About Operation Abigail
To have a commonwealth, the commons must have the wealth.
A Project of the Adams Institute
Operation Abigail is the flagship initiative of the Adams Institute for the Preservation of the Democratic-Republican Model of Government, a nonpartisan institution dedicated to designing constitutional-scale reforms that strengthen the American republic.
The Institute may propose additional amendments in the future focused on structural constitutional matters. But we begin with Operation Abigail because the most urgent threat to the republican model of government lies in the realm of constitutional political economy.
Our republic cannot function when the economic foundations that support broad citizenship are collapsing.
That is why our first proposal targets the structural imbalance of wealth and power that now endangers the constitutional order itself.
Our Mission
The middle class should own at least half the wealth.
Operation Abigail exists to restore the broad American middle class to its central role in our political economy.
We seek to implement a single, curative constitutional amendment that realigns national incentives because we recognize the two cardinal lessons of economic and political history:
By tying the fortunes of the ultra-rich to the wellbeing of the median household, Operation Abigail aims to restore balance, rebuild mobility, and stabilize the republic.
Why This Amendment Comes First
Preserve the republic. Protect the middle class. Amend the Constitution.
The Adams Institute recognizes that our constitutional framework is enduring, but increasingly strained. Even with proper enforcement, modern pressures -including expanded executive authority, politicized pardons, eroding federalism, and public distrust – are stressing the system in ways that call for careful, structural attention.
But all of these problems share a deeper structural cause: the collapse of America’s middle class and the extreme concentration of wealth that now distorts political life.
This is a constitutional problem, not merely an economic one.
Thus, constitutional political economy is the most urgent battleground, and Operation Abigail is the amendment designed to win the war.
Only after the economic foundations of the republic are stabilized can other constitutional reforms take root.
What Operation Abigail Does
No gains for the middle, no gains for the top.
Relationship to the Adams Institute
The Adams Institute: An American Foundry for Constitutional Amendments.
The Adams Institute for the Preservation of the Democratic-Republican Model of Government exists to preserve the republican model of government in the United States through constitutional-level, durable, structural corrections.
Operation Abigail is its first and most urgent project because:
The word res, every one knows, signified in the Roman language wealth, riches, property; the word publicus, quasi populicus, and per syncope pôplicus, signified public, common, belonging to the people; res publica, therefore, was publica res, the wealth, riches, or property of the people. Res populi, and the original meaning of the word republic could be no other than a government in which the property of the people predominated and governed; and it had more relation to property than liberty.
Once Operation Abigail is complete, the Institute will continue its work on other constitutional amendments, but none can succeed until the middle class is restored.
Leadership
Patriots Dedicated to Renewing the American Commonwealth.
Tim Ferguson (Founder, Director)
Tim founded the Adams Institute in 2020 to serve as the legal home of the Amendment, which he first conceived in 2019 and refined over the next five years through extensive research and more than 50 essays. He brings two decades of experience as a corporate attorney and student of history. Tim holds a B.A. in Political Science from The Citadel and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law.
John R. Taylor, Jr. (Advisor)
John is an expert in macroeconomics, global finance, and historical economic cycles. He is CEO of Taylor Global Vision and previously founded FX Concepts, once the largest foreign currency exchange hedge fund in the world. John has served as Chairman of the Board of Franklin University Switzerland (Trustee Emeritus) and holds a PhD honoris causa from the institution. He studied political science at UNC Chapel Hill (ABD) and earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.
David Gore (Advisor)
David is a professor of rhetoric and public affairs, specializing in history, political economy, and constitutional theory. He serves on the faculty of the University of Minnesota Duluth and previously chaired the Communication Department. David holds a PhD in Rhetoric & Public Affairs from Texas A&M University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming.
Mike Ball (Advisor)
Mike is a retired Alabama legislator, Marine veteran, and former Alabama State Trooper and ABI investigator. He served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 2002 to 2022, where he authored Amendment No. 8 to the Alabama Constitution, tying legislative pay to the state’s median household income. Mike continues to promote civic responsibility and independent thinking through public service and writing.
For full biographies, please see our Leadership page.
Our Commitment
Operation Abigail could make it happen.
Operation Abigail continues until one tangible goal is achieved:
The middle class owns at least half of our nation’s wealth, guaranteed through a constitutional amendment.
After that, the project has been completed, and the Adams Institute will focus on its next constitutional reform.
