Government by the People: Historical Background
When we use the term “true democracy,” politically we are referring to citizen legislation and the direct participation of the American people in the political process. Some people call it “direct democracy” or “participatory democracy,” but we call it true democracy, pure and simple, because anything else is a watered-down version of the original meaning of the term. Fortunately, we have a long tradition of true democracy in the United States, and the best manifestations of this tradition are to be found in the initiative, referendum, and recall process of direct citizen legislation and lawmaking as a check and balance against a representative system that does not represent the will of the people.
In summary, for the reader who is not familiar with the initiative, referendum, and recall process of citizen lawmaking, The process works in the following way :
(1) In the initiative process, if citizens from a specific political unit i.e., town, county, state, or nation, desire as citizen lawmakers to see a specific proposition become law, and they get the legally designated number of signatures of registered voters required by law for that unit of government in support of that law, that proposition goes to the registered voters of that unit of government for a vote, and if the proposition receives the majority of the votes cast, the proposition becomes law.
(2) In a citizen referendum, if the citizens of a specific political unit disapprove of a law passed by their legislature, and they obtain the legally designated number of signatures of registered voters required by law in support of a proposition demanding the repeal of that law, that proposition goes to the registered voters of that unit of government, and if the proposition received the majority of the votes cast, the law is repealed.
(3) In a recall, through the same process, citizens can recall representative or public officials, except that in this instance a super majority is usually required.
Historically, these instruments of direct citizen legislation and participation in the political process originated with and became a significant part of the democratic revolution of the Populist and Progressive Era in the United States. The Populist and Progressive era of the 1880s and the early 1900s looked very much like the United States of today. The Robber Barons of the Gilded Age, like the vampire capitalist of today, fed off small famers, impoverished the urban working class, and exploited immigrant and cheap child labor. Like today, big money and big business corrupted the body politic at all levels and created then, as they have today, a one-dollar-one-vote system of government where there were large giveaways of land and money to privately owned rail- roads and other corporations that fed off the commonwealth in what was then as now a massive corporate welfare state. Large trusts and monopolies and oligarchies of the period mirrored the behavior of our modern-day global corporations, and it was during this era that corporations were adjudicated as legal “persons” and became the Leviathans that play a major role in the horror story we are experiencing today.
The Populist and Progressive movements of the 1880 and early 1900s spearheaded the revolt against the vampire capitalism of that era and fought for the inclusion of the initiative, referendum, and recall process of citizen lawmaking and direct and participatory democracy in city charters and state constitution, and by 1918, 24 states and numerous cities had adopted the initiative and direct popular referendum in one form or another. This inclusion of citizen lawmaking into the political process became an instrument of revolutionary change. Why? Because the process expressed the will of the people and gave them the power to implement their will.
Through the use of the initiative, referendum, and recall process as an instrument of democratic change the Populists and the Progressives with limited funds but a vast army of volunteers were able to initiate and pioneer legislation and a vision of America that led to the enactment of anti-trust laws, the first income tax (a 5% tax on the income of the rich), a constitutional change that allowed the American people to vote directly for their Senators for the first time, and the right to vote for women. They also set the agenda for the New Deal of shared prosperity, a progressive income tax, social security, an inheritance tax, the regulation of the stock market, and the recognition of labor’s right to organize.
This is not to say that he initiative, referendum, and recall process favors one ideology or party over another. It doesn’t. It expresses the will of the people over time. For example, during the 1980s and 1990s the results of initiatives, referendums, and recalls across the country showed a decided shift to a more conservative and Republican expression of the will of the people as exemplified by the tax revolt and Proposition 13 that capped property taxes in California at 3%.
However, as noted earlier, we are looking more like we looked during the Populist and Progressive Era, and the American people are beginning to stir again as reflected in the fact that more states are amending their constitutions to include the initiative, referendum, and recall process as part of their constitutions. In addition, more and more citizens are demanding citizen law making, and more people are beginning to ask, “What is an initiative, referendum, and recall?” And, when it is explained to them, they say, “Really? We can do that?”
To be expected, as interest grows, the antidemocratic forces in America have become more vocal in their opposition and criticism of direct democracy. They argue that the initiative, referendum, and recall process of direct citizen lawmaking tramples on the rights of minorities, that big money controls the process more so than it does representative government, and the people are not informed enough nor intelligent an educated enough to make and repeal laws. Direct democracy is mob rule, they say, dominated by the passions of the moment and the mass movement of the herd led by democratic demigods and charlatans. Fortunately, we have over a hundred years of history and experience with the initiative, referendum, and recall process in the United States and as many years of records, results, and research. American has been the pioneer in direct citizen lawmaking and the laboratory for direct democracy, so let’s look at the criticisms of the process of citizen lawmaking in the light of the fact.
Author's Note - Learn or Die: The New American Revolution is a two part revolution of political and economic democracy. Initially in the excerpts from the book that I am sharing, I am focusing on the political revolution and citizen lawmaking. In this study of political democracy, I will cover key questions about the initiative, referendum, and recall process of citizen lawmaking, (1) Does money dominate the process? (2) Does the initiative, referendum, and recall process of lawmaking trample minority rights? (3) Does the process work for everyone? (4) Is the average American capable of being a citizen lawmaker?
Author's Note - I have made Learn or Die: The New American Revolution available to you through Smashwords in a Freedom for Free Edition where you can pay what you want for the book or nothing at all. It is free. I'm doing this because after 50 years of research and study I believe I have found the way for all of us.
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