The Problem

The Constitution established a government accountable to the people, with limited powers and a system of checks and balances designed to restrain government growth and protect individual liberty. Those principles helped create the conditions for unprecedented freedom and prosperity, yet the size, scope, and cost of government have expanded far beyond the limits our Founders envisioned. Rising spending, debt, unfunded liabilities, and an ever-growing regulatory state threaten both our nation’s fiscal stability and the constitutional principles of limited government. Simply put, we do not need this level of government, and we cannot afford it.

The Solution

Restoring limited government ultimately depends on the lawmakers elected to represent us, yet understanding how those lawmakers actually vote is no simple task. Thousands of complex bills, amendments, and procedural votes move through Congress and state legislatures each year, making it nearly impossible for the average citizen to evaluate an elected official’s full record. Legislative indexes bridge that gap by translating complex policy into accessible information and providing a transparent measure of where lawmakers stand.

ILA was established to bring that transparency to the liberty movement. Through the Limited Government Index and our legislative database, ILA analyzes policy and voting records across Congress and the 50 state legislatures, evaluating lawmakers against the enduring limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution. Rather than shifting with political personalities or changing priorities, our standard remains the same: the constitutional principles of limited government.