A Direction for our Democracy

With the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election just days away, we are at a crossroads that will determine our nation’s ultimate fate. While our president will figure somewhat in the direction we take, our current debt crisis requires making very difficult decisions that frankly, I’m not sure either one of the two major candidates is ready, willing, or able to make.

The same goes for our elected members of Congress. The problem is, our representative system of democracy is one where long-term achievements are sacrificed in favor of short-term goals. Decisions are made based on how they will impact the next election rather than the next generation, and as a result we accelerate ever quicker towards our national day of reckoning.

This is not some nutty Doomsday scenario. The fact is, if our government continues to borrow money in such vast amounts, eventually that debt will have to be paid, one way or another. In order to help mitigate the problem, bold steps must be taken. A combination of significantly higher taxes and severe spending cuts is probably the only way we will ever dig our way out of this hole. But neither of the two major candidates will suggest that overtly because it would be political suicide. And Congress will not pass the necessary legislation for very much the same reason.

So, what to do? Simply put, in order to survive this crisis and help us to better confront future challenges, we must change our entire democratic system. We need to abandon our representative democracy and form a direct democracy. We must take the legislative power away from Congress and put it directly in the hands of the people.

Sure, there will still be a place for Congress. They would be responsible for crafting the legislation that the public would then vote on. As a matter of fact, most of everything in our Constitution would remain fully intact. The only difference is that We The People would determine the direction our democracy takes, rather than a small group of individuals whose sole interest is perpetuating and expanding their own power at our expense.

How would it work? Well, in order to keep the extreme wings of ideology from controlling the political agenda, much like they do now with our two-party system, Election Day would be a national holiday. Most everyone would take the day off (early voting or absentee exceptions could be made for emergency personnel and others who are not able to take off from work) to vote. Voting would be a duty and required of all citizens, much like paying taxes. This would ensure that the results of the laws we pass accurately reflect the true sentiments of the citizenry, since voter turnout would be nearly 100%.

Congress and the two major political parties will not easily give up their power. But that power they have ultimately belongs to us anyway. And since they have repeatedly failed in their responsibilities to the citizens of the United States, we must take that power back. That is the only way we will save our great nation: by establishing a direct democracy.