Citizen v 2.1
Citizen v2.1 is founded on two core concepts:
Americans must become more responsible Citizens. They will do so, once they are given more serious responsibilities as the fourth, and highest, branch of government — The Citizenry.
The Voting Rights Movement is unfinished. It will be complete when Citizens are voting directly on the national policy issues that affect their lives, issues of their own choosing, and having those decisions be binding on the lower three branches.
I come to this crusade in the winter of my years, having logged a lifetime of public service, in and out of government, in and out of uniform, but never in the money. For me, it began in grad school when a passage from Walt Whitman’s “Democratic Vistas” jumped off the page.
“We have frequently printed the word Democracy, yet I cannot too often repeat that it is a word the real gist of which still sleeps, quite unawakened . . .
It is a great word, whose history, I suppose remains unwritten, because that history has yet to be enacted.”
It’s true. In the United States, we’ve never really tried Democracy. We’ve always governed through elected representatives. That’s a republic, and it made sense when most citizens lacked a formal education and communicating took weeks instead of seconds. But our society has been transformed since then, in almost every way — every way except the way we govern. Consider these words by the famous futurist, Dr. Alvin Toffler.
“I fail to see how it is possible for us to have a technological revolution, a social revolution, an information revolution, moral, sexual, and epistemological revolutions, and not a political revolution as well.
The political technology of the industrial age is no longer appropriate for the new civilization taking form around us. Our politics are obsolete.”
WHY IT IS TIME FOR DEMOCRACY
“We cannot solve our current problems with the same philosophies, practices and parties that created them!”
That was my campaign mantra when I ran for the U. S. House a while back.
You know the problems as well as I do. Every new episode of the Washington Follies confirms our fears. Now — imagine the benefits of upgrading and then rebooting our dysfunctional system of government:
❖ Citizens feel they finally have control over their government and the course of their lives.
❖ Voter turnout rises as voting on the issues becomes a meaningful right and responsibility.
❖ Critical policy issues are resolved quickly instead of being allowed to fester for decades and divide us as a nation.
❖ The media will have to rediscover its duty of public education.
❖ Special interest groups will have to make their case to the nation instead of simply buying seats in Congress.
❖ The party oligarchs are put on leash.
❖ America sets a new standard of democratic governance in the world.
This is not wishful thinking. We can make this happen! In the words of Robert F. Kennedy:
Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.
America is not doomed to the same fate as the other great civilizations of history. We still have time. We can regain our status as the world’s leading democracy.
Join the Citizen v2.1 community by visiting http://Citizen-v2pt1.us. You may also wish to read The Democracy Saga which tells the story of American citizen patriots reclaiming their sovereignty. Will it be political fiction or political prophesy? You will have to make that decision.
