America
has never been a democracy. The United States is a representative
Republic. Actually a bastardized one: 2 senators per State makes the
people in high population states less represented than small
population states. But we've never been, nor does the government
claim to be, a democracy. The constitution mandates representative
government, Article One states that "All legislative
powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United
States,which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."
It then goes on to describe how the representatives are to be
selected and what their qualifications must be. At no time was Actual
Democracy even contemplated by the founding fathers. They would
follow England's example of bicameral houses and people voting for
representatives to make the laws "for the people", "for
the good of the people". And, by nature, for the benefit of the
representatives, their class, their party, religion, businesses and
business associates, their Party, and their supporters, both material
and philosophic. Rousseau call elected representative
governments 'elected aristocracy'. And they are.
People will never be free and equal until they determine, directly, by conscious consideration, and open debate what laws they choose to live under and then vote on those laws with the full knowledge that the majority of the voting citizenry may not agree them and they may well loose the vote but that their vote "COUNTED", counted as much as the next guys. Some others, some 'special' others, vote did not count more, did not carry more weight, had equal weight, equal influence, and had equal value.
Political freedom is not to express ones ideas, it is to have your expressed opinion expressed as a vote on the very laws you live under, it is to have the equal force, the equal power, in deciding the country's fate, as powerful as any other voice and vote made by any other person in the nation. There is only one civil right, the right to vote on determining the common fate of the country which includes how the treasure of the nation is to be spent in determining that fate. The consequence of that right, the right to freely express an opinion, and then vote on the contents of that opinion is political freedom and political equality.
The people are human so they are fallible,weak, easily led, overly emotional, overly self-seeking, not to be trusted. But you are one of the people and I am one of the people. We share the same flawed human nature and are as corruptible and flawed as anyone else. We can only hope, hope and believe, that the common sense of the majority of 200,000,000 American voters is keen enough, caring enough, honest enough, moral, and determined to work for the common good as hard as we work for our personal good, and they will not let their votes be spent enriching the lives of a few instead of enriching the lives of the many, or of all of us. Jefferson's inherent belief in the judgement and integrity of 'the people' has proven correct time after time in this nation. And after study, research, debate, criticism, we have chosen the path of extending our limited political powers, limited by the filter of representatives and the abuse of power that naturally entails, to more and more people of the nation, to make it a "more perfect Union". This next evolution of extending the political power of individuals away from voting for representative and voting for the laws themselves is a step into Actual Democracy, political freedom and political equality. We have previously approached this objective. We now have the means to bring it to fruition. We merely need to remember, to recall, to relearn the lessons of our national philosophy: All men are created equal: we have the genomes; endowed by their Creator, whether you believe that to be a God or Evolution driven by genetics and natural Selection; with certain inalienable rights, among which are life; but we must struggle for the necessities of life; Liberty, which we must not let be defined and determined by a few of us but agree that it means we are free to express an opinion and then vote on it in an open selection; and the pursuit of happiness: where we struggle for the necessities of life for ourselves and our families and demand fair access to the opportunities that exist in our nation. We have striven as a nation, toward these goals, and we have approached them, at times, in our common efforts. This next step, the step into Actual Democracy, will bring us closer to those ends.
In what was called the American Experiment, an experiment in governance, we now have the added factor of technology, of geosynchronous communication satellites, smart phones, millions of transistors on ever smaller and faster chips. We can debate constantly and continuously. And we do. We have started voting on the best entertainers on Television shows. We debate and we vote. We must simply turn to debating and voting on the laws we will live under. A Constitution Amendment is needed,something like this:
People will never be free and equal until they determine, directly, by conscious consideration, and open debate what laws they choose to live under and then vote on those laws with the full knowledge that the majority of the voting citizenry may not agree them and they may well loose the vote but that their vote "COUNTED", counted as much as the next guys. Some others, some 'special' others, vote did not count more, did not carry more weight, had equal weight, equal influence, and had equal value.
Political freedom is not to express ones ideas, it is to have your expressed opinion expressed as a vote on the very laws you live under, it is to have the equal force, the equal power, in deciding the country's fate, as powerful as any other voice and vote made by any other person in the nation. There is only one civil right, the right to vote on determining the common fate of the country which includes how the treasure of the nation is to be spent in determining that fate. The consequence of that right, the right to freely express an opinion, and then vote on the contents of that opinion is political freedom and political equality.
The people are human so they are fallible,weak, easily led, overly emotional, overly self-seeking, not to be trusted. But you are one of the people and I am one of the people. We share the same flawed human nature and are as corruptible and flawed as anyone else. We can only hope, hope and believe, that the common sense of the majority of 200,000,000 American voters is keen enough, caring enough, honest enough, moral, and determined to work for the common good as hard as we work for our personal good, and they will not let their votes be spent enriching the lives of a few instead of enriching the lives of the many, or of all of us. Jefferson's inherent belief in the judgement and integrity of 'the people' has proven correct time after time in this nation. And after study, research, debate, criticism, we have chosen the path of extending our limited political powers, limited by the filter of representatives and the abuse of power that naturally entails, to more and more people of the nation, to make it a "more perfect Union". This next evolution of extending the political power of individuals away from voting for representative and voting for the laws themselves is a step into Actual Democracy, political freedom and political equality. We have previously approached this objective. We now have the means to bring it to fruition. We merely need to remember, to recall, to relearn the lessons of our national philosophy: All men are created equal: we have the genomes; endowed by their Creator, whether you believe that to be a God or Evolution driven by genetics and natural Selection; with certain inalienable rights, among which are life; but we must struggle for the necessities of life; Liberty, which we must not let be defined and determined by a few of us but agree that it means we are free to express an opinion and then vote on it in an open selection; and the pursuit of happiness: where we struggle for the necessities of life for ourselves and our families and demand fair access to the opportunities that exist in our nation. We have striven as a nation, toward these goals, and we have approached them, at times, in our common efforts. This next step, the step into Actual Democracy, will bring us closer to those ends.
In what was called the American Experiment, an experiment in governance, we now have the added factor of technology, of geosynchronous communication satellites, smart phones, millions of transistors on ever smaller and faster chips. We can debate constantly and continuously. And we do. We have started voting on the best entertainers on Television shows. We debate and we vote. We must simply turn to debating and voting on the laws we will live under. A Constitution Amendment is needed,something like this:
1.
The legislative function of the United States shall be performed
directly by the people according to legislation that the people
enact.
2.
The right of citizens to directly vote for the laws under which they
live shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State.
Go
to http://www.assosactualdemocracy.com. Join in the struggle. Support
it. Make it happen.
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