The Problem:
90% of voting age Americans do not know the name of the
U.S. House rep. from their own local district. The United States was
designed to be a constitutional representative republic, however widespread lack
of participation has created a viscous cycle of dysfunctional government leading
to further rejection of government by the people. This is only made worse by
those in the media who refuse to treat this as a serious crisis, instead
referring to all people as "voters", even in districts were only 10%-20% of the
people actually vote in most elections.
The United States ranks last among industrialized
nations in terms of participation by the people. Voter turnout in mid-term
general elections averages less than 38% of the eligible citizens. Voter
turnout for presidential elections ranges between 50% and 60%, but the president
is given very little power according to the U.S.. Constitution.
So, despite years of work by voter advocacy groups such
as Rock the Vote, turnout remains low in important non-presidential
elections. Media outlets and blogs make the presidential elections into
big events that perpetuate a false left/right paradigm and further distract us
from constitutional self-governing.
The Concept of
Self
Governing - All Politics is Local:
Freedom comes with responsibility, and only the people
can be responsible for fixing things in their own government. Refusing to get
organized or work with-in the system, because of the belief that the system is
hopelessly rigged and broken, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and only leads
to further control by powerful limited interests.
In Washington, the U.S. House is the most important
governing body, because the people are supposed to directly elect their
435 representatives every two years (the constitution does not ask people to
directly elect the President). In addition to legislative powers, the U.S.
House has control over the money in the U.S. Treasury, they have the final
approval of executive branch appointments, and they have the sole power to
impeach the president.
The Solution:
The solution is very simple: We must start to
acknowledge the correlation between widespread lack of participation and
the rise of dysfunctional partisan government that is often not working for the
people.
Start by getting informed. Follow our link to your local
election web site. Find out who your current U.S. House rep. is. Also, look
up your governor, your state rep. and your mayor. Find out who may be running
against them in the next election. Get organized, and join campaigns where
people going door to door can defeat the big money candidates who waste hundreds
of thousands of dollars on negative, annoying ads and useless mailers that end
up in a landfill.
Find links and information on GOV360's resource page, and
spread the word.
REVOLUTION is in the CONSTITUTION - Don't discard it.
Act on it.
