Government by the People

In his Second Treatise of Government (1689), Locke identified and discussed the elements that would make the form of a government “a perfect democracy”. Those elements are all included, explicitly or implicitly, in the brief quotation (above).

The first line (“The majority having…the whole power of the community naturally in them, may employ all that power in making laws for the community”) establishes majority rule as being in harmony with the natural order. Majority rule is also the essential element that makes a government a democracy. The other elements flow from majority rule.

The element of an equal vote and/or equal representation for every member of a society is implicit in determining the will of the majority. You cannot conclusively determine the will of the majority unless all of the members of a community have an equal vote and/or equal representation as the laws are made.

And the supremacy of the legislature is established as a result of the laws that are made being executed by “officers of their own appointing”.

John Locke - The Original Champion of Democracy

John Adams: On the Ideal Legislature

If the legislature is to be supreme within a “perfect democracy”, Adams’ criteria for the ideal representative assembly must be met. We have fallen far short of that ideal.

Polls consistently show that a solid majority of Americans favor a lengthy list of critically needed legislation that has not been passed by Congress, and is not likely to be passed anytime soon, within the present gridlocked, dysfunctional system: a federal job guarantee, access to affordable health care, as a right; a proper response to the existential threat posed by global warming, lower prescription drug prices; universal background checks and an assault weapons ban; codification of Roe v. Wade to keep abortion safe, legal, and rare; et cetera, et cetera…

The feeling on the part of many Americans, that what we want from our government doesn’t really matter, is confirmed by extensive research into the correlation between the will of the people and the acts of Congress. As one pair of researchers concluded: “The preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”

In other words, the people in the United States who claim their votes don’t matter are basically correct. The false friends and true enemies of democracy, who are in the majority in Congress (and in every state legislature) don’t care much at all about what we, the people, want. They serve the interests of their corporate benefactors and the tax-averse billionaires that give them the money they need to get elected and repeatedly reelected. Much of the money raised is used to launch deadly waves of attack ads aimed at any Champions of Democracy who seem likely to threaten their incumbency.

Implementing ranked choice voting would help, especially if combined with at-large elections, or at least multiple-member districts for seats in Congress and state legislatures. But RCV will not be enough, in and of itself, to make America a perfect democracy.

Given the deep and serious flaws in the manner in which we conduct elections, the corruption that has infected our political system, and the numerous anti-democratic provisions embedded in our Constitution, if we want government OF the people to be government FOR the people, we must have GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE.

Fortunately, there is a simple way to take power away from corporate interests and plutocrats and give POWER TO THE PEOPLE - proxies for citizens.

The work of making our government our own

Three reforms will provide the foundation for making America a perfect democracy

Ranked choice voting, combined with at-large elections and multiple-member districts for Congress and state legislatures will give citizens more choices and ensure that the winners have the support of a majority of the voters (at some level of preference).
Proxies for Citizens will instantly transform corrupted, broken, and dysfunctional legislative bodies into truly democratic institutions.
And the Article V Amendment will make the process of removing anti-democratic provisions from our Constitution much easier (and more democratic).

Proxies for Citizens

A proxy is the authority to represent someone else, especially in voting. When you assign your proxy to someone, you authorize them to vote on your behalf.

Proxies are routinely used by corporations to allow shareholders to designate someone to vote on their behalf at annual shareholder meetings. Both the Republican Party and Democratic Party utilize proxies at meetings of their national committees, with regard to votes that take place as part of their internal governance. Numerous other organizations use proxies, especially when an organization’s membership is dispersed over a broad geographic area that makes attending meetings in person inconvenient.

The best way to ensure that all citizens are represented and have equal representation in Congress and state legislatures is to give every citizen who is governed by the laws passed by a legislative body a proxy that can be assigned to any member of that legislative body and then allow each legislator to cast a number of votes equal to the number of proxies they hold (plus one for themselves) on every matter that comes before the legislative body (including votes taken in committees and procedural matters).

Proxies provide a simple means of transforming our corrupt, broken, dysfunctional legislatures into truly democratic institutions. There is no other single reform we could enact that even comes close to the providing the wealth of benefits that implementing systems of proxies for citizens in Congress and state legislatures will provide.

Within the system that is in place, none of the legislation favored by a majority of the people is likely to pass. Certainly not anytime soon. As soon as we implement a system of proxies for citizens in both houses of Congress, all of the legislation favored by a majority of the people will be enacted immediately.

Implementing a system of proxies for citizens would immediately, fundamentally, and totally alter the nature of the relationship between citizens and their representatives. Proxies will instantly remake our representative assemblies, bringing them in line with the vision of John Adams, by establishing a strong, near perfect, correlation between votes in legislatures and the way the people would have voted, if voting directly.

Instead of having “a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact” on acts of Congress and state legislatures, citizens would, in effect, be voting themselves, albeit indirectly, on everything that is voted on in a representative assembly, resulting in a near perfect correlation between the will of the people and acts of Congress and state legislatures.

We (the people) ARE the "ultimate rulers"

The right to vote = power to the people

We, the voters, may not feel like “the ultimate rulers of our democracy”, but we are. If enough of us come together as part of a board-based and inclusive movement to make America a more perfect democracy, we will show our leaders (and ourselves) just how powerful we are. If enough of us unite in support of democracy, our movement will be far too big to fail.

The key to our success is to focus our collective energy initially on a single reform -getting systems of Proxies for Citizens in place in the U. S. House of Representatives and in as many state legislatures as possible.

In any state where a majority of the voters in a majority of the legislative districts within that state cast votes for Champions of Democracy on November 8th, those Champions of Democracy will be able to pass the legislation needed to implement a system of Proxies for Voters. And the states that manage to do that will be instantly transformed into more perfect democracies.

If a majority of the voters in a majority of the districts in any state elect Champions of Democracy - democracy wins! (In that state.)

If democracy wins in at least two-thirds of the states, we can call for an Article V Convention and enact all of the other reforms necessary to MAKE AMERICA A MORE PERFECT DEMOCRACY.

Making this year’s election a referendum on democracy, and making sure democracy wins, will require a massive effort to educate voters regarding proxies and to help voters identify, support, and vote for true Champions of Democracy. To that end, Government by the People soon add a “Champions of Democracy” page to this website, where we will post the names of any and all incumbents who have introduced, cosponsored, and/or voted for legislation implementing Proxies for Citizens; as well as non-incumbent candidates who have pledged to support Proxies for Citizens on their campaign website, to make it easy for voters to identify, support, and vote for them.

The false friends and true enemies of democracy currently control Congress and every state legislature in the United States. But most of them must stand for reelection this year and if a majority of the citizens in a majority of the states refuse to support candidates who do not believe in or support democracy, and if a majority of the candidates who win election are true Champions of Democracy, we will be able to enact the legislation necessary to MAKE AMERICA A MORE PERFECT DEMOCRACY.

About This Website

This website is intended to serve as an informational and educational resource and an organizing hub for a broad and inclusive grassroots movement, involving numerous political organizations and millions of citizens, united in support of doing the work of making our government our own. Effective communication and coordination will be vital to our success as we work to fulfill our nation’s destiny and make America a perfect democracy.

The main pages on this website offer a more detailed discussion of the specific reforms that need to be enacted to MAKE AMERICA A MORE PERFECT DEMOCRACY.

Our broad-based and inclusive campaign is a collaborative effort subject to changes in goals and strategy based on input and developments from the people and organizations that are part of our campaign. Your input is welcomed and encouraged.