Road to Freedom Part One

America in Crisis

 

What do we want?

When you poll the American people, you find that there is a general consensus as to what constitutes the promise of America and what the Constitution of the United States of America means when it guarantees us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Generally, based on opinion polls, we all seem to want the same thing: we want a secure means by which to make a living, a decent place to live in a safe community, healthy and uncontaminated food, good education and health care for our children, a clean environment, and a living wage for all within the context of an open and free society that offers equal opportunity to all.  But, today, in America, we see this promise slipping from our grasp.  Fewer and fewer people believe that they face a secure economic future.  The vast majority of us have to work more hours for less money.   Our industrial base has been exported overseas, and we have to compete against slave and child labor from abroad. Whole sectors of our economy are being downsized, and we wonder if we will be next.  Something has gone radically wrong.  We know this.  And, generally, we all agree on where the malignancy is located in the body politic.

What is the problem?

 

Initiative, Referendum, and ,Recall, is the answer. The American people know that, regardless of what party they belong to, there are no real choices to make or issues to be resolved in an election because all the important issues have been bought up before the election even begins. Democratic institutions in this country have been corrupted by big money interests, global corporations, and the major economic organizations and professionals that serve these interests.  They have done this through campaign funding, the lobbying of Congress, the control of revolving-door regulatory boards, and the ownership of most media and informational systems in this country.  In fact, if current trends continue, the actual casting of ballots may be in danger of becoming a meaningless formal ritual designed to ratify the selection of candidates who have already won the one-dollar-one-vote fund-raising contests.  We all know this, and the question that everyone is asking is: what can we do about it?

 

What can we do about it?

If we look to Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine for guidance, we learn that at pivotal points in history certain self-evident truths become apparent, and that there is a common sense to the matter that should be understood by all men and women of goodwill. That pivotal point in history occurred during the time of the American Revolution when it became apparent all sovereign power ultimately resides with the people.  That time in history is upon us once again, and like the founders of this country, we need to see clearly the truth beyond the greed and the self-absorption that causes us to ignore the obvious, the simple truth that is both gentile and powerful.  If we accept the truth of democracy, it is like a breath of fresh air that enlivens us and causes us to open all our windows and all of our doors; but if we try to ignore that truth, it will build up into a furious storm that will smash through our darkened windows of perception and break down all our locked doors, and we will have now, as we did then, a revolution on our hands. 

Today in America, as it was at the founding of our nation, it is self evident to all of us that there are dangerous anti-democratic forces at work in our country. The common sense of the subject dictates that in order for us to combat these anti-democratic forces, we need more democracy to act as a check and balance against a representative form of government that does not represent the will of the people. When we use the phrase, “true democracy”, we refer to democracy in its classical sense as meaning direct citizen legislation and participation in the political system.  Some people call it “direct democracy” or “participatory democracy”, but we call it “true democracy” pure and simple, because anything else is a watered down version of the original meaning of the term. Fortunately, we have a long tradition of true democracy in this country, and the best manifestations of this tradition are to be found in the initiative, referendum, and recall process of direct citizen legislation and participation in the political system.

 

Therefore in this proposal, we call for the establishment of The Center for True Democracy, a grassroots movement that will implement true democracy in every city, county, and state with the ultimate goal of creating a national initiative, referendum, and recall process that will reaffirm the most basic of all the tenets of the Constitution of the United States; and that is, all authority ultimately resides with the people and all other provisions of the Constitution, all statues, all administrative decrees, all other purposes whether individual or social can find their legitimacy and meaning only as they conform to this one premise, that the citizens of this nation shall make and shall obey their own laws.  We are a self-governing people who are subject to and masters of our own destiny.

 

Some people will argue as James Madison argued in Federalist 10 that democracy and majority rule is mob rule, but the truth of the matter is that the initiative, referendum, and recall process has been a part of the American political system for over one hundred years.  The first state initiative, referendum, and recall system of direct citizen legislation was instituted in the United States at the beginning of the 20^th Century; and today we have at least twenty four states that in one way or another have instituted one form or another of the initiative, referendum, or recall.  For over a hundred years we have been able to study and research the initiative, referendum, and recall process in America, and certain conclusions can be drawn.

One, when given the power of choice and the right to directly legislate, the American people vote with a great deal of restraint and a sense of public responsibility.  Two, when given a choice, issue by issue, the American people can’t be simply categorized along party lines.  On some issues they will vote conservative, but on other issues, the same voter will vote liberal, leading us to conclude that the simple breakdown of the American people into a two party system does not reflect their real interests or the full scope of their will.  Three, the American people have a wonderful instinct for smelling big money interests behind a particular initiative or referendum; and when they do, over eighty percent of the time, they will vote that initiative or referendum down.  Four, when you break down, over time, the voting in the initiative, referendum, and recall process by race, gender, economic class, and party affiliation to see who are the winners and losers; you discover an amazing fact.  Everyone wins about fifty percent of the time.  This is an amazing fact because it indicates that a system that uses the initiative, referendum, and recall as part of the legislative process is wonderfully equitable in determining the will of the people; and it belies the fears of majority rule.  Five, even when the initiative, referendum, and recall are not exercised; they work as a strong check and balance against the abuses of power by our representatives because they know it is there.

 

No, if you are looking for a mob, you will not find it by looking at the history of true democracy in America.  You will more likely find the mob in the boardrooms of some of our major global corporations and financial institutions in this country that feast on the common wealth, break our laws with impunity, and play casino economics with our future. You will more likely find the mob in Washington D.C. where our national capital has been turned into a shopping mall for special interests and influence peddling.  No, the American people are not the problem.  We are the solution.

    

 Copyright Marcello Tino 2000I

How do we start?

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

   The Road to Freedom

 

  Part Two

 

 

 

 

 

The Center for True Democracy

(607)273-3644

19 Baker Hill Road

Townhouse Number Eight

Freeville, New York 13068

 

mtino@twcny.rr.com