Forum Post: Occupy Wall Street = > We the People!!!

Only one issue to me stands above all of the rest first because only it can create real change with the other issues in my mind. I have thought about this question for years. It has bothered me. I see the world getting worse not better and I have searched for the answer.

What is the answer to making real change in this country?

What one thing could make all other issues finally get addressed?

The solution is GOVERNMENT REFORM.

Some say reforming campaign finance and lobbying are the key. They are only part of the answer. None of the major issues on the table will EVER get resolved or dramatically improved without true government reform at all levels: city, county, state and national. It will take a real change in the way the public is involved in government. It will take a change from a passive apathetic majority to truly involved citizens of this nation. It will take changes in the way we ALL think.

So how do I propose government reform where citizens are informed and care about how the government works and are involved in the decision making process? Where the average person actually feels empowered and can make a difference? How can that happen?

Am I the only person that has pondered this bigger question? All other issues mean little without solving this riddle first.

How do we take our country back? How do we make “We the People” truly care about our country in a consistent enduring day-to-day basis and not simply float back into our daily lives where as long as we are personally unaffected, then we are happy, ignorant and apathetic. Leave me alone and let me build my white picket fence house with a spouse, 2.2 kids and a dog and everything will be fine! That’s the American Dream right? Give us that and we will turn the other cheek and simply deal with it. Ignore the little things. When I look at the people in the world around me, sometimes I think I’m watching a bunch of ants in an ant colony, simply going about business blindly. No individual thinking, just one collective set of puppets following mindlessly and playing the money game with the strings of government and business in control. Make more and spend more. Happiness will follow.

Who cares about government, just as long as it stays out of our lives, right?

The truth is this: we can never have the government out of our lives!

I propose the exact opposite is true. I propose that “We the People” ARE the government so we can’t possibly stay out of our own lives, can we?

So how do “We the People” let it be known that we are the government? How do we do it in some official legal way? How can we “get that in writing” so to speak?

To me it is a very simple idea—CREATING A FOURTH BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT.

WE THE PEOPLE.

The idea has already been thought of, but for some reason, it has not taken off and has not been taken seriously in the U.S. That is funny to me since one very successful capitalist nation has already been doing it for over 100 years—Switzerland. Yes, Switzerland has four branches of government with The People being one of them. Their citizens are all multilingual. They have the most trusted banks in the world. And most of all, per capita, they are the most politically involved, well-read people in the world! I don’t propose their system is perfect, I simply propose that it does work.

So how do we do that here in the United States?

The solution is The National Initiative for Democracy.

The National Initiative for Democracy (NI4D) is a meta-legislative proposal that would allow citizens, independently of Congress and the Executive, to propose and vote on laws. NI4D consists of a Constitutional amendment and a federal law.

The Democracy Amendment, a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, will:

1) recognize the legislative power of the people to make laws 2) permit the people to amend a constitution by holding two successive elections, more than six months but less than one year apart 3) create the Electoral Trust to administer the procedures established by the Democracy Amendment and Act, 4) outlaw the use of funds from non-natural persons (for example corporate funds) in initiative elections under this article, and 5) outlaw non-natural persons (for example corporations) from sponsoring initiatives under this article.

The Democracy Act, a proposed federal law, will: 1) set out deliberative procedures to be used by citizens to create laws by initiative, 2) describe the key responsibilities of the Electoral Trust which shall administer the initiative process on behalf of the people, and 3) appropriate funds for the Electoral Trust from the United States Treasury.

The National Initiative does not change or eliminate Congress, the President, or the judicial system. Laws created by initiative must still stand up in the courts just like laws created by Congress.

The National Initiative 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.