An Open Letter to Congress and the American People
The American people pay for everything the federal government does. Most of us have never seen the bill.
Every year, over six trillion dollars moves through Washington supposedly in our name. By the government's own accounting, hundreds of billions of those dollars are flagged annually as improper payments: money lost to error, fraud, or unaccounted for entirely.
Congress knows. The agencies know. The auditors know. We don't.
That gap is where corruption lives.
We pay for it all, and we have every right to see it.
The technology to make federal spending visible exists right now. A single, open, public ledger of public funds would showcase every dollar spent, in real time, visible to every American with an Internet connection at home or abroad.
What we lack is not the means, but the will to execute on a simple engineering decision.
So we are asking directly: We call on Congress, regardless of party, to commit to legislation that makes every federal dollar above a defined threshold publicly visible, in real time, on an open and immutable public ledger.
Transparency is not a Democratic value or a Republican value. Government waste is not a partisan issue. Neither is fraud. The basic expectation that public money, spent on the public's behalf, should be visible to the public is an American ideal we all see the best of ourselves and our country in.
Open books make for honest government.
Honest government makes for a country worth trusting again.
As Americans from business, culture, science, and public life, we invite every member of Congress, every candidate for federal office, and every American who believes that public money belongs to the public, to add their name.
Signed,
The Founding Signers of American Ledger
theamericanledger.org
