both personal and private. We believe that innovation in reform will lead to “good government” that is efficient, effective, transparent and accountable to its citizens.

Finally, Democracy, a concept so important that we adopted it for half our name, provides a strong unifying theme to all of the principles above. Democracy is the genius of the best political systems in the world. It makes possible such universal rights and values as freedom, justice, community, and equality of opportunity. Like water from the tap, or water on the farmer’s field, democracy is a community necessity