The National Initiative for Democracy

The National Initiative for Democracy was first proposed by Former Alaskan Senator Mike Gravel, who served in the Senate from 1969 to 1981 and who later ran for the 2008 presidential nominations of the Democratic and Libertarian parties. I first learned of the National Initiative for Democracy during Gravel’s 2008 presidential campaign. This proposal will, in short, empower the American people as lawmakers in partnership with their elected officials, to make laws on all of the issues that affect their lives. The power to make laws will be provided through a national referendum system, the kind of initiative that is currently used statewide in 24 states and which has been used successfully in the country of Switzerland for centuries. I believe that this proposal is necessary in the United States in order to shift power back to American people from who has it now, political and financial elites and their moneyed special interests. I believe that this proposal is necessary to create a more egalitarian and democratic form of government, in which every single citizen in the United States has power in deciding the issues that affect their lives.

Let’s examine a quote from Cicero, the great Roman orator and statesman, “Freedom is participation in power.” Ralph Nader, when I went to an event of his in July 2008, said that he had been to many dictatorships in his life, and that they have nearly as much personal freedom as a democracy—you can live where you want, marry who you would like to, eat what you like, go fishing if you want to—your daily, personal events are not under government scrutiny. What is the difference between a dictatorship and a democracy? Why, in a democracy, you can exercise civic engagement and act freely in the realm of politics—in a dictatorship, you cannot. The real freedom, that differentiates free countries from others, is participation in civics. Participation in power, Nader noted, is the real freedom. If freedom is participation in power, then that leads to the logic that, if you don’t participate in power, then you don’t have any freedom. What is the central power of government in the United States? Some people believe that the exercise of power is when you go to the polls to vote for one candidate or the other on Election Day, but it seems to me that, really, what you are doing is giving your power away to corrupt elected officials who make many promises but keep few of them. The central power of government is not voting—it is law-making—those who make the laws have power over all aspects of the country and system—even over those sacred voters who go to vote on election day—the law-makers can determine where, how, or if you vote. In order to have real participation in the power of government, and some control over their government and lives, the people must exercise the power to make laws, the central power of government.

These laws would be made on a majoritarian basis. Some people have qualms about this because it sounds like a tyranny of the majority over the minority. But, I assure you, there are safeguards to prevent this from being the case. First of all, the people make the laws in partnership with their elected officials—these national ballots initiatives will simply be a fourth, stabilizing leg on the currently three-legged stool. The Supreme Court can check the laws of the people, and declare them unconstitutional if they appear to be unconstitutional and detrimental to the rights of the minority. The minority of the population is still provided with protection. Secondly, it is important to note that, if you aren’t ruled by the majority, then you are ruled by the minority. There is no in-between. Right now, the United States is being ruled by a rich minority that does things that are in their own self-interest, and in the self-interest of other moneyed entities such as corporations. Political elites and financial elites are often the same people, because of how intricately politics and wealth are intertwined. Everyone knows what a corrupting effect that money and special interests have upon our representatives in Washington; this influence, it seems to me, has directed our representatives away from representing their constituents and towards representing the major entities that donate to their campaigns. Is it better for the majority to be governed by the minority, or is it better for the majority to be governed by the majority? It seems to me that, especially considering the vast corruption of modern politics, that it would be better for the majority, rather than the rich and corrupt minority, to govern itself. Those who are affected by the laws should be the ones who make the laws—the people should, by way of the National Initiative, be able to make policy on all of the issues that affect their lives—that power should not be relegated to a minority corrupted by money and power.

Efforts are currently being made to enact the National Initiative for Democracy, this historic proposal to allow the people to have the right to make laws in partnership with their elected officials and change the paradigm of human governance. There is a website for the National Initiative, ni4d.org, where you can vote for its enactment. In order to be enacted, it must receive an affirmative vote of over half of the actively voting population—in other words, over half the number of people who voted in the last presidential election—in other words, the National Initiative requires about sixty million affirmative votes. For those of you wondering whether this process is legal or constitutional, it is founded on the legal basis of the “First Principles”—affirming the constituent sovereign's right and the legislative power of the People to create or alter governments, constitutions, charters, and laws—these principles were what allowed the Founding Fathers to colonize America, declare our independence from Great Britain, and write the Constitution in the first place. I urge you, fellow citizens of the United States, to go the National Initiative’s website, ni4d.org, to explore further the great proposal of the National Initiative for Democracy, and I urge you, my fellow citizens, to vote for the National Initiative. Claim your right as a free citizen of the United States to participate in power.


http://ni4d.org/