What Is the Pitchfork Party?

The Pitchfork Party is not a traditional political party. It is a knowledge document in Marla.AI.

Its purpose is to identify the issues where a broad majority of Americans—roughly 60% to 80%—already share common ground, and to build a practical framework around those areas of agreement.

Our belief is simple: while politics often focuses on division, there are many important issues where Americans agree far more than they disagree. Those shared priorities deserve just as much attention.

Measuring Positions, Not Labels

One of the first goals of the Pitchfork Party is to create a detailed knowledge base that documents where elected officials and candidates stand on important issues.

Rather than reducing people to simple labels like “liberal” or “conservative,” we want to capture nuance.

For each issue, we imagine a spectrum of opinion—from strong support, to ally, to mixed, to uncertain, to opposition. Instead of asking whether someone is simply “for” or “against” an issue, we want to understand where they actually fall and why.

This also requires asking better questions than politics typically asks today. We want candidates to put their positions in writing and explain them in enough detail that voters can make informed comparisons.

One Audience

Modern campaigns often tailor different messages to different audiences. Candidates may speak one way to business leaders, another way to environmental groups, another to LGBTQ+ organizations, and another to labor unions.

The Pitchfork Party asks candidates to attempt something much more difficult.

Imagine there is only one audience.

What would your platform look like if everyone heard exactly the same message? What would you say if you couldn’t customize your answers depending on who was in the room?

We believe that exercise encourages greater consistency, transparency, and accountability.

Politics as a Job Interview

Voting is, in many ways, hiring.

Instead of thinking only in terms of campaigns and parties, we also think of elections as a job interview.

Citizens are the employers.

Candidates are applying for a position of public trust.

The Pitchfork Party explores how candidates approach problem solving, how they communicate, how they explain difficult tradeoffs, and how they would perform if hired to do the work.

The emphasis is less on political theater and more on competence, preparation, and decision-making.

Data, Not Drama

Another core principle is simple:

Data over drama.

Rather than framing every public issue as a partisan conflict, we want to examine problems through measurable information.

Housing provides a good example.

Instead of beginning with political arguments, we begin with data:

• Land availability
• Property ownership
• Infrastructure
• Financing
• Tax policy
• Zoning
• Construction costs

By looking carefully at the underlying information, practical solutions often become easier to identify. Sometimes the answer is not ideological at all—it is simply hidden within the data.

Our goal is to help people identify those “low-hanging fruit” opportunities that can make a meaningful difference.

Better Voter Education

The Pitchfork Party also includes a voter education component.

We are developing “voter cards” that help people clarify what they actually want from government.

Many voters know they are dissatisfied but struggle to articulate exactly what policies or priorities matter most to them. Rather than telling people what to believe, we want to provide tools that help them express their own values and compare those values against candidates’ stated positions.

The goal is to make voting a more informed and thoughtful process.

Choosing Common Ground

Not every issue belongs in the Pitchfork Party.

When the country is deeply divided on an issue, we generally set it aside.

This is a deliberate design choice, not a statement about the importance of those issues.

The purpose of this project is to strengthen collaboration by concentrating on areas where broad agreement already exists. We believe that starting with common ground creates opportunities for progress that polarization often prevents.

People remain free to organize around other issues through other organizations or political parties. The Pitchfork Party simply has a different mission.

Following the Money

Another area of interest is public budgeting.

Large public institutions often manage enormous budgets, yet many residents still feel that basic needs remain unmet.

Modern AI tools make it increasingly possible to analyze complex budget documents, identify spending patterns, and help citizens understand where public money actually goes.

Rather than relying on assumptions, we want to encourage evidence-based conversations about budgets, priorities, and public investment.

Why “Pitchfork”?

The name comes from the image of ordinary people carrying pitchforks and torches—not as a call for violence, but as a symbol of public accountability.

It is also inspired by the 2014 essay by billionaire venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, who warned that growing economic inequality would eventually lead to “the pitchforks.” Today he is on LinkedIn proposing some kind of bullshit solution led by billionaires.

It’s over, buddy. We now know who the billionaires are, how much they have, and how much they evade taxes. Again, like other Pitchfork Party issue, the one thing we agree on: tax the rich. 18 million from Elon Musk for digital infrastructure in Africa. Novo Nordisk Foundation – 250 billion – 8.8 billion goes to UNHCR to help 20 million refugees this year.

Instead of waiting for public frustration to become destructive, we want to channel it into knowledge, transparency, and practical problem solving.

Someone said, “So you’re like Robin Hood.” I said “Except we’re not robbing anyone, we’re taking back what’s ours.”

Its purpose is not to tell people what to think.

Its purpose is to help people understand problems more deeply, compare ideas more honestly, and make decisions based on evidence rather than outrage.