What is Project 2026? Project 2026 is a national experiment in democratic renewal, built around the founding promise of the Declaration of Independence — that all people are created equal, with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s organized around three pillars (Democracy, Opportunity, Citizenship), a public agenda called the Seven Promises, and a set of citizen-led deliberations working through four of the hardest questions facing the country right now.
Why does Project 2026 exist? Because the founding promise has never been fully kept, and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration is a natural moment to ask what closing that gap actually requires. Polarization, entrenched barriers to opportunity, eroding trust in institutions, and the speed of AI-driven change are straining the republic faster than most existing institutions are adapting. Project 2026 treats that as a call to build, not a reason for despair.
What is Project 2026’s vision? A democracy continually refreshed by active citizen participation — where every citizen has real tools to shape the systems that govern their life, not just a vote every few years.
What is Project 2026’s mission? To close the gap between the Declaration’s promise and present reality, by giving citizens the capabilities, tools, and institutions they need to participate meaningfully in public life — starting with the conditions children are born into and extending through every stage of civic life.
Who is behind Project 2026? Project 2026 was founded by Shimon Waldfogel, a psychiatrist by training, and is meant to grow into a shared, citizen-powered movement rather than remain one person’s effort. It draws on a growing network of collaborators across academia, nonprofits, and local communities.
How does Project 2026 relate to Moonshot Press? Project 2026 lives inside the Moonshot Press ecosystem. Moonshot Press is the newsroom, the Citizen Toolbox, and the Constitution that governs how everything here operates, including our use of AI. Project 2026 is Moonshot Press’s flagship initiative within that ecosystem — the year-long, multi-year civic renewal effort that Moonshot Press has made the organizing focus of its coverage and its work. It isn’t a separate outlet with its own rules; it operates under the same governance as everything else Moonshot Press publishes.
What is the inspiration for Project 2026? The American creed itself — the Declaration of Independence, read not as a finished historical document but as what we call a salutogenic vision: a statement of the conditions under which people flourish, still unmet for too many Americans 250 years later.
What are the Three Pillars? Democracy — real participation in shaping our collective future, not just elections. Opportunity — genuine pathways to flourish regardless of where you start, beginning with the first 1,000 days of life. Citizenship — the skills, knowledge, and support to show up meaningfully in public life, not just consume it.
What are the Seven Promises? Project 2026’s public agenda for the 250th anniversary and the 2026 election cycle — seven civic commitments any American can use to evaluate candidates and institutions: foundations for every newborn to flourish; government of, for, and by the people, in practice; a vibrant and trustworthy press; a Congress that answers to the people and learns from failure; real consequences when power causes public harm; a government capable of preparing for the future; and public money tracked all the way to results.
What is your theory of change? That paradigm shift comes before policy change. We work from two paradigms at once: a salutogenic one, which asks what conditions let people flourish rather than only what’s broken — built on comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness; and a citizenism one, which treats citizens as the sovereign authors of democratic life rather than passive recipients of it. Change moves from a citizen encountering the founding vision, to building civic capacity, to collective action, to institutions actually responding — with escalation, redirection, or building alternatives when they don’t.
What four questions is Project 2026 working through right now?
What does rising polarization put at risk — and what can we actually do about it?
How do we protect and advance the principles the founders gave us?
What do we owe the next generation?
Why doesn’t the richest nation on earth guarantee its citizens the healthcare they need?
Each question has its own editorial series and, where relevant, its own People’s Commission working the deliberative side of the question.
What are the People’s Commissions? Citizen-led deliberative bodies — one tool in the Citizen Toolbox, not a substitute for elected government or professional expertise. Current commissions include the People’s Commission for Technology and the American Future and the People’s Commission to Make Our Children Healthy, both built on transparent selection, clear authority, and public documentation.
What is the Citizen Toolbox? A practical method for turning a public problem into something you can actually act on: see the system, follow the power, build the evidence, convene the public, demand an answer, track the result. In practice, that’s Citizen Briefs, Case Presentations, Ecosystem Tools & Tracers, Deliberative Forums, checklists, and the People’s Commissions.
How does Project 2026 use AI? Under the same rule that governs all of Moonshot Press: AI recommends, humans decide. AI helps research, synthesize, and produce at a scale a small team couldn’t otherwise reach — but it never makes the final call on what gets published or what we stand for, and we say plainly whenever AI has meaningfully shaped something.
Is Project 2026 partisan? No — but it isn’t indifferent, either. We don’t assume that democratic wisdom or democratic failure belongs to one side of the aisle, and we evaluate institutions and policies against consistent civic standards rather than partisan identity. We do take clear positions in favor of constitutional democracy, equal human dignity, citizen sovereignty, press freedom, and government under law.
What is Thrive in Montco PA? Project 2026’s hyperlocal proof of concept, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania — testing whether this actually works with real neighbors in a real place before it scales further.
What stage is Project 2026 in, and what’s the timeline? Project 2026 publicly launched in July 2026 and runs through America’s 250th anniversary — but the work isn’t scoped to end there. Several initiatives, including the four questions above and their commissions, are already underway; others are still in development.
Is this not too ambitious? It’s ambitious on purpose. The scale of the gap between the founding promise and present reality calls for it. The phased, collaborative approach — one question, one commission, one community at a time — is how we try to keep that ambition manageable rather than abstract.
Who can participate, and how? Anyone. You can explore the Seven Promises and the Citizen Toolbox, join a People’s Commission or a local effort like Thrive in Montco PA, contribute research, writing, or facilitation skills, or simply subscribe and follow the work at Moonshot Press.