Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Mike Gravel: The National Initiative for Democracy
A POPULIST CONCEPT OF DEMOCRACY
“Let the People Decide”
The central power of government in a democracy is lawmaking –– not voting. Those who make the laws determine how, when, and if voters can vote. Florida and Ohio are but recent examples. Governments throughout history have been tools of oppression; they need not be. American citizens can gain control of their government by becoming lawmakers and turning its purpose to public benefit, and stemming government growth––the people are more conservative than their elected officials regardless of political party.
Are the people qualified enough to make laws directly to govern their lives? They’re qualified enough on Election Day to give their power away to political candidates who manipulate the electoral process to get elected. In fact, it’s easier to decide one’s self-interest directly than it is to guess the mind of a representative who will naturally put his or her self-interest first.
More than 70% of the voters already make laws by initiative in twenty-four states and in numerous local communities, and when voting on bond issues referred to them for decision by their representatives––serious lawmaking. American voters have made laws for the last 100 years and their record is as good as their elected legislators––with respect to fiscal matters, the people’s record is far superior.
How do Americans become lawmakers? The Congress is not likely to dilute its power by empowering the people as lawmakers. Therefore, the people themselves must enact the National Initiative for Democracy, a proposed law that empowers them as lawmakers.
The National Initiative is a legislative package sponsored by The Democracy Foundation (www.nationalinitiative.us), a non-profit IRS 501 C (3) corporation that includes an Amendment to the Constitution and a Federal Statute. The Democracy Amendment 1) amends the Constitution asserting the legislative powers of the people, 2) sanctions the national election conducted by the nonprofit corporation Philadelphia II, giving Americans the opportunity to vote on the National Initiative, 3) creates an Electoral Trust (vital to maintain citizen lawmaking independent of representatives) and defines the role of its trustees, and 4) outlaws the use of monies not from natural persons in initiative elections.
The Democracy Act is a proposed federal statute that 1) sets out deliberative legislative procedures (copied from Congress) to be used for initiative lawmaking by citizens in every government jurisdiction of the United States, 2) defines the limited powers of the Electoral Trust that administers the legislative procedures on behalf of the people, and 3) defines the electoral threshold that must be reached for the National Initiative to become the law of the land. It is important to understand that the National Initiative does not alter the existing structure or powers of representative governments. Rather, it adds an additional Check –– the People –– to our system of Checks and Balances, while setting up a working partnership between the people and their elected representatives.
How can American voters amend the Constitution and enact the National Initiative if Congress opposes it? The people must go around all three branches of government to amend the Constitution. There are only two venues within our government structure where constitutions, constitutional amendments, and laws can be enacted into law: the people or their elected representatives. The Framers in Article 7 of the Constitution provided a procedure for We, the People to ratify the Constitution and thereby create our government, but failed to provide procedures for the people to alter the Constitution, even though they repeatedly said the people had the right to change their government as they saw fit. However, the Framers did provide amending procedures for themselves in Article V, thereby perpetuating control of government be elites.
Conventional wisdom now holds that Article V is the only way to amend the Constitution. Article V is how the government amends the Constitution, not how the people do it. If the people had to use Article V to amend the Constitution they would need permission from two-thirds of the Congress and three-fourths of the state legislatures. This would mean that the creator of our government, the people, would have to get permission from their elected representatives, the createes of the people, to amend the Constitution. This logic is ludicrous. The constituent power of the people––the source of all political power––cannot be subject to the power of its creation.
James Madison had it right when he said that the people could just do it. The people can amend the Constitution and make laws as long as the process they employ is fair, transparent and reasonable. The National Initiative, the ongoing people’s legislative procedures, is just that and the national election conducted by Philadelphia II to enact the National Initiative under the precedent of Article 7 is fair, transparent and reasonable. Today’s communication technology permits us to ask all American citizens if they wish to be empowered as lawmakers and if a majority of voters who voted in the last presidential election so affirm–– regardless of the view of those in government––then the National Initiative becomes the law of the land
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Nice high sounding rhetoric Geez, but I see a coupla 'gotchas' already built into the system over the last 100 years;
ReplyDelete...outlaws the use of monies not from natural persons in initiative elections...
