26, Oct, 2011
To Whom it May Concern;
I continue to hear the press ask what do the 99%/Occupiers want? How about this? Free and fair elections.
The following amendment to the US Constitution would not limit campaign spending only equalize it among all candidates. Furthermore the issue of phony issue ads could be eliminated as well. My background is as a scientist and not as a politician or lawyer. The proposed amendment is just to start the ball rolling, to start a national dialog. What I would hope occurs is some sort of grassroots movement. This movement could be composed of the morally upright and the economically downtrodden.
One of the major problems plaguing this country is disfranchisement of the majority of the electorate. If eighty percent of us do not vote, it then takes only one half of the remaining twenty percent, that is ten percent, to actually elect a president. As few as one in ten Americans choose our leaders and hence determine many aspects of our future.
What is the root of all this apathy? As in many other things here in America, it is money. In listening to our current presidential campaign, and remembering others, many candidates drop out because of money. In these post-Reagan days one percent of America controls the majority of our nations wealth. This leaves many of our citizens feeling powerless, impotent, and unable to affect change. Why bother to vote. Money buys air time, money buys lobbyists, and money buys votes.
However, the vote can be more potent than the dollar in affecting change. Whole countries have been changed overnight by one election and now by one revolution. Here is a proposition to re-energize the American electorate by starting a grass roots referendum organization. Attached is a copy of what could become a new constitutional amendment. With this in hand, one could reach out to the poor, the unemployed, all those segments of America usually ignored by politicians because they don’t vote and say “Look register to vote and sign this constitutional referendum”. One could tell them this is a way that one of their own could become president, not the best funded but rather the best qualified. That their single vote can undue many dollars.
Furthermore with a good referendum organization in place this institution itself could become a powerful force for change here in American politics. By exploiting a chain-letter type concept, initiatives could be circulated, signed, then forwarded to elected officials. If different sides are required to provide equal media access to their opposition, this country has the potential for a new level of enlightenment.
The occupiers could talk to passers-by, have them sign the amendment, have them have ten friends sign it.
Please let me know what you think. Will it work?
P.S. The part about treason may seem a bit harsh, however we don’t want offenders to get “wino time.” I you can buy one politician and gain billions people will game the system. If however you are looking at life in prison with no chance of parole, it’s an entirely different proposition.
Sincerely , Michael J. Vensky
mvensky@qnet.com OR mvensky@aol.com
6739 West Ranchitos Drive
Acton, California 93510 cell 805-358-8516
A proposed Constitutional Amendment XXVIII
Section 1. No party or candidate shall spend more money during a campaign than any other candidate for that same office. Any and all moneys available for a given election for an given office shall be divided equally among all candidates. This division shall be made solely upon eligibility for a given office and shall not be contingent upon party affiliation or popularity. Any moneys not spend shall be returned to the federal treasury for the explicit purpose of deficit reduction. Thus all contributors can be assured of their particular contribution to the greatness of this nation and the further enlightenment of its peoples.
So as to minimize insincere candidates a minimum eligibility requirement for matching funds shall be either 100 supporting signatures or one percent (1%) of the population the office is intended to serve, which ever is least.
These moneys so distributed to all candidates may then be spent by them according to their own discretion.
Section 2. This equal spending shall pertain to all offices and campaigns held within these United States whether they be for our nations Presidency or the office of local sheriff.
Section 3 Any public debate wherein access is provided to either the electronic or print media shall be subject to like constraints. No side of such a debate shall be allowed to spend more than any other side.
Section 4 Any official who is elected under terms of unequal distribution of moneys during an election campaign shall automatically forfeit their office and be tried as a traitor. Any persons or organizations who financially or in any other manner contribute to such a candidacy shall likewise be guilty of treason and tried the same.
Section 5. The explicit purpose of this amendment is to make viable the proposition of “one man one vote” and to thwart those who would have it be “one dollar one vote.”
