Political and Social Justice Project
In the tradition of Ida Tarbell, whose 1904 work exposed monopolistic and corrupt practices in the Standard Oil Company, leading to long-lasting reforms, we will act as watchdogs, investigating abuses of government, political and corporate power, which often intersect.
For example, we will examine questionable government decision-making, some involving companies doing business with the Pentagon, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and more.
We know from history that watchdogs are essential to a strong, functioning democracy. John Gardner, former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare observed that as a government insider, he had seen that the special interests and corporations with financial stakes in government policy know exactly where and how to focus their considerable resources to get what they want from the system. Everybody's organized but the people, he warned, when creating Common Cause. Gardner's wise words underpinned Common Cause Magazine, the investigative reporting journal created in the 1980's by our Institute's founder, Florence Graves.