Topic: Social and Cultural Issues
One Person One Vote The Birth of The New American Order.by Kipper Mathews
(Libertarian)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Imagine a country where the people themselves get to decide on the laws of the land, a country where every person gets to vote on important issues that effect their daily lives and have that vote counted.
The United States of America was set up by its Founding Fathers to be just such a country, but it wasn't possible.... until now.
In todays technological world, it is possible for every person that wants to vote on any given issue can and should be able to do so, either in person, by phone or on their computer.
Americans across the the country have noticed in recent years that their votes seem to be worth less and less, and that the media, lobbyists and special interest groups are making all their decisions for them.
With of the number of new laws constantly being brought up in the government to meet our ever changing world, our representatives are over loaded and can't possibly keep up with the times in the few days that they are actually in session each year.
Laws are being passed that on the surface that seem to be what the people want, yet attached to them are other life and world changing laws that get inconspicuously added to expedite the system and or to pass laws through as compromises.
This is not what the people want. It is what the government tells the people they get, because they said so.
Fortunately for the people, we have the Internet. We now have a way to communicate with more people at any given time than we have ever before in the history of our country.
With this amazing technology the word is quickly getting out that a New American Order is in the works. This "order" is the people coming together with ideas on how we can put together a non-governmental, peoples voting system. A system by which issues that need to be addressed would be publicized through news outlets such as Nolans Chart. Informed Americans would then be able to vote either by phone or computer into a common database. The pro and con results would then be nationally debated on through free un-corrupted public television stations across the country and voted on again. The results would then be passed on to the government as what we want them to do.
With any luck at all this system would get to be so popular that it would become the new way that voting is done in the future. Americans would all be able to vote with confidence that their individual vote meant something, and they could do it without taking time off of work or using precious resources to drive to polling locations to stand in line. The result would be many more people voting.
For more information on this subject see this link below and check back with Nolan Chart for updates.
This is one of the most positive things that has happened to this country since it's conception. Make it happen, spread the word.
If you like this concept you can vote on it here, by clicking the thumb below.
Comments and or suggestions are welcome as well.
Reproductions of this article are hereby granted.
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2008 Kipper Mathews, all rights reserved.
Published: Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Last modified: Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The views expressed in this
article are those of Kipper Mathews only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Kipper Mathews is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Imagine a world where legislative bills that are thicker than phone booths are voted on by people whose only knowledge of that bill is who supports it. Imagine a world where individuals everywhere vote based on what the media, or their church, or their favorite celelbrity thinks. Imagine a world where pandering to the mob is the norm and the few are always trampled by the many. Imagine a world where people vote on the issues as they are purposely misconstrued by those with the power to spread their thoughts, while those that have valid understanding are called kooks, misguided, or worse.
We are a Constitutional Republic for a reason. So long as people are lead around by the nose by people who simply put forth a handful of pretty platitudes a direct democracy would be insanity.
Posted By: Ivan from Oregon
Date: 2008-03-04 14:24:13
I agree with Chad. Pure democracies don't work - they disintegrate as soon as a majority find they can vote themselves some kind of largesse at the expense of everyone else. Our government was originally organized to maximize individual liberty.
One of the principles behind the Constitution is subsidiarity, the making of decisions at the lowest level possible, thus making it easier to correct mistakes. If the "mistakes" are on purpose, then individuals can always vote with their feet. Each level of government is granted specific power by the people.
Hence the modest number of enumerated powers at the top level. Clearly the feds have vastly exceeded their reach here. The main check and balance here was to be the inability to fund overreaching "programs". Roosevelt fixed that obstacle by stacking the Supreme Court which ruled in 1936 tha the Congress can spend money on whatever it pleases, opening up the door to things like swimming pools in West Virginia, all kinds of bureaucracy that enriches their favorite people and lobbying that buys politicians.
Another principle for liberty is honest money, which prevents the hidden tax that impoverishes the people at the bottom of the economic ladder.
Yet another is the "arcane" system of voting, which we've already compromised by the 17th Amendment, and the elimination of our right for redress of grievance, allowing two "parties" control of access to the ballot.