#1. "After the Civil War, during the 1870s and 1880s, owners and managers of corporations pressed relentlessly to expand their powers, and the courts gave them what they wanted. Perhaps the most important change occurred when the U.S. Supreme Court granted corporations the full constitutional protections of individual citizens. Congress had written the 14th Amendment to protect the rights of freed slaves, but in an 1886 decision (Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad) this was expanded when the courts declared that no state shall deprive a corporation ". . . of life, liberty or property without due process of law."
That makes corporations 'natural persons', so that negates that particular rule of the Initiative.
#2 This could be argumentative, but ask Highwayman about this one. But in 1933 when the Social Security Act was enacted, a person's birth certificate and the Social Security Cards had the letters capitalized in a person's name, indicating 'property' and again negating a 'natural person's' rights.
I could be wrong in this, but after doing research of the NWO the past two years, these seem to be the case. But ask HW when you talk to him next time, he'll know for sure.
"That makes corporations 'natural persons', so that negates that particular rule of the Initiative."
ReplyDeleteAaargh! Does this mean that the corporate government, that now has ownership of natural entities like GM, can use also monies in iniative elections, er...? I seem to be spinning out here, but what about churches, tax free enterprises, small business,aipac american enterprise institute... oh well. we're screwed by the natural courts and those who own them anyway...G%
I agree with HW about the capitol letters, but the only reason we carried a social security card was so we could remember the number, which worked perfectly well until Homeland Security came along. Nobody needed an ID card, but sometimes bought a blank one at Woolworths and put an address and phone number on it.
My brother still had his in the 1980's and that was all that he carried. He hadn't bothered with a drivers licence for years and never carried a social security card, pretty much what could be refered to as a natural person.
We once got pulled over in a nearby small town, just so the local gestapo could check out two old freaks in an old van. He swaggered up and demanded my drivers licence. I rolled my window down a crack and asked why he pulled me over, and he in no polite terms said that he didn't need a reason. So naturally I refused to hand it over untill he gave me reason for detainment, and he called in another squad car to block us from the back. Any, the hot shot cop walked around to the other side and asked my brother who he was and what he was doing. Micky Mouse & none of your business was the reply, which brought no end of scowling and harassment, such as could be done through the window being rolled down about one inch, so my brother finally handed him his ID card. At this point the cops didn't know whether to Sh*t or go blind but had to try to keep their cool, so they finally backed off and let us go.
BTW, I called the police chief the next day, who agreed with me and had a talk with them...
I have another story, about Glider George, a dropped out probation officer, who was the driver of a car full of stoned freaks, and could roll joints with one hand while he was driving the glider. It was one of those huge station wagons from the 1960's. He got out, walked over to the police car, put his hands on top, and read himself his rights. The cops looked at each other, and said, just get out of here... G:
.
ReplyDeleteYeah. The initiative process has worked so well for California!
There should be more direct democracy, everywhere. But without a good educational system, an honest independent press, truly representative political Parties to carry out the results of the intiatives, and the removal of all corporate money from trhe process, it's no solution by itself.
.
Aaargh! Does this mean that the corporate government, that now has ownership of natural entities like GM, can use also monies in iniative elections, er...?
ReplyDeleteYessiree, you betcha, that's exactly what it means!
Like CN says, unless you get all corpo-script out of the process, no intiative is gonna make a difference!
Well said CN. Looking at what's really happening to Democracy ,from a global perspective, we have the stolen election in Iran. The only repercussion the people have there is to to take it to the streets.
ReplyDelete"Yessiree, you betcha, that's exactly what it means!"
ReplyDeleteThanks for the profound revelation dad,but I think you'll agree that there isn't the chance of an Indian in a lying contest of stopping the money machine unless Obama takes up the robe and the beggars bowl...G%
.
ReplyDeleteIran. Yeah. That's the "mob" our Founders were so afraid of. They can really upset a few apple-carts. The problem is sustaining it, peacefully, and not being put down, co-opted or sidetracked. The Internet may offer some hope for direct democracy without disorder. But it will be hard to keep it honest, and education has to come, first.
.
"But it will be hard to keep it honest, and education has to come, first."
ReplyDeleteYep, honesty, especially when it comes to educated shumans, is the shadow gubmints worst nightmare. The current historical twitter that is documenting our current events must somehow be documented before the history is rewritten. Imo, there will be increased efforts to put valves and filters on the innertubes, like in China