I fucking hate chris matthews. He tried to play gotcha with gravel in an earlier interview and gravel made him look like a total dumbass. Now hes probably thrilled that gravel is out of politics. what a fucking asshole!
dam i have never seen this man in tv like through out all the times i have watched it thru the election so far this is one of the best people they gave up on.. this guy should have been ower president if he have mc cain as president then we are more screwed then ever in life its self obama is just starting we are already screwed. Wished there was a way to go back but no turning back now =(
We won't be very successful in getting people like Gravel into office until there is a widespread concerted effort towards enacting the NI4D to hold our representatives accountable.
You're right. There's no turning back now and that's the battle I'll be fighting, even if it means running for office myself.
Sen. Gravel tried to warn progressive Democrats about Barack Obama but no one listened. Now they have nominated a man whose positions include the death penalty for rapists, unchecked domestic spying and amnesty for telecom companies that broke the law. I'll be writing in Mike Gravel's name in the fall.
The libertarians have only 3 "solutions" to every problem: tax credits or lower taxes, cut spending, and cut gov't. That's it! They have no solutions on new programs that'll work or perhaps giving power to the people, like the NI4D does. I mean, when a fucking Democrat (who they kind of despise because they "hate economic liberty") introduces an idea that's more libertarian than all your phony "values" and plans combined, you're in a sorry state.
If we did a poll on the mix of LP voters and LP members and candidates, I'm sure you'd see that it's at least 60% right-libertarians (more focus on business and the economy) than left-libertarians (personal freedom). They talk a big game about "economic freedom" as if we're SOO far behind compared to Marxist Russia or Cuba, when our economy is doing MUCH MUCH better than those states.
It's sickening. They won't do anything to cap outrageous CEO pay and seem to hate unions, among others.
In America people have everything they need but the will to free themselves from the status of second class citizen behind trains national Corporations.
I wouldnt change a thing on this video, does a good job at dispelling fear. Fear being one of the major reasons people dont listen to Gravel no matter how much sense he makes. Great leaders like Malcolm and MLK had there ways of dispelling fear long enough for people to listen. I think with this video your proving Gravel found his method.
Gravel gave it his all in his bid for the nomination, but they rejected him. The LP should stop calling themselves "The Party of Principle", because it sounds rather absurd with this latest decision. (Barr's record is horrendous.)
Party of Principle, my ass. Screwing millions of people over who depend on the gov't for a little assistance with their daily lives (health care, entitltments, etc.) is NOT principle. It's greed and selfishness. But of course, they'll tell you, "But we can do better with charity." Well, perhaps, but charity CAN'T raise near as much money as gov't has. Are you shitting me?
The LP is more business and executives-oriented than personal liberty. It's sad.
lol - Definition of a political fanatic: a BamaGravelian with a keyboard, an internet connection, nothing else better to do, a book to copy from, and 500 comments on a single video.
Unmafuckingbelievable!
Anyway, glad to hear you'll still be posting and speaking out Mike.
Aren't you the guy who says "traitor" all the time? Did you listen to the content of this video at all? You might learn something for once if you let yourself. (Though I consider that to be highly unlikely. It seems clear to me that you would rather see the world go to waste and be in agreement with the corporate toadies than to actually do something that would involve having a spine. Go ahead and feel sad for a man who will be freer than you will ever be! Ha!)
When Gravel tried to get the Liberatarian nomination he was a traitor but that's besides the point. I work toward ending corporate influence by voting for, and contributing to, the only Viable candidate that isn't taking any Lobbyist or PAC money; BARACK OBAMA!!! In fact two days after getting the nomination he's forced the DNC to follow his lead and from now on they will not take any lobbyist or PAC money. Finally a candidate with the right ideals that will more than likely win with them.
No but what exactly do you think I'm kidding about? The facts that Barack Obama has taken no lobbyist or PAC money and that he's got the DNC to agree to follow are public record.
It's also public record that big money companies Goldman Sachs,UBS,JP Morgan Chase are his biggest donors. Not technically PAC money, but just as dirty. Maybe thats why he wants to bankrupt us to bail out these corporations?
It's a known fact that Barak Obama has received contributions from 2 million individuals, regular people, at an average of $96 each. Now that's a populist movement. If people that work for factories, schools, or even banks want to contribute to his campaign they are allowed to. Would you have him discriminate against people because of were they work? Also the contributions you mention are a tiny fraction of Obama's over all contributions.
Its not direct democracy, its the people in partnership with their government making laws. Honestly its hard to understand why people think people they have valid opinions when they are ok with someone making decisions for them.
What's with all the damned background noise/music? If it's thrown in for "effect," it ought to be taken out -- it makes it harder to concentrate on the words.
I agree with Mike on the issues, but just having a few more people in the political scene with INTEGRITY right now like Gravel is more important than whether I agree with them on the issues. I'd vote for Hagel or Ron Paul over Clinton, even though I agree with CLinton more on things like reproductive rights and health care because if someone has proof Clinton stands for the issues over power-mongering, please show me.
By their choice of nominee, the Libertarian Party sent a clear message to the American people about their stance on defending liberty. I'll leave it at that, because that's about the nicest thing I can say.
Most of this video was from post-debate press conference footage that I found on YouTube after I came back from the convention. I believe this was after the C-SPAN debate, because Barr was at the press conference and he didn't participate at any of the other debates at the convention.
They chose Barr over Gravel. Gravel participated in every debate, poured his heart out at the convention and gave away his books for free, asking people to read Chapters 2 and 12 before the vote.
This distinction is the essence of the self-government exemplified by our Constitution. Alexander Meiklejohn, the great constitutional scholar, stated it thus: "The citizens of this nation shall make and shall obey their own laws, shall be at once their own subjects and their own masters."
This logic is unfortunately obfuscated by the failure to distinguish the important difference between We, the People, in our role as citizens of a constituency, and We, the People, in our role as an individual in residence within a constituency. Individually, as residents, we are required to obey the law. Collectively, as citizens of the constituency, we are the authority for the creation of law, therefore, We, the People, are the law.
As a matter of both logic and law, "We, the People", the constituent sovereign, the creator of government cannot under any circumstance be subject to the will of the createe, the government. Even though We, the People, chose to delegate some of our authority to government in 1787 - 1789, We, the People, unarguably retain the power to amend that delegation if we so choose.
Conventional wisdom, perpetuated since our founding, holds that only the procedures under Article V can be used to change the Constitution. This is ludicrous in that it would mean that the People, the creator of the Constitution, would be subject to the will of those with limited authority who populate the government institutions the People created. That argument requires the logic that the createe can rule the creator.
In point of fact, the Constitution can be changed in only two ways. The government, created by the Constitution, can amend it through the procedures set out in Article V of the Constitution. The People, the constituent sovereigns of the polity, who created the Constitution, can create, abolish, or amend the Constitution under the self-enacting principle of the Constitution's Article VII.
The Philadelphia II election similarly bypasses the Congress and presents the National Initiative directly to the People for the exercise of the same self-ratifying, self-enacting authority implicit in Article VII of the Constitution.
They knew that the 13 sovereign state governments would not dilute their power by ratifying the Constitution; therefore, they chose to take the decision of ratification directly to the People via conventions with specially elected delegates bypassing state governments, who acquiesced to being bypassed in exchange for safeguards perpetuating slavery being embedded in the Constitution.
