John Locke was the Founding Forefather of American democracy
John Locke was the first political philosopher to advocate strongly for democracy. In his Second Treatise of Government (1689), he stated plainly and forcefully that “The consent of the people…is the only lawful basis for government”. He also asserted that “That all men by nature are equal” with natural rights to “life, health, liberty, (and) possessions” and that the reason we form governments is to secure and protect those rights.
If those ideas sound familiar it is because they are the “self-evident” truths that Thomas Jefferson, clearly inspired by Locke, summarized in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence:
The Essential Elements of a Perfect Democracy
The Declaration of Independence did not discuss how the consent of the governed was to be obtained, but Locke did. He identified the three essential elements that would make “the Form of the Government...a perfect Democracy” - an equal vote and/or equal representation for all, majority rule, and the supremacy of the legislature.
The opening line of the quotation from Locke (posted at the top of the this page) establishes majority rule as being in harmony with the natural order: “The majority having the whole power of the community naturally in them, may employ all that power in making laws for the community…” The element of equal representation 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”.
Locke discussed these three elements of a perfect democracy in much greater detail in his Second Treatise of Government. The following quotations are just a fraction of the other things he had to say regarding a perfect democracy.
With regard to equal representation for all citizens: Locke stressed the importance of maintaining: “A state…of equality wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another…. for it is the interest as well as the intention of the people to have fair and equal representation.”
With regard to majority rule, he stated that: “Every man, by agreeing with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation to everyone in that society to submit to the decisions of the majority, and to be bound by it.”
And with regard to the supremacy of the legislature, he said: “The great purpose for which men enter into society is to be safe and at peace in their use of their property; and the great instrument by which this is to be achieved is the laws established in that society. So, the first and fundamental positive law of any commonwealth is the establishing of the legislative power.” And added that, “In a constituted commonwealth, standing on its own basis and acting according to its own nature (i.e., acting for the preservation of the community), there can be only one supreme power, the legislative power, to which all the rest are and must be subordinate.”
THESE THREE ELEMENTS REINFORCE ONE ANOTHER
All three of these essential elements must be in place for a representative democracy to be a “perfect democracy”. They reinforce one another.
Majority rule requires that every citizen have an equal voice in determining public policies and what laws are enacted. As mentioned above, you cannot determine the will of a majority of the people accurately if some people are denied the right to participate or if some people’s votes count for more than others.
And if the legislative bodies that are in place accurately reflect the will of a majority of the people, no other branch, person, or persons within the government should have the right or the ability to block legislation that is passed by the representative assembly. Any provision or practice that enables a minority to overrule the majority is antidemocratic.
NONE OF THESE ELEMENTS IS IN PLACE IN AMERICA
EQUAL REPRESENTIION?
The fact that states, not people, have equal representation in the Senate results in extremely unequal representation of people. The citizens of Wyoming, with a population of 576,851, have two votes in the Senate. The citizens of California, with a population of 39,538,223 also have two votes. That is a 69 to 1 advantage for citizens of Wyoming in terms of representation in the Senate. That advantage for small states (in terms of population) also plays out in the Electoral College, where the vote of one citizen of Wyoming has a value equal to the votes of four citizens of California.
The effect of having a geographical basis for representation in the U. S. House of Representatives, with congressional districts of roughly equal size being represented rather than people being represented directly, also results in unequal representation. Made significantly worse by gerrymandering within a bitterly divided two-party system, the geographical basis for representation leaves many voters feeling unrepresented (with considerable justification).
MAJORITY RULE?
In the United States today, polls indicate that there is a lengthy list of legislation favored by solid majorities (60% or more) of voters that has not been passed by Congress and is not likely to be passed anytime soon. Requiring two-thirds majorities in both chambers of Congress to propose a constitutional amendment or override a presidential veto allows a minority to overrule the majority. The filibuster allows a minority of the members of the U. S. Senate to keep a majority of the members from even bringing a bill to the floor of the Senate for discussion and a vote.
SUPREMACY OF THE LEGISLATURE?
The president can veto legislation passed by Congress and the Supreme Court can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. It takes a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress to override presidential veto or even propose an amendment to our Constitution. Within our system of "checks and balances", these checks on Congress make the legislature the weakest branch of the government in our political system.
OUR CONSTITUTION VERSUS OUR IDEALS
The words “democracy” is derived from two Greek words: “demos”, which means “the people” and “kratia”, which means have power. A democracy is a government in which the people have power - government by the people. In a democracy, the consent of a majority of the people determines what laws are passed and what policies are put in place. Any provision or practice that enables a minority to overrule the majority is antidemocratic.
