re
1/2 cocked
thinking the
public
Another in a line of
“not completely terrible” ideas
for stuff in the world.
w e s l e y • b a u m a n
Imagine a world where you decide whether there is a sixth
continuing resolution on sweeping immigration reform? Want
to call Congress back from their break to debate an issue? Do we
want to eliminate lobbyists? Do you want to take the future of
this country from the few hundreds and give it to the millions
who must live in that future as much, if not more than, those
we elected? Do you want democracy or political plagiarism of
a Greek and Roman system entrenched in the idea that the
people are literally too ignorant and too far away to be allowed
to be a part of the system?
The republic was an invention of necessity. It was designed in
the vacuum of the times. While the idea of the peoples’ voice
being heard was a novel and groundbreaking one, the decision
to elect and send one to represent the many was one of logistics.
People were far away from the seat of democracy. They were
literally disconnected. Fast forward to today’s world of almost
pornographic connectivity. This is not a world that need elect
the most literate and traveled among us to speak for us in the
far away capital. This is a world that can speak for itself if that
is something we really want.
Let’s face it, we’re smarter than the framers of the constitution.
You, me, most publicly educated 6th graders are smarter than
the average forefather. An educated people should be harder to
control.
Our elected officials need not vote for us, but need to cast our
vote for us. The idea of WeVote is to hold our representatives
accountable. They cast the vote that we decide from issue to
issue after we elect them.
I want my elected officials explaining everything to me, giving
me their informed pros and cons list for a bill, a law, a vote, and
then doing as the majority of voters would like by letting us
decide in a public poll. If enough oppose the representative’s
vote, they vote our way. What would be the harm in letting
us go to Washington more? I think we can have a government
without scapegoats. A place where we can’t blame the fat cats,
the disconnected politician, the elitist, the liberals and the
conservatives. It’s the system’s fault, not ours. We voted, we did
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