A careful examination of history shows that the constitutionality of the National Initiative is lodged in the Declaration of Independence and the precedent set by the ratification of the Constitution in 1787 - 1789. James Madison and the Framers faced the same problem that We, the People, face today.
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." (Amendment 10)
A careful reading of the Constitution confirms that it comprises nothing more than a limited delegation of authority by "We, the People" to various branches of the federal government. Moreover, to eliminate any uncertainty on this subject, the Bill of Rights explicitly states that: "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." (Amendment 9)
In its Preamble, the Constitution unambiguously records the fact that is "We the People of the United States ...ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Although the Constitution was drafted by a group known as "The Framers", it was "We the People", through the self-enacting features of Article VII, who elected delegates to state conventions for the sole purpose of ratification, and made the Constitution the law of the land.
The legal basis for the enactment by the People of the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act is founded on First Principles, the constituent sovereign's right and the legislative power of People to create or alter governments, constitutions, charters and laws. First Principles permitted our Founders to colonize America, declare their independence and to create a government by ratifying the Constitution.
and on July 23, 1787: "These changes would make essential inroads on State Constitutions ...and in the case of these a ratification must of necessity be obtained from the People."
It is important to realize that it is the People rather than the Congress, who will have enacted the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act. In doing so they will have again followed the good advice articulated by James Madison at the Philadelphia Convention on June 5, 1787:
"For these reasons as well as others he [Madison] thought it indispensable that the new Constitution should be ratified in the most unexceptionable form, and by the supreme authority of the People themselves."
Should a sufficient number of citizens voting agree to these actions, the People will establish, for the first time, legislative procedures and legislative elections with which they can continue to exercise their legislative powers in an orderly, deliberative and statutory manner.
First Principles is the political heart of the voluntary supra-governmental election now being conducted by the nonprofit corporation Philadelphia II on behalf of the People permitting citizens, if they so choose, to amend the Constitution by ratifying the Democracy Amendment and to enact the Democracy Act as a federal statute.
The views of James Wilson at the time of our founding are instructive in this regard: "All power is originally in the People and should be exercised by them in person, if that could be done with convenience, or even with little difficulty." Today, modern technology permits the People to exercise their legislative powers "in person...[and]...with convenience.
It is self evident although not obvious in conventional thinking that the Constitution does not and cannot limit the powers of its creator ---the People. It would be ludicrous to suggest that the creator is subject to its creation, i.e. the officialdom of government. The People can at any time exercise First Principles to amend the Constitution and enact a law establishing legislative procedures to legislate in an orderly fashion.
That structural specification has no effect on the sovereign constituent power of the People -- the Constituent Power to create or amend the Constitution today as in 1787.
Nevertheless, today, as at our founding, the Constitution can be amended two ways: as specified by Article V by elected representatives and as clearly implied in its Preamble by the People directly. The language of Article V is tailored to potential use by the defined federal and state governments, for their use alone in amending the Constitution.
To have designed a constitutional procedure whereby the People could amend, establish policy or make laws directly at that time was simply not on the horizon.
The Framers specified reliance on First Principles in Article VII which called for the use of the People's constituent power to be expressed in state ratification conventions to create our government. Given that technology was lacking to overcome the great distances of Colonial America in assembling the growing numbers of People, they had no choice but to build a representative structure as the sole legislative branch of the government.
Wilson was acknowledging the obvious impossibility of assembling great numbers of People from distant geographic areas to operate a polity. These physical limitations dictated the structure of our government in 1787.
Earlier, on June 6th, at the Constitutional Convention, James Wilson, second only to Madison in fashioning the Constitution, described the context of our republican structure: "The Legislature ought to be the most exact transcript of the whole society. Representation is made necessary only because it is impossible for the People to act collectively."
"The difficulty in Maryland was no greater than in other States, where no mode of change was pointed out by the Constitution, and all officers were under oath to support it. 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. It was a principle in the Bills of rights, that first principles might be resorted to."
James Madison pointed to the primacy of First Principles on August 31, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia--in response to delegate Mr. Daniel Carroll of Maryland, who had asserted there was no way to amend the Maryland Constitution other than by what was contained therein. Madison clarified:
Accordingly, recognition and use of First Principles is the first step to be taken whenever People come together to establish or reestablish a society. Its use by the citizens of this nation became visible during the British colonization of North America. It found expression in the Mayflower Compact of November 11, 1620, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of June 12, 1776, the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 and the U.S. Constitution of September 17, 1787.
It is the People who are inherently invested with all authority and legislative power to create and alter governments, constitutions, charters, and laws. Thus it is the People who are the primary Constituent Power of every polity---the governing political element of society. In line with this, constitutions and governments are inherently derivative. This state of affairs is known as the First Principles of every organized society.
When both of these conditions have been met, the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act assume the force of law on the date that the President of Philadelphia II certifies the election to the governments of the United States, each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Territories of the United States.
In order for the National Initiative to be enacted, both of the following must occur:
* The number of registered voters voting "Yes" in the election for the National Initiative must be greater than one-half the number of registered voters who voted in the most recent presidential election.
* The number of "Yes" votes (in favor of the National Initiative) must exceed the number of "No" votes.
The information collected by Philadelphia II from citizens will not to be used for any purpose other than recording, verification and counting of votes.
Unlike elections conducted by government agencies, the election for the National Initiative will provide an opportunity for voters to change their votes at any time, as many times as they like, until the election is certified. This provides unprecedented flexibility for voters, permitting them to update their votes when, for example, they receive additional information, or simply have a change of heart.
As long as the ballot provides sufficient information for Philadelphia II to contact and verify the identity and registration status of the voter, and provides that the submitted ballot contains a "yes" or "no" vote and the signature and date of execution of the ballot, it will be counted in the election.
Clearly, not all voters will be able or required to provide all of the information requested on the ballot. For example, some voters will not have an e-mail address. Others may not have a permanent street address or a telephone.
Section 7. ENACTMENT BY THE PEOPLE. A. The Ballot.
The ballot for the National Initiative for Democracy contains sufficient information to permit Philadelphia II and appropriate auditors to verify that the persons submitting ballots are who they say they are, to verify that they are in fact United States citizens registered to vote, and to permit Philadelphia II to contact them to confirm that their votes were properly and accurately recorded.
This section simply ensures that, if any part of the Democracy Act is successfully challenged in court, only the section specifically invalidated by the courts will become inoperative; the other sections will remain in full force.
If at some time the citizenry come to feel that the Congress is consistently remiss in carrying out this duty, they may, by initiative, adjust the priorities of the members of Congress.
The last sentence of this section requires Congress to appropriate funds on an annual basis to support the operations of the Electoral Trust. The amount of these appropriations will, of course, depend on a combination of factors, including the amount requested by the Electoral Trust in its budget submissions, federal tax receipts and competing priorities.
Inasmuch as the funds from these loans will be used on behalf of the People, affording them the opportunity to empower themselves by enacting the National Initiative, it is appropriate that public funds be used to repay these debts, after they have been audited and certified by the Electoral Trust.
In preparing for and conducting the election for the National Initiative, Philadelphia II will rely upon the generosity of donors and may borrow funds necessary to finance facilities, staff, contracts, equipment and/or other legitimate expenses essential to this election.
The Electoral Trust's use of appropriated funds will be subject to two levels of audit: first by an independent audit function within the Electoral Trust; secondly, like all other Federal government agencies, by the General Accounting Office.
