About Principle
You were told you live in a democracy, but no one ever showed you how the system behind it works.
Principle exists to close that gap. We treat the news you're already reading as civic education, connecting each story to the laws, agencies, and tools underneath it. No abstract textbooks. No lectures. Just how government actually functions, and how your voice moves the needle.
US civics education is severely underfunded
Americans were sold citizenship without the instruction manual. Decades of underfunded education left civic knowledge declining and ordinary people locked out of understanding how power actually works.
Understanding government changes everything
When people actually understand how government works, everything shifts. They participate more. They vote. They take action. Research shows it creates voters and engaged citizens that last a lifetime.
Why Principle exists
Your kid has special education services. You're a senior protecting yourself from scams. Your family relies on consumer protections. You see agencies in the news – the Department of Education administering $15 billion in special education funding1, the CFPB protecting seniors from fraud (senior fraud losses hit $3.4 billion in 2023 alone)2 – and you don't understand what they actually do. So when politicians promise to dismantle them, most people don't see the stakes. By the time they realize what was lost – speech therapy gone, protective oversight eliminated, seniors vulnerable to scams – it's too late.
This knowledge gap is deliberate. Decades of underfunded schools and budget cuts that eliminated civics courses. The system doesn't teach how it works because people can't fight back if they don't understand the game.
The day ordinary people understand how power actually works is the day things change. That is the moment when our society can become extraordinary for all. You'll see that regulatory threat coming. You'll know which agency protects your family and which representative to hold accountable. You'll understand the trade-offs and be able to protect what matters to you and your loved ones. And research shows it works: students taught about voting in high school vote at 7 percentage points higher rates in actual elections, and feel empowered to participate in their communities in ways that carry into adulthood.2
So we're building civic education that actually works. We teach how democracy functions by connecting news you're already reading to the civic tools beneath it: laws, agencies, courts, budgets. Plain language. Real examples. No abstract textbooks. Just understanding, which gives you your power back.
Sources
- Cutting the U.S. Department of Education Harms Millions of Students with Disabilities (New America)
- Youth Who Learned About Voting in High School More Likely to Become Informed and Engaged Voters (CIRCLE)
- Older Americans and the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
- How Dismantling the Education Department Could Affect Disabled Students (Urban Institute)
We're not funded by venture capital or government. We're built by people who believe democracy is worth fighting for. Your participation, whether it's learning, sharing, testing, or telling us what we're getting wrong (or getting right), is how this movement grows. Thank you.