The antidemocratic provisions embedded in our Constitution are in conflict with the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence. To live up to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence we need to remove the antidemocratic elements from our Constitution.
Two reforms to make America a true democracy
We need to amend the amendment process That will be easier with proxies for citizens.
Amending our Constitution is very difficult. Especially when the reforms are opposed by corporate interests. And corporate interests know that if we succeed in making America a perfect democracy, or even a true democracy, they will no longer have effective control of our government.
To overcome the money and the power of corporate interests, we need a broad-based mass movement with extremely narrow goals: to amend the process of amending our Constitution (an Article V Amendment) so that changes favored by a majority of the citizens can be made to our Constitution. And we need to institute Proxies for Citizens to ensure equal representation for all Americans in Congress and state legislatures. (That will make getting the Article V Amendment enacted easier.)
Those two reforms will make America a true democracy – a government in which the will of the majority of the citizens is reflected in the acts of Congress and state legislatures. Once we have legislatures that reflect the will of the people and a democratic amendment process, we can decide democratically if we want to make the additional amendments to our Constitution that would make America a perfect democracy.
Proxies for Citizens will allow every citizen who is governed by the acts of a legislature the ability to designate any member of each such legislative body (both the Senate and the House of Representatives in both Congress and their state legislature) as their representative. This will ensure that all citizens have equal representation.
The amendment process embedded in our Constitution (as detailed in Article V) is itself anti-democratic – requiring the support of two-thirds of the members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives to even propose an amendment, which must then be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. The Article V Amendment will change the amendment process so that amendments can be proposed by a majority vote in either house of Congress and ratified by a majority vote in a nationwide referendum.
Getting these two foundational reforms enacted will not be easy, but it is the task at hand. The key to our success is to focus on something Franklin Roosevelt once said:
The Right to Vote = Power to the People
Most voters in America today do not feel like the “ultimate rulers of our democracy” – but we are.
Even within our broken, dysfunctional electoral and political systems and in spite of all of the antidemocratic provisions embedded in our Constitution, America today is more democratic than ancient Athens or our own country under the Articles of Confederation in one important regard - we have universal suffrage – the right to vote has been extended to every citizen over the age of eighteen. Corporatists and plutocrats may have a lot of money, but we (the voters) have them outnumbered. If a simple majority of voters stand up in support of democracy in America and elect champions of democracy to represent us in at least thirty-nine states, we can enact the reforms that will make us “the ultimate rulers of our democracy”.
Our message to candidates: "If you don't support democracy, we won't support you."
We need to make support for these two reforms the litmus tests for our support in this year’s election. Regardless of what other issues concern us, we need to realize that we are not likely to see meaningful action on any of the many issues that have popular support but have long gone unaddressed until we fix our broken, dysfunctional, and antidemocratic political system. Once we have made America a perfect (or at least a true) democracy, we will see action on ALL of the issues that concern us.
Most of us are going to get a lot of requests for our time, our money, and our votes from candidates for office this year. We need to respond to every request with a clear message that we will only be supporting candidates who have made it clear that they support Proxies for Citizens and the Article V Amendment.
We need to make it clear that we will not support any incumbents until this legislation has been introduced in a legislative body (either chamber in both Congress and our state legislatures). We will not support any candidates who are not incumbents until they have made their support for these two reforms clear (through posts on their websites, mentions in their campaign literature, et cetera).
If enough of us withhold our support over the next few months this legislation will be introduced. But whether it is introduced or not, if enough of us simply refuse to support candidates who do not support democracy, candidates who do support democracy will emerge – and they will have a better chance of winning elections.
The key to making America a perfect democracy is to elect legislators who truly believe in 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 do our best 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 perfect democracy (or at least a true democracy).
The Action Plan posted on this website is intended to be a collaborative effort subject to changes based on input and developements as our campaign unfolds. Your input is welcomed and encouraged. The best way to offer input is through our Facebook group.
This website is a work in progress.
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for revisions,
please join the discussion in our Facebook group or on Twitter or use the contact form on this website.
Subscribe
If you would like to be notified of calls to action related to our Action Plan or of modifications to our agenda or Action Plan, please provide your email address.
Most of the material on this website is adapted from a soon-to-be published book (Government by the People: A Citizen's Guide to Making America a Perfect Democracy) by Winston Apple. Permission to copy is granted provided that attribution is included. You are, of course, encouraged to share access to this website freely.