As with all agencies of the Federal Government, the operation of the Electoral Trust will be funded by specific appropriations from the United States Treasury. Whereas appropriations for all other federal agencies are authorized by acts of Congress, the citizenry permanently authorize the funding of the Electoral Trust through this Democracy Act.
The Electoral Trust must also provide administrative and clerical support, facilities and equipment that will permit the Committee to perform and record its work and its findings efficiently and effectively.
Because the Deliberative Committee will be made up entirely of citizens chosen at random from the voter rolls, many of whom may have little or no experience in such an environment, it will be incumbent on the Electoral Trust to provide process experts, skilled facilitators and subject matter experts to assist the Committee members in organizing and conducting their deliberations.
For example, an issue that affects a small town might be held in city hall or even a school auditorium, whereas initiatives affecting a populous city, a state or the nation as a whole might be conducted via interactive TV on a network operated by the Electoral Trust.
The Public Hearing will provide an opportunity for proponents and opponents of an initiative to make their case in testimony, to receive testimony from experts, for the public to observe, dialog with and question the Sponsor and representatives of the relevant elected legislative body. The Electoral Trust will provide a venue for this hearing appropriate to the affected governmental jurisdiction.
Thirty days prior to the election of each initiative, the Electoral Trust will commence a public information campaign using television, radio, and/or print media; plus a pamphlet mailed to each household in the relevant jurisdiction, to summarize in a balanced and objective manner all the information assembled about the initiative.
When an initiative is qualified for election, the Electoral Trust will create a web site for that initiative to which any member of the public may refer to determine the initiative's status and to review the information compiled to date on that initiative by the Electoral Trust. The Hearing Report, the report of the Deliberative Committee, the results of the Legislative Advisory Vote, and other information about the initiative will be posted to the web site as soon as they become available.
This information is provided entirely at government expense, as is the case for representative legislative bodies. This information will be communicated to the voters in a timely manner using a variety of media and taking advantage of available technologies.
Knowledge is the key prerequisite to good legislative deliberation and offers the best opportunity for a commonsense judgment by a lawmaker. The Democracy Act is designed to provide the voter with the most complete and objective information possible so that the voter will have sufficient knowledge about the initiative to render a competent judgment.
Such a service assures an elevated quality of initiative texts and uniform legislative practice. Research avoids the creation of redundant legislative proposals and shares a compendium of knowledge relevant to all governmental jurisdictions.
The Electoral Trust will provide the assistance of a legislative Research and Drafting Service to assist sponsors in drafting their initiatives, to eliminate ambiguity and reduce the chance that an initiative, once enacted, can be successfully challenged in court for technical or constitutional reasons. Such a service is normally provided to members of representative legislative bodies.
Moreover, once registered by the Electoral Trust, a citizen will never have to re-register to vote, regardless of place of residence. Once registered, any citizen will have his or her voting privileges suspended for the duration of the time he or she is incarcerated as a result of having been convicted of a felony crime or is adjudged by a court to be incompetent.
The Electoral Trust will devise a system to facilitate lifetime registration for qualified citizens of the United States. The Electoral Trust will establish and maintain a database of all registered voters that will permit citizens to exercise their legislative power under the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act irrespective of the municipality, county, or state in which they reside, provided that they retained their United States citizenship.
The Electoral Trust's voter registration activities and the voter registration database created therefrom do not replace any voter registration procedures established by state law.
In all other respects the Board of Trustees, the Director and the employees of the Electoral Trust are subject to the laws of all governments of the United States.
The precedence of the Democracy Act over existing law, when there is a conflict, is established in Section 1 of the Democracy Amendment, which specifies that the legislative powers of the citizens, as asserted in the Democracy Amendment and implemented through the Democracy Act, may not be impaired by legislation enacted by elected legislatures, or by regulations promulgated by the executive branch at any level of government (federal, state or local) of the United States.
This section simply affirms the authority and responsibilities of the Electoral Trust to fulfill its mission as an independent agency of the United States government. In this respect, it will be no different from other independent agencies such as the Federal Reserve Board, the National Science Foundation and the National Traffic and Safety Board.
By taking the oath or affirmation of office, each person responsible in any way for the administration and implementation of the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act swears her or his allegiance both to the Constitution and to the principle that the citizens of the United States are the ultimate governmental authority. Failure to comply with the oath can be cause for removal, or the subject of a recall election or suit in a federal court.
Because of the unique nature of the position, it should be incumbent on each Director, working with Board members, to carefully describe the position and the desirable attributes to be expected in those who will assume the position; then begin identifying potential replacements for the Director early in each Director's term in office.
If the position of Director is vacated prior to the completion of a full six-year term, a person who receives a majority vote of the total membership of the Board of Trustees will fill the position. The Board of Trustees will establish procedures for identifying and considering candidates to fill any such vacancy in a timely manner.
One of the principal responsibilities of the first Director will be to conduct the election to replace the Interim Board with the first Board of Trustees elected by the People.
To address this requirement, the Democracy Amendment assigns the authority to appoint the first Director of the Electoral Trust to the Board of Directors of Philadelphia II, the nonprofit corporation conducting, on behalf of the People, the national election for the enactment of the National Initiative for Democracy.
Therefore it will be essential that the first Director be a person who has a comprehensive understanding and appreciation of the vision embodied in the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act and whose fundamental mission is to empower the People by making them lawmakers.
The position of Director will clearly be of critical importance to the success of the Electoral Trust and ultimately to the success of establishing a Legislature of the People. Members of the Interim Board may not be familiar with the concepts embodied in the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act, and many may even be opposed to the dilution of their governmental powers that will occur under the Legislature of the People.
The Director is the Chief Executive Officer of the Electoral Trust and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Trust and the implementation of its policies and regulations. The Act empowers the Director to enter into contracts, hire staff, acquire facilities, and take such additional actions, as he or she deems necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of the position.
In such time as they may have available during that period, they will be expected to employ their expertise as election officials to establish policies and oversee the commencement of the lifetime registration of citizens of the United States qualified to vote under the Act.
As explained on page 2 herein, referring to Section 2 of the Democracy Amendment, an Interim Board of Directors will be appointed in accordance with this Act. This temporary Board will have strictly limited powers. Their policy and oversight responsibilities start and end with the conduct of the first national election to elect the members of the Board of Trustees.
Examples of laws that might preclude public inspection of meetings or the records resulting therefrom include Title 5, Part I, Chapter 5, Subchapter II, Sections 552 and 552b of the U.S. Code, which prohibit public access to meetings that involve, among other things, personnel rules where disclosure of information of a personal nature would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or contract negotiations in which proprietary information could be unnecessarily exposed.
This "sunshine" or transparency section is intended to ensure that the activities of the Electoral Trust will always remain open to the public. Except as required by law, meetings of the Board will be publicized in advance using various media and will be recorded and the records held available for public inspection; and many meetings may be broadcast in real time on radio or TV.
The Board will establish procedures for identifying and considering candidates from the state or other jurisdiction identified with the vacant position for evaluation by the Board.
Vacancies on the Board of Trustees can occur as a result of removal, death, resignation, or legal incapacity of a member and are to be filled in a timely manner. Vacancies will be filled by majority vote of the total membership of the Board after suitable consideration and evaluation of appropriate candidates.
If a Trustee violates the oath of office, or for other reasons determined by the Board, that Trustee may be removed if three-fourths of the members of the Board vote for his or her removal. The citizens of the state or other jurisdiction (e.g., Puerto Rico) that elected a Trustee may, at any time and for any reason, initiate and conduct an election to remove (recall) that Trustee.
