Lin19

We have representative democracy and have had it for over 250 years.. Now I think it is time to move to a more direct democracy with more participation by the people who are citizens eligible to v**e.
To do this we need to return to an idea first put forward by some of our founding fathers. House of Representatives should be terms of 3 years with e******ns each year so that a third of the House and a sixth of the Senate is elected each year. In addition citizens should be able to put forward laws via a system and allow everyone to v**e on them.

tombrady

true democracy doesnt work because it allows the majority to deny rights of the minority.. california is an example.. they are allowed to make laws by v**e and what do they do.. huge spending bills and tax cuts. the 47% ers could pass laws that say "hey more money for me and less for you taxpayers"

Lin19

True democracy allows all citizens to have an equal voice in running the government. While some things maybe difficult allowing the citizens to propose laws and v**e on these laws is the only way to have a freer and honest government. There can be safe guards put in place to protect against errors.
For example on laws as with candidates in the primary a petition with a certain number of signatures would allow a law to be considered. A statement of what the law is with discussion of pro and con arguments about the proposed law would be sent to each v**er. Those laws winning the most v**es in the primary would advance to the regular e******n. V**ers could then v**e to pass or reject the law. All new laws would be in effect for 5 years when it would come up again for approval. If approved it would be permanent, if not confirmed it would stop being a law.
Also all laws made whether by citizens or the congress should have a budget attached and where the money would come from to support the law. Too many times, politicians v**e for a popular law so that they can say they supported it, then v**e against funding thus making it a meaningless law. They do this to claim they favor something popular when in reality they don't. By combining the law and the funding for it then politicians can not lie about their real v**e and the people would see the cost of the law when they v**e on it.
Many times people want something, but the representatives will not do it because a few rich individuals give them money to oppose it. By having the people v**e directly on the laws it gives the v**ers more direct control over their lives.
There are countless cases of this happening. Just look at surveys of opinion of the people versus what laws are passed that have no wide spread support, but only a minority of rich or powerful individuals want it. In our present system there are even cases where only one or two powerful individuals want something and they get it despite the feelings of the majority.
Also the more people have direct control over their lives the more often they will pay attention to what is going on. Currently many people feel helpless about what is happening in the government and are unhappy with their lives which leads to stress, tension and a feeling of hopelessness on the part of the people.
One example is Sweden which has some of the highest taxes in the world, yet when asked which benefit they want to give up to lower their taxes they can not agree and therefore the taxes stay high. They also have one of the highest rates of alcoholism and suicide rates in the world.
Additionally we need to have limited terms for elected and appointed government leaders. Publicly funded e******ns with no outside funds so each candidate will have equal funding chances. Open primaries with two v**es for each v**er so they can pick the two best candidates for each office. Primary day and e******n day should be holidays with everything closed that is not necessary for the e******n and public safety and no days off just before or after the e******ns.
All constitutional amendments should be done only by nation wide e******n whether the amendment is proposed by popular v**e or congressional v**e.
Most of these ideas are not mine, but have come from various sources such as the original founding fathers, high level government commissions and research groups who are interested in making our government better and more in line with the views of the majority of Americans.
When they have been proposed they have been shot down by entrenched special interests that do not want their special privileges taken away. If we keep going this way we will no longer have any democratic system. It is already very evident that the very rich have a much greater control of the government. Take the north American trade agreement that allows free flow of goods across the local borders of Mexico, Canada and the US which as enriched the big corporations but harmed the American worker. Now it is almost impossible for a non college educated worker to make a living and support a family. The result is more government control of wages by setting minimum wages which interferes with free enterprise.
Another example is national health care, a good idea, but the current system plays right into the hands of the medical-industrial complex so that now many are still without medical coverage, many others will be required to pay either a penalty for no insurance or forced to get over priced insurance and still many doctors are going to quit rather than be forced to pay high fees for malpractice insurance.
The FDA is forcing doctors to stop giving pain medicine to those they feel need it or face losing their license which leaves many who have real pain to buy drugs on the street or perhaps end an intolerable life because a very few are abusing the situation. A simple answer to this problem is to develop an objective medical test for pain, but almost nothing is being done to do this.
If reforms are not make to our government system to give more control to the people then it is not impossible that we will loose our freedoms and only be in worst shape. Our problems are multiplying faster than solutions which will allow us to live in a free democratic state.