Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Online Majority - The movement will work!

Congress is .0000004% of all registered American voters.  Those members of congress are elected by a majority vote of American voters in their respective states, and those voters can vote a member of congress out of office.  What is wrong with that process?

There is nothing wrong with the process if you are satisfied with accepting the damage done by members of congress before you have the opportunity to vote them out of office.  The real question should be; what can we do to improve the process and protect Americans from members of congress who ignore their campaign promises, putting their own agendas before the will of the people who elected them?

One twitter follower and I have been exchanging ideas.  I would like to thank him for his thoughts and ideas.  One of his ideas involves term limits in congress.  I wholeheartedly agree that term limits is an option we should consider.  However, let's take that to the extreme and assume a member of congress can only serve one term.  That member, once he/she is elected can choose to ignore campaign promises and promote an agenda that is not good for the people he/she is in Washington to serve.

In fact, if a member of congress is term limited it removes one reason for that person to be concerned about keeping campaign promises.  He/she will not be concerned about earning the trust required for re-election, which makes him/her more vulnerable to lobbyists and the personal gains lobbyists offer to members of congress.  Term limits could be an incentive for a member of congress to ignore campaign promises and support bills that hurt their constituents, for personal gain offered by the lobbyists.

I support term limits in congress, because I believe we need the fresh new ideas in congress we will have as members rotate in and out when their term limits expire.  That said, term limits are not a check and balance on congress while its members are serving.  We must have a check and balance on members of congress while they are in congress.  We can have that check and balance on congress and take away the pressures lobbyists now exert on members of congress.

You are currently using the tool that will give us checks and balances; the internet.  Think about everything you now do online.  You are reading this blog.  You can do your banking online.  You can communicate with others in seconds, using chat various forums.  You can shop online and have merchandise and food delivered without leaving your home.  You can find a mate online if you choose to join one of the online dating sites.  You can even file your tax return online; a definite interaction with the federal government.

Consider for a minute everything members of congress do online, besides the things I have already mentioned.  Most of them tweet on a daily basis, promoting their agendas.  Nearly all of them have websites, complete with a "donate to my campaign" button.  Members of congress definitely rely on the internet as much as other Americans have come to rely on it.

So, why has no member of congress ever proposed a Constitutional Amendment to allow all American voters the opportunity to vote on legislation before it is enacted?  Why has the subject of online voting never been a topic of discussion in congress?  Simply stated, online voting would take power away from members of congress and give it to all American voters, where it belongs.  Members of congress feel threatened by online voting, and they should be endorsing it.  Their jobs would still be important.

Online Majority does not want to do away with congress.  We need congress to pass legislation, but we also need the check and balance of giving all American voters the opportunity to approve that legislation before it is enacted.  There is no good reason for .0000004% of all American voters (congress) to be the final word on legislation before it is enacted.  A simple majority vote, allowing all registered voters the opportunity to approve legislation before enactment should be the law of the land.

Some say it will not work, because the government is corrupt and the online voting process will be corrupted.  Think about the absurdity of argument.  It starts with the premise that government is corrupt, which is all the more reason to install all of the checks and balances we can install, to fight corruption.

Some say the system will be to complicated to install.  It could be designed, written, debugged and installed within six months.  There is ample brainpower in America to do the work, and run it smoothly.

Some say it is unconstitutional.  Yes, it is right now, but a Constitutional Amendment will make it constitutional.  Constitutional Amendments are not unconstitutional.  If you are a woman, you have not always had the right to vote.  A Constitutional Amendment gave you that right.  The same is true for black Americans. Constitutional Amendments have played a major role in reforming American politics and we have an opportunity to continue reforming it for the better.

Would the founding fathers have given us the right to vote online?  I have to believe they would have if the technology had been available at the time the Constitution was written.  They had the foresight to realize times would change the needs of Americans and the Constitution would need to change from time to time.  The Constitution is the document that established our rights as Americans and the Amendments to it have strengthened it.  It's time to strengthen it again.

Join the movement and let your voice be one of the voices that approves legislation, before it is forced on you as the law of the land. Americans must have the final voice over the agendas of politicians before those agendas damage the lives of all who live in this great land.

More will be coming soon on how you can join the movement.  Prepare to claim the power you should have.



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