The Board of Trustees is the governing board of the Electoral Trust. It will be responsible for establishing policy and performing the oversight necessary to determine that the policy is being adhered to or is in need of change.
This section emphasizes the fact that, with the exception of authority granted by Section 3.I to Deliberative Committees, the Electoral Trust is forbidden from altering any initiative in any way.
The Electoral Trust's mission will be to establish, implement, administer and maintain the policies, procedures, regulations, systems, facilities and other resources required for the effective and deliberative exercise of the citizens' legislative power; and to enforce the provisions of the Democracy Amendment, the Democracy Act and the policies, procedures and regulations resulting from them.
This information will equip the citizens to make changes, if they so choose, using initiatives, in any element of the Electoral Trust or to impeach any person who holds a position in the Electoral Trust.
The Electoral Trust will organize itself under the leadership of the Director to pursue its mission with transparency as soon as possible after the enactment of the National Initiative. The term transparency refers to the fact that every aspect of the Electoral Trust's activities will, to the extent feasible, be open and accessible to the public.
But, unlike the Federal Reserve Board, whose members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and unlike all other independent agencies of the federal government, the members of the Board of Trustees of the Electoral Trust will be elected by the citizens of the states they represent, and are not subject to confirmation by any government entity. The Electoral Trust is a true agency of the People.
The Electoral Trust will be an independent agency of the Federal Government similar to, for example, the Federal Reserve Board. One facet of that similarity is that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board, like the Electoral Trust, is not under the authority of the President of the United States or any other government entity.
Abuses will occur but may be expected to decline dramatically once some law-breakers, such as, for instance, corporate executives found guilty of conspiring to illegally contribute funds from a corporation's treasury, have been jailed.
The Electoral Trust will publish all financial disclosures on the Internet web site (or functional equivalent) it maintains for each initiative. The Electoral Trust will require all those contributing sums above a certain threshold to be identified on the web site. Failure to comply with the contribution and disclosure sections of the law is a felony punishable by prison time and a substantial fine.
This section of the Act is not intended to prohibit organizations from communicating the organizations' positions on initiatives to their members, stockholders or other stakeholders; or to prohibit the news media from editorializing on initiatives. It is aggressive acts of coercion or inducement, whether covert or overt, that this section intends to prohibit.
The Democracy Act is designed in such a way that the Electoral Trust prior to and throughout the voting period will make all pertinent facts about an initiative available to voters. The effect of this publicly funded communication process will be to substantially reduce the impact of campaign contributions.
The logic is simple, since only a natural person can vote then only a natural person should be able to contribute money for the purpose of supporting or opposing an initiative. The effect of money spent in a campaign is mitigated in another respect. Voters have demonstrated uncanny common sense in making political decisions when they have the basic facts surrounding an issue.
It is the purpose and effect of the National Initiative to mitigate the influence of money within government as it relates to initiatives. Only natural persons can contribute funds in an initiative campaign. In legal parlance a natural person is a de facto person, as distinguished from a de jure or virtual person such as a corporation.
Therefore, those who are responsible for a promotional communication, however it may be conveyed to the public, must identify themselves within that communication. The Electoral Trust will promulgate regulations specifying how this required information will be incorporated in promotional communications.
Clearly, it is in the best interests of the citizenry not to allow anonymity of those who push hardest for or against an initiative. Knowledge of the identities of the individuals who vigorously support or oppose an initiative, in and of itself, can also be useful to a voter in determining his or her own views on the issue.
I fucking hate chris matthews. He tried to play gotcha with gravel in an earlier interview and gravel made him look like a total dumbass. Now hes probably thrilled that gravel is out of politics. what a fucking asshole!
bdawk20fan 3 years ago
Mike Gravel is the Man!!!
skullanones 3 years ago
Thank You very, very much Mike. I will vote for you no matter which party picks you. The Future, Mr. Gravel, is still wanting freedom.
secretchristian 3 years ago
dam i have never seen this man in tv like through out all the times i have watched it thru the election so far this is one of the best people they gave up on.. this guy should have been ower president if he have mc cain as president then we are more screwed then ever in life its self obama is just starting we are already screwed. Wished there was a way to go back but no turning back now =(
UniqueLilBabi 3 years ago 2
We won't be very successful in getting people like Gravel into office until there is a widespread concerted effort towards enacting the NI4D to hold our representatives accountable.
You're right. There's no turning back now and that's the battle I'll be fighting, even if it means running for office myself.
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
Sen. Gravel tried to warn progressive Democrats about Barack Obama but no one listened. Now they have nominated a man whose positions include the death penalty for rapists, unchecked domestic spying and amnesty for telecom companies that broke the law. I'll be writing in Mike Gravel's name in the fall.
waste234 3 years ago 3
Writing gravel in too
mempko 3 years ago
Please don't let that be the end of your political career! We need you and your vision to be out where everyone can hear you.
KingLucentio 3 years ago
You cannot imagine how sad I am, Mr. Gravel.
ncommons 3 years ago 5
The libertarians have only 3 "solutions" to every problem: tax credits or lower taxes, cut spending, and cut gov't. That's it! They have no solutions on new programs that'll work or perhaps giving power to the people, like the NI4D does. I mean, when a fucking Democrat (who they kind of despise because they "hate economic liberty") introduces an idea that's more libertarian than all your phony "values" and plans combined, you're in a sorry state.
Whoo69 3 years ago
If we did a poll on the mix of LP voters and LP members and candidates, I'm sure you'd see that it's at least 60% right-libertarians (more focus on business and the economy) than left-libertarians (personal freedom). They talk a big game about "economic freedom" as if we're SOO far behind compared to Marxist Russia or Cuba, when our economy is doing MUCH MUCH better than those states.
It's sickening. They won't do anything to cap outrageous CEO pay and seem to hate unions, among others.
Whoo69 3 years ago
Chris Matthews...ugh! He's an Obama butt kisser. All he does is praise Obama. It's sickening. Obama and McCain...we're screwed.
bsfrevolution 3 years ago 2
In America people have everything they need but the will to free themselves from the status of second class citizen behind trains national Corporations.
iKnowYouSeeThis 3 years ago 4
Great comment
MasterLeeMochow 3 years ago 3
Pass this Around! New MOST VIEWED YOUTUBE CLIP OF ALL TIME!!
/watch?v=QQSn2-3JaA0
REVOLUTION FREEDOMIZER
oldhacks 3 years ago
I wouldnt change a thing on this video, does a good job at dispelling fear. Fear being one of the major reasons people dont listen to Gravel no matter how much sense he makes. Great leaders like Malcolm and MLK had there ways of dispelling fear long enough for people to listen. I think with this video your proving Gravel found his method.
kyeot 3 years ago
Why did he drop from the race? Does the Libertarian party intend to stay in the race, appointing someone else in his stead?
berliita 3 years ago
I think they named someone else their representative.
kardentyrell 3 years ago
They chose Bob Barr over Gravel. :(
Gravel gave it his all in his bid for the nomination, but they rejected him. The LP should stop calling themselves "The Party of Principle", because it sounds rather absurd with this latest decision. (Barr's record is horrendous.)
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago 5
Gravel made it very clear to the Libertarian Party that if he did not win the nomination, his political career would end on May 25.
