By John Eagleton | Founder, The Truth Party
November 4, 2026
Something extraordinary happened in America yesterday.
Voters sent a message to Washington. And now comes the hard part.
For years, Americans have complained about a political system that seems increasingly complicated, expensive, inefficient, and disconnected from the people it’s supposed to serve.
We complain about taxes. We complain about corruption. We complain about politicians who spend more time raising money for their next election than solving problems.
Well, here’s a thought.
What if we stopped complaining and actually redesigned the damn thing?
Not another commission. Not another congressional hearing. Not another 900-page piece of legislation that nobody reads.
I’m talking about fundamentally rethinking how the United States government operates.
And I’d like to start with something that affects every American.
1. Let’s Completely Rethink Taxes
America has accumulated an extraordinarily complicated collection of taxes, exemptions, deductions, credits, and special provisions.
Federal income taxes. Payroll taxes. Corporate taxes. Capital gains taxes. Estate taxes. Excise taxes. Gasoline taxes.
And that’s before we get to state and local governments.
Every layer adds complexity.
Now imagine starting with a blank sheet of paper.
Instead of asking how we can adjust the existing system, let’s ask a more fundamental question:
If we were designing America’s tax system today, knowing everything we know about economics, technology, and government, would we create anything resembling what we have now?
I seriously doubt it.
My proposal is to examine every existing federal tax with the goal of eliminating unnecessary taxes and replacing the current patchwork with a dramatically simpler system.
One possibility worth examining is a straightforward corporate tax with no special deductions or loopholes.
But let’s be clear: eliminating taxes doesn’t eliminate the cost of government.
We still need to pay for national defense, infrastructure, education, healthcare, Social Security, and the other responsibilities Americans expect their government to fulfill.
Any replacement system must generate sufficient revenue, distribute the burden fairly, and avoid shifting costs onto working families.
Those are difficult questions.
Good.
Difficult questions are exactly what Congress is supposed to answer.
2. Get Money Out of Politics
Here’s another question.
Why should access to political power depend on how much money someone can raise?
Our political system has developed an enormous infrastructure of political action committees, super PACs, lobbying organizations, consultants, and fundraising operations.
Some of these organizations represent legitimate interests and exercise constitutionally protected rights.
Others raise serious concerns about transparency, influence, and accountability.
The distinction matters.
But the larger question remains:
Should political influence be something Americans can effectively purchase?
I don’t believe it should.
The Truth Party itself operates as a PAC under the existing system. There’s a certain irony in that, considering that one of our objectives is to fundamentally reform political fundraising.
But that’s the system we have today.
I want Congress to examine sweeping campaign finance reforms, including strict transparency requirements, stronger enforcement, limits on opportunities for corruption, and alternatives to the current dependence on private fundraising.
Eliminating PACs outright would raise substantial constitutional questions, including First Amendment protections for political association and expression.
Those challenges shouldn’t end the discussion.
They should force us to develop reforms that are both effective and constitutional.
Political office should be a public trust.
Not an investment opportunity.
3. Congressional Term Limits
Here’s an idea that deserves serious national consideration.
What if serving in Congress were a chapter in someone’s life instead of an entire career?
Imagine a citizen who has spent twenty years building a business, teaching school, practicing medicine, or serving their community.
That person decides to run for Congress.
They go to Washington with a clear understanding of the problems facing their community.
They serve for eight or twelve years.
They work hard.
They accomplish what they can.
And then they come home.
No lifelong political career.
No spending thirty years accumulating seniority and influence.
No assumption that a congressional seat belongs to someone indefinitely.
I favor congressional term limits.
Of course, there are trade-offs. Experienced legislators develop valuable expertise, and term limits could shift influence toward unelected staff members and lobbyists.
We need to address those risks.
A constitutional amendment would also be necessary to impose federal congressional term limits.
But none of that makes the idea unworthy of consideration.
The purpose of public office should be public service.
4. Put Government Spending Under the Microscope
Every American household understands a basic principle.
You cannot indefinitely spend money without understanding where it’s going.
Government finances are more complicated than household finances, but accountability remains essential.
I want a comprehensive, transparent examination of federal spending.
Not an indiscriminate attack on government employees or essential services.
A serious evaluation.
Which programs work?
Which programs duplicate one another?
