A Biographical Preface. Why
This Pamphlet?
These are my own conclusions on the state of our political system as it appears to me at present. My overall conclusion after
eighteen years of study is that we have a corrupt political system, which can be fixed by an informed
proactive electorate within a few years. We are the 99%. We can have clean open
elections.
In the winter after the 1996 elections, in which political reforms made no apparent gains, I wrote a two-page synopsis on what I thought was wrong. In the years since I have constantly revised my written evaluation, pausing to publish, by copier, fifteen
100-copy sets of this pamphlet. Copies have gone to members of Congress, minor party leaders, friends, and family. I imagine my words have seeped through and added to minor party political discourse, especially in the Reform Party where I had long been active.
My concern is our ineffective
democratic republic. Why does it not work? Problems persist through generations of career politicians. Explanations from numerous and varied sources have all seemed insufficient.
Reasonable demands of our citizens for change have not been met.
I imagine the reluctance to use available solutions is due directly to excessive human greed. Our monopoly "two-party system" is bought with huge political contributions. In exchange, the two parties keep power in the hands of a tiny wealthy elite. Elections are staged to divert attention from the underlying
bipartisan struggle for power. Voters are left out. "Liberal" and "conservative"
name-calling is used to divide the electorate. Also, selected controversial issues are used to divide voters into hostile voting blocks to win elections without a need to
make good public policy decisions.
Many problems remain unresolved after decades of neglect.
The same problems remain that have been the basis of all the false promises made
by generations of career politicians. If you feel isolated and devalued by government, you have been correct for many years. Something is wrong.
On the positive side, enough voters going to the polls would have the power to make all the changes needed to solve persistent problems. Already
60% to 80% of our people know there are many problems not being addressed by the
bipartisan "two-party" monopoly. Now, we need to have
60% to 80% go to the polls to elect populist and minor party candidates who will represent people, not corporations, unions, political parties, or any other special interest.
We need to Occupy Elections and Congress.
We need to elect people who will open politics to the competition of ideas on issues and open debate on workable solutions.
With only 10% of elected offices occupied by middle-of-the-road
populist nonpartisan
or minor party candidates,
needed reforms will become possible.
A
Constitutional Amendment can create a sustainable society based upon "democratic" small "r" republican ideals. For instance, an amendment is needed to establish the
public policy that "money is not political speech." The same is true to establish the
public policy that "corporations are not people" entitled to the benefits of the bill of rights and
to equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. We have a need to correct the late-1800s errors of the Supreme Court, which
eroded and decreased the sovereign rights of every American citizen. Corporations are not citizens,
neither good nor bad.
With our
Constitution we forever removed the divine right of Kings from our lives and left that autocratic tyranny in the Old World. We
accurately located divine rights in the hearts and minds of our people, with protections in our Bill of Rights for freedom of religion and of speech.
In
our time we need to dispose of the autocratic tyranny of corporations linked with
bipartisan two-party politics. Our unarmed revolution will occur by winning ballot access for
our populist nonpartisan voter majority. Our voters can then elect
actual representatives for our people. The principle of citizens as
sovereign can then become public policy in our everyday lives. In our time political
sovereignty can be located in the hearts and minds of our people. We can
occupy and win clean elections.
I am
forever indebted to Jane Williams for her early formatting advice, best friend Joanna Chappell for
affirmation of my efforts to create a better world,
Jean "Budd" my grammarian, many others too numerous to mention, and
high school buddy James E. Reed for making me finally do the serious hard
work needed to get this project ready to publish. I am lucky to have had so
many talented good friends in my life. I dedicate my work to these talented friends,
to my son Brad, and to my own dad.
— Revised March
2018 — Rich
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Pamphlet
Preview Page:
cs2pr.us/ProVotPamphlet.html
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