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
Party of Principle, my ass. Screwing millions of people over who depend on the gov't for a little assistance with their daily lives (health care, entitltments, etc.) is NOT principle. It's greed and selfishness. But of course, they'll tell you, "But we can do better with charity." Well, perhaps, but charity CAN'T raise near as much money as gov't has. Are you shitting me?
The LP is more business and executives-oriented than personal liberty. It's sad.
Whoo69 3 years ago
*Gravel salute*
Dude, change the music.
thegreathal 3 years ago 2
More specifically, you could check out the article on washingtonpost . com:
"Big Donors Among Obama's Grass Roots"
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
lol - Definition of a political fanatic: a BamaGravelian with a keyboard, an internet connection, nothing else better to do, a book to copy from, and 500 comments on a single video.
Unmafuckingbelievable!
Anyway, glad to hear you'll still be posting and speaking out Mike.
daisym555 3 years ago
Correction: Looks like greater than roughly 1200 comments. Phew...
Your finger tips must be raw and blistered dude.
daisym555 3 years ago
You be joking, but some people are seriously duped. :/
Methinks I should do a video about this soon.
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
*may be
?
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
This is just too much.
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
wow, with the recent AIPAC speech by Obama, this election is gonna be a doozy. :P
Has it become any clearer how much we need the NI4D to get any decent leadership around here?
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
I love this guy. People like him and Ron Paul emanate such integrity.
alabasteroldsoul 3 years ago
I used to like this guy, now I'm just sad for him.
xMannyfestox 3 years ago
I'm sad for you. :(
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
You don't have to be, I've got things pretty much in order.
xMannyfestox 3 years ago
Aren't you the guy who says "traitor" all the time? Did you listen to the content of this video at all? You might learn something for once if you let yourself. (Though I consider that to be highly unlikely. It seems clear to me that you would rather see the world go to waste and be in agreement with the corporate toadies than to actually do something that would involve having a spine. Go ahead and feel sad for a man who will be freer than you will ever be! Ha!)
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
*who is freer
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
When Gravel tried to get the Liberatarian nomination he was a traitor but that's besides the point. I work toward ending corporate influence by voting for, and contributing to, the only Viable candidate that isn't taking any Lobbyist or PAC money; BARACK OBAMA!!! In fact two days after getting the nomination he's forced the DNC to follow his lead and from now on they will not take any lobbyist or PAC money. Finally a candidate with the right ideals that will more than likely win with them.
xMannyfestox 3 years ago
Hahahahahahahahaha
You've got be kidding me, right?
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
No but what exactly do you think I'm kidding about? The facts that Barack Obama has taken no lobbyist or PAC money and that he's got the DNC to agree to follow are public record.
xMannyfestox 3 years ago
It's also public record that big money companies Goldman Sachs,UBS,JP Morgan Chase are his biggest donors. Not technically PAC money, but just as dirty. Maybe thats why he wants to bankrupt us to bail out these corporations?
freedomcorp 3 years ago 3
It's a known fact that Barak Obama has received contributions from 2 million individuals, regular people, at an average of $96 each. Now that's a populist movement. If people that work for factories, schools, or even banks want to contribute to his campaign they are allowed to. Would you have him discriminate against people because of were they work? Also the contributions you mention are a tiny fraction of Obama's over all contributions.
xMannyfestox 3 years ago
Maybe you should do a search on "Obama's bundlers".
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
nice ending. 5 *
watch the link below for a nice poem.
watch?v=wdRFYpi6cYc
EditHistory 3 years ago
Gravel for Prime Minister!!
ElectricPineapple79 3 years ago
good luck building up direct democracy in the us :P
zhinch 3 years ago
Its not direct democracy, its the people in partnership with their government making laws. Honestly its hard to understand why people think people they have valid opinions when they are ok with someone making decisions for them.
kyeot 3 years ago
here in switzerland we vote about everything all the time. works good actually.
zhinch 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Call-1-800-Nursing-Home for Mike Gravel. Make appointment Today!ha ha. They can take care of Mike's needs! At the home. lol
Dnn1969 3 years ago
Funny.
Now then, why don't you stop trolling around and do something productive? Perhaps you can read a book?
gravel2008 3 years ago
am i writing to mike gravel here?
zhinch 3 years ago
I like you Mike.
AAL 3 years ago 3
god, the sound is annoying in this vid.
HateNeverCeasesHate 3 years ago
yeah, I thought the sound quality of the clips was not that great until I saw your videos. ;)
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
very true, very true!
My webcam sucks!
HateNeverCeasesHate 3 years ago
when i turn 18 i want to spread the word of the ni4d and fight for its cause.
crazytapes 3 years ago
Hey everybody! Become politicians!
mistaspot1 3 years ago
Man this dude speaks the freakin' truth!
We need public funding of campaigns!
mistaspot1 3 years ago
What's with all the damned background noise/music? If it's thrown in for "effect," it ought to be taken out -- it makes it harder to concentrate on the words.
Commando303X 3 years ago
I am with HughieG also:
Gravel 4 Life!
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
HughieGphiladelphia has it right, Gravel 4 life!
I agree with Mike on the issues, but just having a few more people in the political scene with INTEGRITY right now like Gravel is more important than whether I agree with them on the issues. I'd vote for Hagel or Ron Paul over Clinton, even though I agree with CLinton more on things like reproductive rights and health care because if someone has proof Clinton stands for the issues over power-mongering, please show me.
choosenow 3 years ago
By their choice of nominee, the Libertarian Party sent a clear message to the American people about their stance on defending liberty. I'll leave it at that, because that's about the nicest thing I can say.
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
Keep up the fight Mike. We need more politicians like you!!!
Andrefuentes 3 years ago 2
Mike is telling the people to represent themselves. That is their power. That's the National Initiative - ni4d us
gravelin08 3 years ago
don't stop fighting Mike, nerver stop fighting
HerschelKrustofski 3 years ago
Mike can change things, but the walls are too high.
patriciaredstone 3 years ago
I think it is time to make a movie with Gravel in it about the National Initiative. I would go and see it.
David777111 3 years ago
I dont care if he is not on the ballot. I'm going to see if I can write him in.
medliberty 3 years ago
Mike Gravel is a true leader. He has created so many more leaders over the past few months.
Not Gravel 08...Its Gravel 4 life!
HughieGphiladelphia 3 years ago 5
I want the right to vote. I'm going to fight everyday until America is a free and democratic nation.
oldhacks 3 years ago
He may have stopped his campaign, but the man's voice is SO IMPORTANT. Much like Noam Chomsky, this man is so underrated.
xawesomexelix 3 years ago 2
Register Independent for the win!
TruTV 3 years ago 3
GOD DAMNIT
well, we'll try and change the world later I guess.
xDiFFERENCEx 3 years ago
"you don't wait! you do it now!" - Dennis Kucinich
PersonalJesus348 3 years ago 3
Their getting ready to preemptivly invade Iran... God damn it.
Pleblian 3 years ago 2
Doesn't it just make you go insane knowing that we're murdering people and being killed and simply getting ourselves in more shit?
God damn it....
xawesomexelix 3 years ago 2
Mike Gravel is a great American & a Patriot. America needs as many clones of Mike Gravel as we can get.
BohemianStar 3 years ago
he better start humping and make babys :P
northwesten 3 years ago
this would have been nice to be released before the nominee for libs was selected.
johncantees 3 years ago
Most of this video was from post-debate press conference footage that I found on YouTube after I came back from the convention. I believe this was after the C-SPAN debate, because Barr was at the press conference and he didn't participate at any of the other debates at the convention.