Which programs have outlived their usefulness?
Where are taxpayers getting good value?
Where are they not?
And perhaps most importantly:
Why is it so difficult for ordinary Americans to follow where their money goes?
We have extraordinary technological capabilities.
We should be able to give citizens accessible, understandable information about federal expenditures, contracts, and program performance.
Imagine a government spending dashboard that anyone could explore.
Not political talking points.
Actual numbers.
Actual outcomes.
Actual accountability.
5. Stop Treating Elections as the Finish Line
This may be the most important reform of all.
For too long, American politics has operated around a familiar cycle.
Candidates make promises.
Voters cast ballots.
Someone wins.
Everyone celebrates or complains.
And then the public largely disappears from the conversation until the next election.
That’s not how I believe representative democracy should work.
Over the past several months, I’ve been interviewing people in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Not political insiders.
Ordinary people.
I’ve talked to students, artists, workers, entrepreneurs, retirees, and people from every imaginable walk of life.
And I’ve learned something important.
People have ideas.
People have frustrations.
People have dreams.
But they don’t always believe anyone in government is listening.
That’s why I started the Truth Party.
Not to build another massive political bureaucracy.
Not to create another organization obsessed with fundraising and power.
But to encourage honest conversations, identify people with untapped potential, and help citizens become active participants in shaping their communities.
I don’t want to create another generation of professional politicians.
I want to discover people who have the character, ability, curiosity, and determination to serve their communities.
People who might never have imagined running for office.
People who understand that government exists to serve the public, not the other way around.
6. This Is Bigger Than Democrats and Republicans
I’ve been disappointed by both political parties.
I watched Bernie Sanders generate extraordinary enthusiasm in 2016.
I volunteered during the 2024 presidential election and came away deeply frustrated with the Democratic Party’s direction.
Eventually, I became an independent.
And I founded the Truth Party.
But here’s what I’ve come to understand.
Changing the people occupying political offices isn’t necessarily the same thing as changing the political system.
We can elect new representatives every two years.
We can change presidents every four years.
But if the underlying incentives remain the same, many of the same problems will remain.
That’s why I believe this moment calls for something more ambitious than another round of partisan victories.
It calls for a national conversation about what government should look like in the twenty-first century.
How should we raise revenue?
How should we spend it?
How should campaigns be financed?
How long should people serve in Congress?
How do we make government transparent?
And how do we ensure that ordinary citizens have a meaningful voice between elections?
These questions don’t belong to one political party.
They belong to every American.
7. We Caught the Car. Now What?
When I was a little boy growing up in Connecticut, my best friend’s family had two enormous German shepherds.
Those dogs loved chasing cars.
And I always wondered what would happen if one of those cars actually stopped.
What would the dogs do?
Well, that’s where we are today.
After years of campaigning, arguing, protesting, organizing, and demanding change, voters have created an opportunity for a different direction in Washington.
We’ve caught the car.
Now what?
We can spend the next several months congratulating ourselves.
We can listen to speeches about mandates and historic victories.
We can watch politicians celebrate on television.
Or we can get to work.
Real reform won’t happen overnight.
It will require research, negotiation, compromise, legislation, and, in some cases, constitutional amendments.
Some ideas will survive serious examination.
Others will need to change.
That’s how responsible government should work.
But we should never confuse the difficulty of reform with an excuse for doing nothing.
I’m 69 years old.
I’ve spent much of my life watching America change.
I’ve seen extraordinary technological advances, enormous economic transformations, and political movements that once seemed impossible.
And I’ve come to believe something very simple.
The limits of what we can accomplish are often much greater than the limits we imagine.
So let’s imagine a government that’s simpler.
A government that’s more transparent.
A government that’s accountable to its citizens.
A government where public service matters more than political careers.
And a government where ordinary Americans have a genuine opportunity to participate.
Let’s debate the ideas.
Let’s examine the numbers.
Let’s challenge the assumptions.
And then let’s do the work.
Because winning an election isn’t the accomplishment.
What we do afterward is what matters.
And as I’ve been saying since the beginning of the Truth Party:
Turn spectators into citizens.
But first, we show up.
John Eagleton is the founder of the Truth Party, an independent civic and political initiative focused on transparency, accountability, and citizen participation.
The Truth Party — thetruthparty.org
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