Before we launched the project, I knew that the American people were fed up with the size of government and the culture of spending that has become the norm in Washington. What I didn’t fully anticipate, however, was the level of grassroots intensity that YouCut elicited. During the first week of the project, our website averaged more than 3,000 votes cast an hour and a total of 281,000 votes cast. Since that time, the intensity surrounding the project has not dissipated.

Currently, more than 500,000 votes have been cast and 30,000 people have emailed spending reduction ideas of their own. While these numbers have been incredibly encouraging, what’s been even more assuring is where these votes have been coming from: less than one percent originated from inside the beltway.