The Concept of the National Initiative

The central power of government in a democracy is lawmaking –– not voting. He who makes the rules controls the game. Laws determine if, when, how and which citizens can vote. Governments throughout history have been tools of oppression; they need not be. Ordinary American citizens can gain control of their government by becoming lawmakers, stemming government growth and turning it to public benefit.

Are the people qualified to be lawmakers? Well, they’re qualified enough to give their power away on Election Day to manipulating politicians who say almost anything to get elected. It’s easier to make decisions affecting one’s self-interests (after consulting with knowledgeable sources, if one chooses) than it is to select representatives (agents) bent on power. One hopes these representatives have knowledge of the issues and the integrity to place their constituents’ interests above their own. That’s a tall order for human nature.

The problem: How do Americans become lawmakers? Voting on bond issues is lawmaking. Twenty-four states already let people make laws at the state and local levels, but, unfortunately, under the control of representative government. Congress is not about to really empower the people. The result: the government continues to grow, and democracy slouches toward one-party tyranny and the loss of freedom.

The answer: the National Initiative for Democracy, a legislative package sponsored by The Democracy Foundation (www.ni4d.us), a non-profit IRS 501 C (3) corporation, that includes an Amendment to the Constitution and a Federal Law. The Democracy Amendment 1) amends the Constitution asserting the legislative powers of the people, 2) outlaws the use of monies not from natural persons in initiative elections, 3) creates an Electoral Trust (vital to maintain citizen lawmaking independent of representative government) and defines the role of its trustees, and 4) legitimizes the national election conducted by Philadelphia II, a non-profit IRS 501 C (4) corporation, giving Americans the opportunity to vote on the National Initiative.

The Democracy Act is a proposed federal law that 1) sets out deliberative legislative procedures (copied from Congress and vital for intelligent lawmaking) to be used for initiative lawmaking by citizens, 2) defines the limited powers of the Electoral Trust that administers the legislative procedures on behalf of the people, and 3) defines the electoral threshold that must be reached for the National Initiative to become the law of the land. It is important to understand that the National Initiative does not alter the existing structure or powers of representative governments. Rather, it adds an additional check –– the people –– to our system of Checks and Balances, while setting up a working partnership between the people and their elected representatives. Once the people become lawmakers, they will be able to reform many of the dysfunctional practices of representative government by initiative laws enacted by a majority of voting citizens.

How can the National Initiative become law if it’s not enacted by the Congress? There are only two venues within our government structure where constitutions, constitutional amendments, and laws can be enacted into law: the people or their elected representatives. For those who insist on retaining representative government’s legislative monopoly, they'll forever remain stuck in a system that either refuses to or is incapable of reforming itself. Those who are prepared to turn to the people for much needed changes in government must first appreciate that the Framers in 1787 did not provide specific procedures in the Constitution for the people to amend the Constitution or make laws. The Framers did provide amending procedures for themselves in Article V of the Constitution, perpetuating their control of government. Naturally, conventional wisdom now holds that Article V is the only way to amend the Constitution.

Article V is how the government amends the Constitution, not how the people would do it. If the people had to use Article V to amend the Constitution they would need permission from two-thirds of the Congress and three-fourths of the state legislatures. This would mean that the creator of our government, the people, would have to get permission from their elected representatives, the createes of the people, to amend the Constitution. This logic is ludicrous. The constituent power of the people –– the source of all political power –– cannot be subject to the power of its creation.  James Madison had it right when he said that the people could just do it. The people can amend and legislate as long as the process they employ is fair, transparent and reasonable. Today’s technology permits us to ask all American citizens if they wish to be empowered as lawmakers by enacting the National Initiative in a process that is fair, transparent and reasonable.

We, the People must support, fund and vote for the National Initiative if we are ever to have a government "by the people.”