Forum Post: National Referendums
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 19, 2011, 8:54 p.m. EST by dougalexander
(0)
from Central Point, OR
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I propose a National Referendum. Issues are voted on by the People in all 50 States. Our elected leaders will not like this at all, as they loose power. By the People, of the People, for the People - Remember? Let's get some petitions going Nationwide.
I generally don't support reforendums in Oregon where I live. My thinking is that we elect representatives and they should handle matters for us. However the extremely polarized nature of politics today, the demise of simple majority rule in the Senate, and the corrupting influence of lobbies and campaign contributors has me reconsidering. One thought that came to mind was a referendum process where the president when unable to obtain congressional policies on which he/she campaigned could circumvent congress with a national referendum to be voted on by the people. I would not want this to occur hundreds of times a year, but perhaps a dozen times or less. Another role that could make such a process ineffective would be that of the Supreme Court. Perhaps laws enacted through reforendums could be considered to be temporary, perhaps for 10-years. At the end of ten years the Congress and President would need to enact a law making the reforendums permanent or the reforendums would expire. The supreme court could be barred from actions during the 10-year period.
My 2 cents: For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Don't get distracted by the symptoms - we need to address the root cause. Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!
The completely useless and meaningless 2012 elections should be canceled and replaced by a NATION-WIDE REFERENDUM to overhaul the present, corrupt-to-the-core political system.
Such a referendum would IMO be VERY useful and meaningful. And the reason for demanding such a referendum would be that THE NATION IS IN A STATE OF CRISIS that threatens its very survival.
To me, that is THE DEMAND that OWS should focus on, and I think that the American people are so SICK of the two main parties that they would actually WELCOME the possibility of overhauling the whole corrupt system in order to start anew.
I have a feeling that a strong majority of Americans would vote "YES" in a "REFERENDUM FOR A NEW AMERICA".
I wouldn't. I don't think we need a major overhaul, just a little tweaking. First thing I would do is impose term limits on all offices. Put an end to career polititians. Second Thing would be to repeal the 17th amendment so that the states could get back the power our founding fathers intended them to have. Third I would add a balanced budget amendment to the constitution so that the people in charge are required to have the same fiscal discipline as the rest of us. Those three things should be more than enough to fix what's broken.
I would vote for this petition. What is it?