If our elected officials aren't delivering the government we deserve, stop giving them the only currency that keeps them in power: our votes.
Sign your name below to solemnly join fellow citizens in holding incumbent politicians accountable.
"I, , do hereby affirm that I believe in and desire a better and more effective US federal government. I admit that our present contingent of elected officials is flawed and corrupted by private campaign financing and vow to cast NO votes for incumbent (present) candidates until such time as I feel that we, the people, have a government that responds to the will of the people and is actively and primarily engaged in that work."
I'm not tracking you, don't want you to register and won't be trying to hold you accountable for upholding the pledge. This isn't a petition and I'm not trying to scare your representatives into changing—they'll only get that message when and if they start losing elections. There's no forum here or discussions here. It's about latching hold of an idea with the power to fundamentally change things if enough people believe in it.
Only you will determine how seriously you take it and when and if you'll go back to voting for incumbents.
Not sure who currently represents you in Congress? Enter your 5-digit ZIP code or select your state to look up your incumbent Senators and House Representative.
This isn't pie-in-the-sky idealism. It's simple game theory aimed directly at how politics actually works today.
The Problem: Most congressional districts are drawn so one party always wins. Incumbents in these seats don't fear general elections—they only fear primary attacks from extremists in their own party.
The Fix: When voters commit to voting against incumbents across party lines, even "safe" seats suddenly become unpredictable. It strips away the armor that gerrymandering gives to career politicians.
The Problem: Modern politics runs on "lesser-of-two-evils" fear. Candidates tell you, "I might suck, but the other guy is worse!" That lets incumbents do a terrible job forever as long as they scare you enough.
The Fix: An unconditional pledge creates a real, non-negotiable consequence. When representatives know their time is strictly limited unless they actually perform, they can't hide behind partisan fear tactics anymore.
The Problem: Politicians spend half their lives on the phone begging mega-donors for cash so they can flood television with attack ads.
The Fix: Money only matters if it buys votes. If voters refuse to vote for incumbents, ad spending hits a wall. Raising $15 million vs $2 million stops guaranteeing a win, making donor money far less powerful.
The Problem: People say incumbents have "experience." But after 20 years in Washington, that experience usually just means knowing which lobbyists to lunch with and how to play procedural games.
The Fix: Regular turnover brings in real people—teachers, small business owners, engineers, nurses—whose main life experiences come from the real world, not decades in a political bubble.
The Problem: Politicians are terrified to negotiate across the aisle because party hardliners will fund a primary challenger to kick them out.
The Fix: When politicians know holding office is a brief stint of public service rather than a 30-year career, they don't have to live in fear of party purists. They can focus on solving real problems.
The Problem: Running against an entrenched incumbent backed by super PACs requires millions of dollars, scaring away ordinary citizens who want to serve.
The Fix: Showing that incumbents can actually lose encourages good, qualified neighbors in your community to step up and run for office.
Everything you need to know about the bumsout.us philosophy, why it works, and how to put it into practice.
Bumsout.us isn't an organization (they're too easy to infiltrate), it isn't a movement (they're too easy to derail)—it's an idea and a pledge, and a pretty basic one at that.
The premise is very simple: the American political system has been corrupted. There's so little sense in quibbling about who did it, why they did it, how they did it, or even if they meant to do it. Those things are interesting but academic—the answers don't get us any closer to the solution. They seem to just keep distracting us from the reality that we're getting worse government than we deserve.
Bums out! is about what I think is the answer. The people who hold elected office do so at the pleasure of the citizenry that elected them. If we don't like the job they're doing—and based on congressional approval ratings we don't—then we just throw them out. That's easier said than done, and to really make a difference it'll take more than a few scattered individuals to withdraw their support. We have to STOP re-electing the entrenched career politicians who are beholden every day of their political lives to the money and donors who fund their campaigns.
I'm not here to quibble either about which party or which politician is worse and who's at fault for the current situation. Let's just face facts and for the sake of simplicity conclude that everyone is at fault. If the people who hold office right now aren't part of the problem, then maybe they lack the strength of character, tactics, and determination to thwart those who are.
The power of this answer lies in the fact that politicians take money and donations as an interim step to getting the thing they really need to stay in power—our votes. If we refuse steadfastly to give them to the people in office, it stops mattering how much money they can raise and spend. The newly elected people will take office having spent less (potentially having compromised less to raise that money) and hopefully with the realization that their re-election isn't helped by raising money during their term of office. In the ideal case, the newly minted reps get that the only way to continue in office is to start really doing the people's work and doing it together—because if they collectively can't get it together, well, it's just another round of Bums out!
If you're an American citizen with the right to vote and you're fed up with how things are going:
If you're an incumbent Senator or Congressperson who's spending as much or more time on the phone wringing money out of donors and taking lunches with lobbyists and special interest groups than you do listening to your constituents or working for causes that you and they care about, then I've got bad news for you: You suck! If this idea takes off, that's going to be the end for your political career unless you'd like to get back in line for the next cycle. The good news, though, about finding out that you suck is that you can decide to change and stop sucking. Here are a few humble suggestions:
If you take any or all of these suggestions and you still find yourself out of a job, you'll at least retire believing you did your best and console yourself with the idea that you're making way for someone else who might be able to get the job done better than you could. There's no shame in that. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
If you're already spending all of your waking hours, energy, and time on doing the country's business and not thinking about or working towards your next election, then I want to say "thank you"—I appreciate your effort, but it appears that it fell short. I wish there was a good way to tell you apart from your lesser brethren, but there really isn't—at least in a way that gives this idea a reasonable shot of success. Like your flawed but repentant brethren, I'd suggest that if you find yourself on the wrong side of an election because Bums out! worked, that you just get back in line for the next election or run for a different office. If everyone sticks to their pledge and the situation doesn't improve, there's bound to be more positions opening up.
If you're taking the pledge and following through, you're already doing the most important thing. The second most important thing would be to spread the idea. If you're on social media, post a link to the site. I'm not in this for any kind of notoriety, I'm not taking any donations, and I'm sure not throwing up banner ads. For me, the idea is king. If you've got a different or new way of packaging this up or explaining it to your friends or family, go for it. I just ask that you don't quote me out of context and respect the copyright on the site.