Elizabeth A. Fitzgibbon
~Candidate for U.s. Congress, Wisconsin's 6th district~
transparency. accountability. prosperity.
The Independent for Independence
I’m not a career politician. I’m a mother, a neighbor, and a Litigant for Liberty who has been through the fire and come out with a clearer understanding of where the system is broken—and how to fix it.
When I took my landmark family law case to the U.S. Supreme Court, I wasn’t just defending my own rights—I was auditing the system for yours. By navigating the domestic relations framework from the inside, I began to notice a pattern: When incentives shift, government institutions can move beyond protecting the family and begin to shape outcomes in ways that do not always serve the families they were intended to protect.
This is where my journey meets yours. The breakdown I encountered in the courtroom reflects the same pressures people are feeling across the country. Whether it is power exercised without jurisdiction, the erosion of privacy and control over your personal data in an increasingly AI-driven world, or an economic system that steadily reduces the value of your labor, these issues are often treated as separate. In reality, they are not—they are different expressions of the same underlying imbalance.
The Founders anticipated this tension. As James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 51, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Government is not the problem by definition—but because it is administered by man, it must be constrained. When those constraints are not enforced, authority does not remain neutral—it expands.
That is what we are experiencing now. The system built around our constitutional framework is, in critical areas, operating outside of its intended boundaries—without sufficient constraint, transparency, or accountability. When those limits are not enforced, deviation becomes normalized and harm sets in. What we are facing is not a failure of ideals, but a failure of alignment—a gap between the constitutional framework that was established and the way power is currently being exercised in practice.
This campaign is a direct response to that gap. It is an audit of where and how those deviations have occurred—across both government and the broader system it shapes—and a commitment to restoring the structure that was intended. That means reestablishing enforceable limits on power, rebuilding transparency where it has been lost, and ensuring that government once again operates within its proper jurisdiction—strong enough to protect our individual rights, but constrained enough to never override them. That is how we secure not only our own prosperity, but the conditions necessary for future generations to exercise theirs.
Why I’m Running as an Independent:
Escaping the Party Box
The Crisis of the Status Quo
The American household is increasingly under strain, in part because the systems meant to resolve problems are often structured to manage them instead—keeping them active, ongoing, and available to be repurposed for political leverage within the confines of the two-party system. While both sides promise relief, the structure they operate within consistently treats symptoms while leaving root causes in place, allowing the same problems to persist in different forms.
Breaking the Cycle: Why Independence Matters
This dynamic is not accidental; it is reinforced by the architecture of the two-party system itself. As long as political energy remains confined to a “Left vs. Right” divide, the underlying incentives that drive our systemic failures remain untouched.
That is why meaningful resolution remains out of reach. Division is not just a byproduct of the system; it is the mechanism that sustains it. By keeping the public focused on a horizontal battle, the system avoids a vertical audit of its own power.
Running as an Independent is not a compromise between two sides—it is a position outside of those constraints. It is the only vantage point from which the governing structure can be viewed with clarity. From this perspective, the objective is clear: to enforce the constitutional limits that protect the rights of the Individual.
A Disciplined Path Forward
As your Representative, I will bring a consistent, ground-up analysis to every piece of legislation. My focus is not on partisan optics, but on transparency, accountability, and real-world prosperity.
Through my Two-Step Audit, I will systematically identify the bureaucratic bloat and unconstitutional “legalities” that have encroached upon our households—and work to bring them back within constitutional limits.
I am not here to manage a failing structure, but to restore the constraints that were intended to govern it and return government to its proper bounds, for those limits are not optional—they are the condition that makes liberty possible.
The Two-Step Audit: A Forensic Standard for Washington
Too often, policy in Washington is shaped within a framework that rewards short-term responses over lasting resolution—producing a patchwork of reactive “fixes” that distort incentives, expand bureaucracy, and erode the foundation of our Republic.
My approach to governance prioritizes sound structure over political convenience.