They chose Barr over Gravel. Gravel participated in every debate, poured his heart out at the convention and gave away his books for free, asking people to read Chapters 2 and 12 before the vote.
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
BTW, here's the link to the footage:
watch?v=u6EX-Zv0GtM
ChannelMikeG 3 years ago
good stuff
RevolutionaryJam 3 years ago
This distinction is the essence of the self-government exemplified by our Constitution. Alexander Meiklejohn, the great constitutional scholar, stated it thus: "The citizens of this nation shall make and shall obey their own laws, shall be at once their own subjects and their own masters."
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
This logic is unfortunately obfuscated by the failure to distinguish the important difference between We, the People, in our role as citizens of a constituency, and We, the People, in our role as an individual in residence within a constituency. Individually, as residents, we are required to obey the law. Collectively, as citizens of the constituency, we are the authority for the creation of law, therefore, We, the People, are the law.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
As a matter of both logic and law, "We, the People", the constituent sovereign, the creator of government cannot under any circumstance be subject to the will of the createe, the government. Even though We, the People, chose to delegate some of our authority to government in 1787 - 1789, We, the People, unarguably retain the power to amend that delegation if we so choose.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Conventional wisdom, perpetuated since our founding, holds that only the procedures under Article V can be used to change the Constitution. This is ludicrous in that it would mean that the People, the creator of the Constitution, would be subject to the will of those with limited authority who populate the government institutions the People created. That argument requires the logic that the createe can rule the creator.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
In point of fact, the Constitution can be changed in only two ways. The government, created by the Constitution, can amend it through the procedures set out in Article V of the Constitution. The People, the constituent sovereigns of the polity, who created the Constitution, can create, abolish, or amend the Constitution under the self-enacting principle of the Constitution's Article VII.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The Philadelphia II election similarly bypasses the Congress and presents the National Initiative directly to the People for the exercise of the same self-ratifying, self-enacting authority implicit in Article VII of the Constitution.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
They knew that the 13 sovereign state governments would not dilute their power by ratifying the Constitution; therefore, they chose to take the decision of ratification directly to the People via conventions with specially elected delegates bypassing state governments, who acquiesced to being bypassed in exchange for safeguards perpetuating slavery being embedded in the Constitution.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
A careful examination of history shows that the constitutionality of the National Initiative is lodged in the Declaration of Independence and the precedent set by the ratification of the Constitution in 1787 - 1789. James Madison and the Framers faced the same problem that We, the People, face today.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." (Amendment 10)
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
A careful reading of the Constitution confirms that it comprises nothing more than a limited delegation of authority by "We, the People" to various branches of the federal government. Moreover, to eliminate any uncertainty on this subject, the Bill of Rights explicitly states that: "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." (Amendment 9)
and
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
In its Preamble, the Constitution unambiguously records the fact that is "We the People of the United States ...ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Although the Constitution was drafted by a group known as "The Framers", it was "We the People", through the self-enacting features of Article VII, who elected delegates to state conventions for the sole purpose of ratification, and made the Constitution the law of the land.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The Constitutional Basis for the
National Initiative
The legal basis for the enactment by the People of the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act is founded on First Principles, the constituent sovereign's right and the legislative power of People to create or alter governments, constitutions, charters and laws. First Principles permitted our Founders to colonize America, declare their independence and to create a government by ratifying the Constitution.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
and on July 23, 1787: "These changes would make essential inroads on State Constitutions ...and in the case of these a ratification must of necessity be obtained from the People."
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
It is important to realize that it is the People rather than the Congress, who will have enacted the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act. In doing so they will have again followed the good advice articulated by James Madison at the Philadelphia Convention on June 5, 1787:
"For these reasons as well as others he [Madison] thought it indispensable that the new Constitution should be ratified in the most unexceptionable form, and by the supreme authority of the People themselves."
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Should a sufficient number of citizens voting agree to these actions, the People will establish, for the first time, legislative procedures and legislative elections with which they can continue to exercise their legislative powers in an orderly, deliberative and statutory manner.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
First Principles is the political heart of the voluntary supra-governmental election now being conducted by the nonprofit corporation Philadelphia II on behalf of the People permitting citizens, if they so choose, to amend the Constitution by ratifying the Democracy Amendment and to enact the Democracy Act as a federal statute.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The views of James Wilson at the time of our founding are instructive in this regard: "All power is originally in the People and should be exercised by them in person, if that could be done with convenience, or even with little difficulty." Today, modern technology permits the People to exercise their legislative powers "in person...[and]...with convenience.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
It is self evident although not obvious in conventional thinking that the Constitution does not and cannot limit the powers of its creator ---the People. It would be ludicrous to suggest that the creator is subject to its creation, i.e. the officialdom of government. The People can at any time exercise First Principles to amend the Constitution and enact a law establishing legislative procedures to legislate in an orderly fashion.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
That structural specification has no effect on the sovereign constituent power of the People -- the Constituent Power to create or amend the Constitution today as in 1787.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Nevertheless, today, as at our founding, the Constitution can be amended two ways: as specified by Article V by elected representatives and as clearly implied in its Preamble by the People directly. The language of Article V is tailored to potential use by the defined federal and state governments, for their use alone in amending the Constitution.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
To have designed a constitutional procedure whereby the People could amend, establish policy or make laws directly at that time was simply not on the horizon.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The Framers specified reliance on First Principles in Article VII which called for the use of the People's constituent power to be expressed in state ratification conventions to create our government. Given that technology was lacking to overcome the great distances of Colonial America in assembling the growing numbers of People, they had no choice but to build a representative structure as the sole legislative branch of the government.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Wilson was acknowledging the obvious impossibility of assembling great numbers of People from distant geographic areas to operate a polity. These physical limitations dictated the structure of our government in 1787.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Earlier, on June 6th, at the Constitutional Convention, James Wilson, second only to Madison in fashioning the Constitution, described the context of our republican structure: "The Legislature ought to be the most exact transcript of the whole society. Representation is made necessary only because it is impossible for the People to act collectively."
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
"The difficulty in Maryland was no greater than in other States, where no mode of change was pointed out by the Constitution, and all officers were under oath to support it. 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. It was a principle in the Bills of rights, that first principles might be resorted to."
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
James Madison pointed to the primacy of First Principles on August 31, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia--in response to delegate Mr. Daniel Carroll of Maryland, who had asserted there was no way to amend the Maryland Constitution other than by what was contained therein. Madison clarified:
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The founding generations of Americans thus practiced firsthand the power to create and alter their governments, constitutions, and laws.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Accordingly, recognition and use of First Principles is the first step to be taken whenever People come together to establish or reestablish a society. Its use by the citizens of this nation became visible during the British colonization of North America. It found expression in the Mayflower Compact of November 11, 1620, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of June 12, 1776, the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776 and the U.S. Constitution of September 17, 1787.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
First Principles
It is the People who are inherently invested with all authority and legislative power to create and alter governments, constitutions, charters, and laws. Thus it is the People who are the primary Constituent Power of every polity---the governing political element of society. In line with this, constitutions and governments are inherently derivative. This state of affairs is known as the First Principles of every organized society.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Section 8. DEFINITIONS.
