Democracy...now !

Welcome to democracynow.com, where democracy is the focus; our democracy, our freedom, our future. I have an idea about saving our freedoms and our America, with your help and support.

My idea is to institute democracy in America, and to do it now. Here's what I mean...

---

My name is Bill Quinn and I created democracynow.com for one reason; to preserve our freedom. It sounds complicated and maybe a little impossible, but its not.

Our America has evolved in many ways since its beginning so many years ago. And as our America has evolved in many ways, so too has the structure and operation of our federal government, but in many ways, not for the better.

Right now, if you have power or money or power and money, you can have direct access to the representatives that the rest of us elected to represent all of us, in good faith. On a practical level, this means that those with power or money get access and often, get what they want. This is all fine and good for the powerful and the moneyed, but it does little for the rest of us. And when those with power and money get what they want, the results are most often funded from our pockets, not their pockets, and frequently at the expense of some freedom.

And no matter how good or just or motivated or focused or determined the people are that we elect to represent us, after just a few years in Washington, they are just as arrogant, unreachable, and out of touch as the representatives that had been there before them.

How does this happen? There are lot of reasons that this happens, but I suggest there is only one thing that we can do to change this culture that has lead us to bankruptcy and to the loss of so many of our cherished, hard won freedoms; democracy now.

Yes, that’s right; democracy.

While we like to think we have a democracy, we do not have a democracy; the United States is a republic. And in a republic, elected officials decide, without any real voter oversight or approval, what ever it is that they want to approve and implement, day, after day, after day.

Isn’t this very similar to what we left in England? And while it may not have started this way so many years ago, this is what it has become; a group of elected elites that cannot and are not held accountable for their actions, and know it, except on election day. In this day and age, this is just way too much control to give to anyone.

Our representatives learn quickly that they will only be held accountable on election day, and as a result, they can, and do, pretty much whatever the rich and powerful want them to do, on all the days between one election day and the next. This is how things go so wrong in Washington and how things have gotten so far out of control.

If we instituted democracy, now, we can fix these issues.

This is how I envision our new democracy in action; once a year, say on September 30, which is the end of the federal fiscal year, all eligible citizens will be able to vote on every piece of legislation, funding, earmark, executive order, and/or other changes and/or modifications our legislators and/or president have made or passed in the preceding year. If the citizens approve each change by a simple majority vote, the change is enacted. If not, the change is discarded. If the change has to do with funding, and the new level of funding is not approved, the old level of funding will remain in effect until a new level, be it higher to lower, is finally approved by a simple majority vote of the people. And if taxes are raised, a sixty (60) percent vote of the people will be required.

For security and other reasons, there will be, and must be, exceptions to this implementation of democracy. National defense and some other issues will require the immediate action of the President and/or the Congress and will be implemented without a vote or the people, but if the Courts embrace the freedoms we all hope to save and advance, these exceptions will be few, far between, and most likely, will come up for a full vote of the people at some time not too long after implementation.

The lobbyists will still lobby, the rich and powerful will still have way more access than we could ever imagine, and our elected representatives will make deals for their powerful friends, but at the end of the day, no matter what bogus legislation and ridiculous funding bills are passed by Congress and signed by the President, if we, the people, do not pass each change with a simple majority vote, the change dies on the vine.

So there you have my solution; democracy. No longer a republic that people just think is a democracy, but a real, live, democracy by the people. We, the people, get to vote on everything and we would have to approve everything.

And yes, this idea, like all ideas, will have its pitfalls, but if we, the people, have the authority to accept or reject any actions that Congress and the President approve, the balance of power will swing back to the people in a big, and meaningful way. How good does that sound?

With democracy, now, I can see a new, freer, more exciting America on the horizon.

Are you with me?

Tell me in the forum.

Bill Quinn
Founder, democracynow.com
Anchorage, Alaska

July 21, 2007