I agree with the other commenters that a pure democracy is something we do not want. However, I think Kipper's article raises some very good points. With today's technology there is no excuse for the operation of government to be a secret black box that we can't see into. If you own a business and hire people to run the business for you, then you justifiably expect to be able to see everything they are doing.
If the operation of government were not so secret and was available for all of us to see, then we might not be so succeptable to politicians' rhetoric (and outright lies) come election time.
The only reason a manager would keep secrets from the business owner is if the manager is ashamed of or dishonest in his work.
True Democracy as defined above (I added it since your posts) would give you liberty. The reason I used in the head line instead of Liberty was for placement on Google as Liberty is not very popular with the main stream media.....Yet.
Kipper, please explain how "true democracy" gives us liberty.
Imagine that 51% of the people vote to kill everyone named "Kipper". Are you ok with that? That is democracy.
Recent events have made it all too clear that the majority of Americans are highly manipulatable. Do you want "supreme power" in the hands of the same people who gave us 8 years of Bush?
I prefer "supreme power" to be invested in the Constitution.
Ok.. Ok all ready..... I took the word out of my article.
The intent of the article had nothing to do with democracy, it had to do with the link, and people getting to have more of a say in the way the voting system works, because what we have now is being manipulated.
I had know idea people wouldn't read the article over the headline.
I think your article has some great points. I mentioned it in one of my previous posts. The internet could be used to give us all an unprecedented view of the inner workings of government. A more knowledgeable populace would be less likely to be manipulated.
Indeed, an educated populace would be better... but how realistic is that? If I've learned anything over my lifetime, it's that people simply cannot be educated. They can only educate themselves, and that requires intellectual honesty, humility, time and effort. In other words, it's honest work.
Our society is geared for the quick buck, gambling and "making your money work for you". We're not interested in bettering ourselves, we're interested in getting the other guy to work for us.
No, it's not all bleak, but as a society, we're just not in the education or honest work mindset. It's going to take time and hard work to turn things around. Maybe even a second Great Depression.
Posted By: David A. Frank
Date: 2008-08-23 16:12:52
If it is a Republic that you want, it is a Republic that you have. Do not gripe about special interest and lobbyist bribing your representatives. It has been going on since the beginning of this country. Of, by and for the people does not mean just 535 people. It was supposed to mean all of us.
225 years ago the communication technology that we have today did not exist. Do you really believe that if it had our Founding Father would have built the same system that we have today? Of course not. And, if you took the time to read the writings of our Founding Fathers you would know that they believed that the system that they put in place was supposed to change. They knew that the absolute power was going to corrupt absolutely.
Quit putting yourselves down by believing that our citizens are not intelligent enough to decide the kind of country that they want for themselves.
They could not even have imagined the miracle of communication technology that we have today. It is no wonder that the country is in the shape that it is in. When out of 300 million people, you are only using 535 to do your thinking for you, it is no wonder that health care is a failure, our educational system is a failure, our environment is a failure, our tax system, our roads, our relationship with other countries is all a failure. We are not only using a corrupt system, we are using a brain dead system.
America is the greatest country in the world. It is definitely worth saving. But if you are going to sit by and allow the same people who put us in this position to get us out, hell better freeze over very quickly. Wake up and take personal responsibility for our country and quit relying on someone else to do it for you. If you want to get back to the original Constitution and the Republic that you want so bad, tell the women that they can`t vote, tell the black people that they can`t vote and tell yourself that you can`t vote. Only property owners can vote according to the Constitution and if you hadn`t noticed, your Republic representatives have taken your land away from you. Anyone heard of property taxes lately. Wake up and grow up. The technology that we have today can cure cancer, allow diabetics to live a normal life, can allow blind people to see and deaf people to hear. Technology can now give us all a voice. By the way, according to the constitution, slaves did not have voices, conversely, people without voices are slaves. Why do you want someone other than yourself to do your thinking for you? Technology is the miracle that we have been waiting for..Stand up and promote it and use it damn it.
By the way, young people are fighting, dying and losing limbs over in Iraq trying to promote a system called "Democracy" Maybe you people who don`t want anything to change by staying in your Republic rut, where a few people do the thinking for everyone, should tell those brave people over there that a Democracy is not worth fighting for.. onevoicenow.org
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2008 Kipper Mathews, all rights reserved.