THE
NEXT PUSH TO EMPOWER “WE THE PEOPLE”.
Modernizing Elections – and idea
whose time has come
Most Americans were shocked and angry to discover that
their votes did not decide primary elections.
In both major political parties “delegates” are selected to attend a
convention and they vote for the candidate of their choice. Frequently these delegates are influenced by
the political establishment of their party and they do not always choose the
candidate who had the most votes in the primary election.
Americans may not have been aware of this corruption at
the primary level but It wouldn’t take a Mensa member to suspect what was
happening. Think about it a minute; we
elect and send our representatives to Congress and once they move to DC they no
longer do the bidding of those who elected them.
Representative forms of government are all subject to
this type of corruption. My church is
another example. The national denomination
is attended by elected “delegates”. But
the power structure within the church has been hijacked by left wing
activists. So when the delegates arrive
they are sent to “workshops” (dare I say “reeducation propaganda pressure
groups?) to influence their vote. Our
national denomination now supports gay marriage, gay clergy, boycott of Israel,
and gun control. If there were a method
of allowing the members of our churches to vote directly, none of these issues
would prevail.
In the political arena newly elected representatives
frequently are idealistic enough that they still think they should represent those
who elected them. The party leaders and
the committee chairmen realize that “doing the will of the people” would weaken
if not destroy the elite power structure that is firmly in place. By the time these newcomers first term is
over they have become part o the “good ole boys network, or the party bosses
will make sure they are not reelected.
So be it a political party, a union, a church, or any other
organization that establishes policy using elected delegates or representatives
you can be sure that the establishment power brokers are who is really making
the decision.
We have all been disenfranchised.
Of course it turned out this way. When our institutions were created it was at
least a three day horseback ride to the state capital. By 1860 The fastest mail delivery was the Pony Express, who could get letters from St. Joseph, Mo.,
to Sacramento, Calif., in 10 days. After 18 months, however, the Pony Express
ceased to exist when the complicated operation became too expensive. By 1861, however, Western Union had laid the
first transcontinental telegraph line, making it the first nationwide telegraph
company.
Theoretically, by the end of the 19th century the
establishment power structure could have begun to be deconstructed. Local elected leaders could have held town
hall meetings in every community and voted by telegraph thereby eliminating the
clustering of power in one place. Needless
to say the ensconced power brokers in centralized locations weren’t about to
help that solution to be applied.
By now many of my readers
have begun to see where I am going with this article. With the advent of the Internet we no longer
need centers of political power. It is
now technologically possible to empower citizens to vote directly on issues and
there is no longer a need for representatives to gather together in a cluster
of influence and power and our government can truly be “of the people, by the people, and for the
people”,
Legislative, Judicial and
Executive are the three institutions of government that are provided for by our
constriction. The forth branch of
government is missing; the citizens.
What would a reasonable,
rational plan to make the citizens the fourth branch of government look like?
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