The text is self-explanatory.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
When both of these conditions have been met, the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act assume the force of law on the date that the President of Philadelphia II certifies the election to the governments of the United States, each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Territories of the United States.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
B. The Election.
In order for the National Initiative to be enacted, both of the following must occur:
* The number of registered voters voting "Yes" in the election for the National Initiative must be greater than one-half the number of registered voters who voted in the most recent presidential election.
* The number of "Yes" votes (in favor of the National Initiative) must exceed the number of "No" votes.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The information collected by Philadelphia II from citizens will not to be used for any purpose other than recording, verification and counting of votes.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Unlike elections conducted by government agencies, the election for the National Initiative will provide an opportunity for voters to change their votes at any time, as many times as they like, until the election is certified. This provides unprecedented flexibility for voters, permitting them to update their votes when, for example, they receive additional information, or simply have a change of heart.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
As long as the ballot provides sufficient information for Philadelphia II to contact and verify the identity and registration status of the voter, and provides that the submitted ballot contains a "yes" or "no" vote and the signature and date of execution of the ballot, it will be counted in the election.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Clearly, not all voters will be able or required to provide all of the information requested on the ballot. For example, some voters will not have an e-mail address. Others may not have a permanent street address or a telephone.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Section 7. ENACTMENT BY THE PEOPLE. A. The Ballot.
The ballot for the National Initiative for Democracy contains sufficient information to permit Philadelphia II and appropriate auditors to verify that the persons submitting ballots are who they say they are, to verify that they are in fact United States citizens registered to vote, and to permit Philadelphia II to contact them to confirm that their votes were properly and accurately recorded.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Section 6. SEVERABILITY.
This section simply ensures that, if any part of the Democracy Act is successfully challenged in court, only the section specifically invalidated by the courts will become inoperative; the other sections will remain in full force.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
If at some time the citizenry come to feel that the Congress is consistently remiss in carrying out this duty, they may, by initiative, adjust the priorities of the members of Congress.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The last sentence of this section requires Congress to appropriate funds on an annual basis to support the operations of the Electoral Trust. The amount of these appropriations will, of course, depend on a combination of factors, including the amount requested by the Electoral Trust in its budget submissions, federal tax receipts and competing priorities.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Inasmuch as the funds from these loans will be used on behalf of the People, affording them the opportunity to empower themselves by enacting the National Initiative, it is appropriate that public funds be used to repay these debts, after they have been audited and certified by the Electoral Trust.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
In preparing for and conducting the election for the National Initiative, Philadelphia II will rely upon the generosity of donors and may borrow funds necessary to finance facilities, staff, contracts, equipment and/or other legitimate expenses essential to this election.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The Electoral Trust's use of appropriated funds will be subject to two levels of audit: first by an independent audit function within the Electoral Trust; secondly, like all other Federal government agencies, by the General Accounting Office.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Section 5. APPROPRIATIONS.
As with all agencies of the Federal Government, the operation of the Electoral Trust will be funded by specific appropriations from the United States Treasury. Whereas appropriations for all other federal agencies are authorized by acts of Congress, the citizenry permanently authorize the funding of the Electoral Trust through this Democracy Act.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
G. Budgets.
The text is self-explanatory.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
6) Election of Initiatives and Board of Trustees.
The text is self-explanatory.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The Electoral Trust must also provide administrative and clerical support, facilities and equipment that will permit the Committee to perform and record its work and its findings efficiently and effectively.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Because the Deliberative Committee will be made up entirely of citizens chosen at random from the voter rolls, many of whom may have little or no experience in such an environment, it will be incumbent on the Electoral Trust to provide process experts, skilled facilitators and subject matter experts to assist the Committee members in organizing and conducting their deliberations.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
For example, an issue that affects a small town might be held in city hall or even a school auditorium, whereas initiatives affecting a populous city, a state or the nation as a whole might be conducted via interactive TV on a network operated by the Electoral Trust.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
5) Hearings and Deliberative Committees.
The Public Hearing will provide an opportunity for proponents and opponents of an initiative to make their case in testimony, to receive testimony from experts, for the public to observe, dialog with and question the Sponsor and representatives of the relevant elected legislative body. The Electoral Trust will provide a venue for this hearing appropriate to the affected governmental jurisdiction.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Thirty days prior to the election of each initiative, the Electoral Trust will commence a public information campaign using television, radio, and/or print media; plus a pamphlet mailed to each household in the relevant jurisdiction, to summarize in a balanced and objective manner all the information assembled about the initiative.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
When an initiative is qualified for election, the Electoral Trust will create a web site for that initiative to which any member of the public may refer to determine the initiative's status and to review the information compiled to date on that initiative by the Electoral Trust. The Hearing Report, the report of the Deliberative Committee, the results of the Legislative Advisory Vote, and other information about the initiative will be posted to the web site as soon as they become available.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
This information is provided entirely at government expense, as is the case for representative legislative bodies. This information will be communicated to the voters in a timely manner using a variety of media and taking advantage of available technologies.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
4) Communication.
Knowledge is the key prerequisite to good legislative deliberation and offers the best opportunity for a commonsense judgment by a lawmaker. The Democracy Act is designed to provide the voter with the most complete and objective information possible so that the voter will have sufficient knowledge about the initiative to render a competent judgment.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Such a service assures an elevated quality of initiative texts and uniform legislative practice. Research avoids the creation of redundant legislative proposals and shares a compendium of knowledge relevant to all governmental jurisdictions.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
3) Research and Drafting Service.
The Electoral Trust will provide the assistance of a legislative Research and Drafting Service to assist sponsors in drafting their initiatives, to eliminate ambiguity and reduce the chance that an initiative, once enacted, can be successfully challenged in court for technical or constitutional reasons. Such a service is normally provided to members of representative legislative bodies.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Moreover, once registered by the Electoral Trust, a citizen will never have to re-register to vote, regardless of place of residence. Once registered, any citizen will have his or her voting privileges suspended for the duration of the time he or she is incarcerated as a result of having been convicted of a felony crime or is adjudged by a court to be incompetent.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The Electoral Trust will devise a system to facilitate lifetime registration for qualified citizens of the United States. The Electoral Trust will establish and maintain a database of all registered voters that will permit citizens to exercise their legislative power under the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act irrespective of the municipality, county, or state in which they reside, provided that they retained their United States citizenship.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
2) Voter Registration.
The Electoral Trust's voter registration activities and the voter registration database created therefrom do not replace any voter registration procedures established by state law.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
In all other respects the Board of Trustees, the Director and the employees of the Electoral Trust are subject to the laws of all governments of the United States.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
1) Existing Law.
