Forum Post: A Proposal from Captain Dougars Concerning Direct Democracy and the National Citizens' Initiative

Captain Dougars hereby submits the following opportunity for direct democracy to the GA for consideration and approval :

Our US Constitution has denied "We The People" the right to directly amend our constitution and to directly pass laws on issues of our choosing by a direct majority vote. According to Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and even John Hamilton, THE PRIMARY AUTHOR OF THE ''FEDERALIST PAPERS'', ALL CONCUR THAT OUR REPUBLICAN OR REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY MUST BE ROOTED AND GROUNDED IN THE INALIENABLE SOVEREIGNTY OF WE THE PEOPLE. IN 1787, ''WE THE PEOPLE'', BY MAJORITY VOTE, SENT FORTH OUR REPRESENTATIVES FROM EACH OF 13 INDEPENDENT STATES TO THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS IN PHILADELPHIA, PRESIDED OVER BY GEORGE WASHINGTON, TO POSSIBLY RATIFY OUR NEW CONSTITUTION AND CREATE A NEW NATION. LISTEN TO WHAT SOME OF OUR FOUNDING FATHERS SAID ABOUT THE INHERENT POWER INVESTED IN THE WILL AND MAJORITY OF ''WE THE PEOPLE'': GEORGE WASHINGTON SAID: ''THE BASIS OF OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO MAKE AND ALTER THEIR CONSTITUTIONS OF GOVERNMENT.'' JAMES MADISON SAID; ''THE PEOPLE WERE, IN FACT, THE FOUNTAIN OF ALL POWER, AND BY RESORTING TO THEM, ALL DIFFICULTIES WERE GOT OVER. THEY COULD ALTER CONSTITUTIONS AS THEY PLEASED.'' THOMAS JEFFERSON SAID: ''EACH GENERATION HAS A RIGHT TO CHOOSE FOR ITSELF THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT IT BELIEVES IS PROMOTIVE OF ITS HAPPINESS.''

I, CAPTAIN DOUGARS, AS ONE OF THE LEADERS OF THE NI4D.US EFFORT TO PROMOTE A NATIONAL CITIZENS' INITIATIVE INTO LAW USING ''FIRST PRINCIPLES'' AND A CAMPAIGN BALLOT INITIATIVE PROCESS AT THE FEDERAL AND NATIONAL LEVEL, DUE HEARBY SUBMIT THE ATTACHED PROPOSAL AS ONE POTENTIAL AND POSSIBLE WAY FOR ''WE THE PEOPLE'' AND THE COLLECTIVE OWS MOVEMENT TO SUCCESSFULLY ACHIEVE DIRECT DEMOCRACY -- TO THE GA FOR APPROVAL.

BECAUSE I FIRMLY BELIEVE THIS DIRECT DEMOCRACY [NCI] IS SO CRITICALLY NEEDED FOR ''WE THE PEOPLE'' AT THIS MOST CRUCIAL JUNCTURE IN AMERICAN HISTORY, I AM WILLING TO SPEND THE NEXT SIX MONTH TRAVELING TO HUNDREDS OF OWS SITES THROUGHOUT AMERICA TO SPEAK OUT AND PERSONALLY PROMOTE THIS SIGNIFICANT DOCUMENT. TO MAKE THIS IMPORTANT, SIX MONTHS ENDEAVOR A GREAT SUCCESS, I AM REQUESTING A GRANT OF $11,000 FROM THE GA FOR GAS, FOOD, PRINTING, AND OTHER LIVING EXPENSES. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR GREAT COURAGE, PERSERVERANCE, GOOD HEARTS, AND STEADFAST SUPPORT. MANY BLESSING AND WARM REGARDS,

CAPTAIN DOUGARS

INTERNATIONAL ACTIVIST AND INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST

INTERNATIONAL LEADER OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY

PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF CONCERNED AMERICANS FOR THE WELLBEING OF ALL PEOPLE AND EARTH

THE AMERICAN DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Because our two-party government is now corrupt and corporately owned and unfairly favors the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class…

Because our corrupt two-party oligarchy has rewarded the rich by bailing out big banks and Wall Street while selling "We the People" down river to the highest corporate bidder...

Because our corrupt two-party government is now an oligarchy of unjust, special moneyed interests and wealthy ruling class elite…

Because our two-party oligarchy is now based on the control and domination of the Republican and Democratic parties whose primary motivation is to maintain and increase their own power and wealth at our loss and expense...

Because our two party representative government is bereft of any real participatory democracy and has failed to respect and honor the critical needs and interests of a clear majority of the American people...

Therefore, We the People do hereby insist upon using our national citizens’ ballot initiative process for real and direct participatory democracy based on our God-given "first principles"...

The "first principles" of democratic government derive their power from the truth that popular sovereignty can't be drawn from any other underlying authority except that of "We the People", which is confirmed by the words of Thomas Jefferson:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equally, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights...that…whenever any form of government becomes destructive of [its] ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their own Safety and Happiness"...

Therefore, let "We the People" use a national citizens’ ballot initiative process to pass the National Citizens’ Initiative [www.NI4D.US] by majority vote. When this initiative receives one more vote than the majority of people who voted in the previous Presidential election, this important piece of legislation directly and automatically becomes law based on the "first principles" of democracy... Thus will our citizens, and only “living” citizens, be given the procedures for voting directly on issues of our choosing.