Before a solution is debated, the foundation must be examined. If the underlying structure is flawed, any “fix” applied to it will compound the problem over time. My Two-Step Audit is a disciplined framework designed to ensure that every legislative action is grounded in proper authority and produces clear, accountable results.
Step 1: The Constitutional North Star (The Guardrail)
Before the merits of any policy are debated, it must pass the Alignment Test: Does the Constitution specifically authorize this action?
If a bill is not rooted in enumerated powers, it exceeds its constitutional authority. We cannot negotiate on our foundation. If the federal government lacks the legal authority to act, the perceived benefits of the legislation are irrelevant. The Constitution is not a suggestion; it is the limit.
Step 2: The Five Forensic Filters (The People's Shield)
Once constitutional authority is established, every measure must be evaluated against a consistent standard to ensure it fulfills the central purpose of a free government: securing the Individual in the exercise of their rights.
As the Founders understood, these rights extend beyond property. They include the freedom of thought, the use of one’s faculties, the direction of one’s labor, and the security of one’s person. A legitimate government does not define these rights—it is instituted to protect them.
The Five Forensic Filters translate that principle into practice. They provide a clear, repeatable standard for determining whether an action of government preserves the Individual’s ability to live, work, think, and act freely—or whether it begins to extend beyond that proper role.
1. The Principle of Physical Integrity (The Boundary of the Person)
This filter ensures that citizens remain free from the initiation of force concerning their own bodies. Whether through mandates, surveillance, or interference with personal autonomy, government exists to protect the person—not to direct or control them
2. The Principle of Financial Integrity (The Protection of Labor)
The ability to benefit from one’s own labor is a core expression of individual rights. This filter evaluates whether policies preserve or erode the value derived from work. When systemic forces diminish that value—whether through the instability of the currency or the excessive diversion of resources—the system does not just impact a bank account; it consumes the time and effort an individual invested to earn it. Any mechanism that structurally reduces the reward of labor undermines the Individual’s ability to direct their own life.
3. The Principle of Economic Liberty (The Standard of Voluntary Exchange)
This filter ensures that individuals can participate in economic life without favored monopolies, coerced participation, or artificial barriers. Government’s role is to maintain a fair and open framework—not to engineer outcomes or restrict the use of one’s faculties.
4. The Principle of Defensive Sovereignty (The Standard of Security)
This filter ensures that force is exercised exclusively for the protection of our borders, our stability, and the rights of citizens. Power projected beyond these defensive ends risks turning outward strength into inward overreach—sacrificing the security of the Individual for the interests of the system.
5. The Principle of Administrative Integrity (The Standard of Accountability)
Because government derives its authority from the people, no agency or official stands above the law. This filter ensures that every action is transparent, reviewable, and strictly authorized by the Individual’s representatives. When power is shielded from scrutiny or delegated to un-elected bodies, it ceases to be a protector and becomes a Master.
250 Years of Independence: A New Declaration for Our Future
In our nation’s 250th year, we are called to do more than celebrate our founding; we are called to reclaim the conditions that made it possible. For too long, the two-party system has treated your rights as negotiable and your voice as a footnote, creating a cycle where government failure is met with more government power. Rather than addressing root causes, each response expands authority while leaving the underlying problem unresolved.
The choice in 2026 is no longer a horizontal shift between “Left” and “Right,” but a vertical restoration of the Constitution as a binding limit on power. We must remember that the Individual is not a participant in the system—the Individual is the reason the system exists. Therefore, government performance must be measured by a single, uncompromising metric: whether its actions leave you more in control of your life, or less. Any system that responds to its own failures by seizing more authority is not correcting itself; it is reinforcing a state of permanent crisis.
You deserve a different outcome—one in which government operates within clear, enforceable boundaries so that you may exercise your own judgment and benefit from the fruits of your own labor. If we return to that standard, the next 250 years will be defined by transparency, accountability, and prosperity, rather than managed decline. The first 250 years secured our nation, but the next 250 depend on whether we restore independence where it matters most—the Individual.