The precedence of the Democracy Act over existing law, when there is a conflict, is established in Section 1 of the Democracy Amendment, which specifies that the legislative powers of the citizens, as asserted in the Democracy Amendment and implemented through the Democracy Act, may not be impaired by legislation enacted by elected legislatures, or by regulations promulgated by the executive branch at any level of government (federal, state or local) of the United States.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
F. Organization and Responsibilities.
This section simply affirms the authority and responsibilities of the Electoral Trust to fulfill its mission as an independent agency of the United States government. In this respect, it will be no different from other independent agencies such as the Federal Reserve Board, the National Science Foundation and the National Traffic and Safety Board.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
E. Oath or Affirmation of Office.
By taking the oath or affirmation of office, each person responsible in any way for the administration and implementation of the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act swears her or his allegiance both to the Constitution and to the principle that the citizens of the United States are the ultimate governmental authority. Failure to comply with the oath can be cause for removal, or the subject of a recall election or suit in a federal court.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
1) Term of Office. The text is self-explanatory. 2) Removal of Director. The text is self-explanatory. 3) Vacancy. The text is self-explanatory.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Because of the unique nature of the position, it should be incumbent on each Director, working with Board members, to carefully describe the position and the desirable attributes to be expected in those who will assume the position; then begin identifying potential replacements for the Director early in each Director's term in office.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
If the position of Director is vacated prior to the completion of a full six-year term, a person who receives a majority vote of the total membership of the Board of Trustees will fill the position. The Board of Trustees will establish procedures for identifying and considering candidates to fill any such vacancy in a timely manner.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
One of the principal responsibilities of the first Director will be to conduct the election to replace the Interim Board with the first Board of Trustees elected by the People.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
To address this requirement, the Democracy Amendment assigns the authority to appoint the first Director of the Electoral Trust to the Board of Directors of Philadelphia II, the nonprofit corporation conducting, on behalf of the People, the national election for the enactment of the National Initiative for Democracy.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Therefore it will be essential that the first Director be a person who has a comprehensive understanding and appreciation of the vision embodied in the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act and whose fundamental mission is to empower the People by making them lawmakers.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The position of Director will clearly be of critical importance to the success of the Electoral Trust and ultimately to the success of establishing a Legislature of the People. Members of the Interim Board may not be familiar with the concepts embodied in the Democracy Amendment and the Democracy Act, and many may even be opposed to the dilution of their governmental powers that will occur under the Legislature of the People.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
D. Director.
The Director is the Chief Executive Officer of the Electoral Trust and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Trust and the implementation of its policies and regulations. The Act empowers the Director to enter into contracts, hire staff, acquire facilities, and take such additional actions, as he or she deems necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of the position.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
In such time as they may have available during that period, they will be expected to employ their expertise as election officials to establish policies and oversee the commencement of the lifetime registration of citizens of the United States qualified to vote under the Act.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
C. Interim Board.
As explained on page 2 herein, referring to Section 2 of the Democracy Amendment, an Interim Board of Directors will be appointed in accordance with this Act. This temporary Board will have strictly limited powers. Their policy and oversight responsibilities start and end with the conduct of the first national election to elect the members of the Board of Trustees.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Examples of laws that might preclude public inspection of meetings or the records resulting therefrom include Title 5, Part I, Chapter 5, Subchapter II, Sections 552 and 552b of the U.S. Code, which prohibit public access to meetings that involve, among other things, personnel rules where disclosure of information of a personal nature would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or contract negotiations in which proprietary information could be unnecessarily exposed.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
6) Meetings.
This "sunshine" or transparency section is intended to ensure that the activities of the Electoral Trust will always remain open to the public. Except as required by law, meetings of the Board will be publicized in advance using various media and will be recorded and the records held available for public inspection; and many meetings may be broadcast in real time on radio or TV.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The Board will establish procedures for identifying and considering candidates from the state or other jurisdiction identified with the vacant position for evaluation by the Board.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
4) Vacancies.
Vacancies on the Board of Trustees can occur as a result of removal, death, resignation, or legal incapacity of a member and are to be filled in a timely manner. Vacancies will be filled by majority vote of the total membership of the Board after suitable consideration and evaluation of appropriate candidates.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
3) Removal Of Trustees.
If a Trustee violates the oath of office, or for other reasons determined by the Board, that Trustee may be removed if three-fourths of the members of the Board vote for his or her removal. The citizens of the state or other jurisdiction (e.g., Puerto Rico) that elected a Trustee may, at any time and for any reason, initiate and conduct an election to remove (recall) that Trustee.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
1) Membership.
The text is self-explanatory
2) Term of Office.
The text is self-explanatory.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
B. Board of Trustees.
The Board of Trustees is the governing board of the Electoral Trust. It will be responsible for establishing policy and performing the oversight necessary to determine that the policy is being adhered to or is in need of change.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
This section emphasizes the fact that, with the exception of authority granted by Section 3.I to Deliberative Committees, the Electoral Trust is forbidden from altering any initiative in any way.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
A. Mission.
The Electoral Trust's mission will be to establish, implement, administer and maintain the policies, procedures, regulations, systems, facilities and other resources required for the effective and deliberative exercise of the citizens' legislative power; and to enforce the provisions of the Democracy Amendment, the Democracy Act and the policies, procedures and regulations resulting from them.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
This information will equip the citizens to make changes, if they so choose, using initiatives, in any element of the Electoral Trust or to impeach any person who holds a position in the Electoral Trust.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The Electoral Trust will organize itself under the leadership of the Director to pursue its mission with transparency as soon as possible after the enactment of the National Initiative. The term transparency refers to the fact that every aspect of the Electoral Trust's activities will, to the extent feasible, be open and accessible to the public.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
But, unlike the Federal Reserve Board, whose members are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and unlike all other independent agencies of the federal government, the members of the Board of Trustees of the Electoral Trust will be elected by the citizens of the states they represent, and are not subject to confirmation by any government entity. The Electoral Trust is a true agency of the People.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Section 4. UNITED STATES ELECTORAL TRUST.
The Electoral Trust will be an independent agency of the Federal Government similar to, for example, the Federal Reserve Board. One facet of that similarity is that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board, like the Electoral Trust, is not under the authority of the President of the United States or any other government entity.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Abuses will occur but may be expected to decline dramatically once some law-breakers, such as, for instance, corporate executives found guilty of conspiring to illegally contribute funds from a corporation's treasury, have been jailed.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Q. Financial Disclosure.
The Electoral Trust will publish all financial disclosures on the Internet web site (or functional equivalent) it maintains for each initiative. The Electoral Trust will require all those contributing sums above a certain threshold to be identified on the web site. Failure to comply with the contribution and disclosure sections of the law is a felony punishable by prison time and a substantial fine.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
This section of the Act is not intended to prohibit organizations from communicating the organizations' positions on initiatives to their members, stockholders or other stakeholders; or to prohibit the news media from editorializing on initiatives. It is aggressive acts of coercion or inducement, whether covert or overt, that this section intends to prohibit.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The Democracy Act is designed in such a way that the Electoral Trust prior to and throughout the voting period will make all pertinent facts about an initiative available to voters. The effect of this publicly funded communication process will be to substantially reduce the impact of campaign contributions.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
The logic is simple, since only a natural person can vote then only a natural person should be able to contribute money for the purpose of supporting or opposing an initiative. The effect of money spent in a campaign is mitigated in another respect. Voters have demonstrated uncanny common sense in making political decisions when they have the basic facts surrounding an issue.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
P. Campaign Financing.
It is the purpose and effect of the National Initiative to mitigate the influence of money within government as it relates to initiatives. Only natural persons can contribute funds in an initiative campaign. In legal parlance a natural person is a de facto person, as distinguished from a de jure or virtual person such as a corporation.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
Therefore, those who are responsible for a promotional communication, however it may be conveyed to the public, must identify themselves within that communication. The Electoral Trust will promulgate regulations specifying how this required information will be incorporated in promotional communications.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago
O. Promotional Communications.
Clearly, it is in the best interests of the citizenry not to allow anonymity of those who push hardest for or against an initiative. Knowledge of the identities of the individuals who vigorously support or oppose an initiative, in and of itself, can also be useful to a voter in determining his or her own views on the issue.
BamaGravelian 3 years ago