The Revolution by Vote

The Voters:  The Fourth Branch of Government

and how to replace the Two-party Scam.

 

 

The three checks and balances in American government:

We have recently been reminded, by the mistakes of our new President Trumplestiltskin, that our Constitution provides a government with "checks and balances."  The three main branches that have powers to "check and balance" the other two are the Congress, which controls all money expenditures and makes the laws; the President, who can prevent the passage of a law (veto) unless that law has the support of two-thirds of the Congress;  and the courts, including the Supreme Court, which exercise the power to interpret the law -- state what the law actually means -- whenever there is a "case in controversy."  A case in controversy does not mean only a conflict between two parties, or a party and a state, or a citizen and the government, but it means most of all a controversy with regard to the interpretation or meaning of the written law -- especially a conflict between two laws that appear to contradict each other. 

 

Judicial criticism arises from legislative incompetence:

The judges of the courts are often criticized by both legislators and executives -- the President and state governors --  for "legislating from the bench" or "making laws" when they render their decisions to settle such "cases in controversy."  HOWEVER, all such criticisms of judges are unfair because the judges would have nothing to do if the legislators were smart enough and careful enough to make good laws or laws that are consistent with all previous laws.  Legislators are often politicians first, before being lawmakers, and for political reasons, often bad political reasons, they pass bad laws, especially bad laws that favor their friends and people who gave them money for their election campaigns.  The truth is and always has been that if the federal and state legislators passed consistent laws the judges could spend their time fishing and reading all year. 

 

The Fourth Branch of government is the people:

There is a Fourth Branch of government:  the people, and more specifically "factions" or political parties.  One of the most well-known and respected statements on factions in a democracy was written by James Madison in the Federalist Papers.  And the most important element of the American Constitution that the people forget, and do not appear to understand, is that the American Constitution says not one word about political parties.  Neither the federal government nor any state government is vested with the power to limit or regulate how the people form political parties or organize political factions, or how we select the persons we want to be elected to those positions of power that are filled by an elective process. 

 

The two-party system is a colossal scam:

In the United States of America, the "two-party system" is a colossal scam.  It is a legal fiction that does not exist in accordance with any legitimate law.  The "two-party system" is not established by law and it could not be established by law.  Neither the federal government nor any state government has the power to tell the people who they can vote for or who they cannot vote for.  Such actions, if attempted, would be immediately recognized by judges and lawyers as outside of the powers granted to government.  The writings of the founders of the United States, including the Federalist Papers, are universally viewed as providing complete freedom for the people to form political factions or political parties.  The two-party system is nothing more than a partnership between two political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, to obstruct and prevent real political competition from any other political parties.  Valid political competition could arise from new and smaller political parties (factions) that could gradually win public support and then rise to a position of power through the election process.  In this way the VOTERS guide and determine which candidates are elected and which policies are favored by the people and enacted into law.  The two-party scam prevents the people from choosing leaders or policies originating with other factions or parties.  James Madison focused particularly on factions in Federalist Paper Number 10.

 

Madison's defense of a multi-party system:

Central to the theme of Federalist Ten is the concept articulated by Madison that factions are potentially dangerous because they are usually expressions of selfish interests.  The narrow goals and desires of a faction usually benefit only a group smaller than the whole community and often damaging to other groups or to the community or nation as a whole. 

 

Quote:  "By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse or passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community."      

 

Madison then makes it clear that the harmful nature of factions arises primarily from the separate and unequal economic classes of citizens. 

 

Quote:  "But the most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property.  Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society.  Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination.  A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests, grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views." 

 

Madison then addresses the question of what should we do about the potential for conflict and disorder, even violence, that can arise from opposing factions. 

 

Quote:  "The inference to which we are brought is, that the CAUSES of faction cannot be removed, and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its EFFECTS."

 

Our political goal, Madison states, is to control factions in some way so that a faction cannot "… carry into effect schemes of oppression."

 

Madison then argues, in the language of his times, with words a bit dense to decipher today, that a larger national body (United States) would limit the social and political damage caused by factions because numerous factions compete and each checks the others from gaining dominance and a harmful level of selfish control.

 

Quote:  "Does it [the larger nation], in fine, consist in the greater obstacles opposed to the concert and accomplishment of the secret wishes of an unjust and interested majority?  Here, again, the extent of the Union gives it the most palpable advantage.  The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States.  A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy, but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source."

 

JUST IN CASE you have not got the message, Madison argued persuasively that the proposed United States of America would be protected from the harmful effects of factions -- and political parties -- by the freedom to choose elected officials from among a MULTITUDE OF MANY POLITICAL PARTIES.  Therefore, the development of the so-called "Two-Party System" in the twentieth century was and is the removal of that safety net and has led, as Madison and others would predict, to the evolution of a faction -- known as the "Two-Party System" that has in fact used the legislative power to protect itself from the competition of other factions and political parties, has used Gerrymandering, voter suppression and plain election fraud by election officials (notably Florida 2000), in order to   "… carry into effect schemes of oppression."  Why do you think we have so many intractable political, social and economic problems today?  We have environmental harm, a risk of irreversible environmental damage, unemployment, class war and culture war, reviving old conflicts over religion, race and civil rights. 

 

 

These revived problems DO NOT ARISE STRICTLY FROM THE SUBSTANCE OF DIFFERENT OPINIONS AND BELIEFS; THEY ARISE FROM THE SUBVERSIVE OPPRESSION OF THE TWO-PARTY SYSTEM.   

 

The only safe way that responsible citizens can return to the protective effects of a multi-party system is to VOTE AGAINST THE TWO PARTY DISASTER AND VOTE FOR REAL DEMOCRACY BY MEANS OF VOTE DONATION AND POLITICAL PARTY COALITIONS.  That is an opinion, but it is a non-partisan opinion that supports all political factions in their legitimate efforts to be heard, build a legitimate majority, and return to majority rule to replace the authoritarian development of the Two-Party System.  It makes no difference whether the evolution of Two-Party tyranny was planned or accidental.  In either case, in order to save our democratic republic and protect the planet, we need to accomplish this correction as soon as possible with no energy lost to the destructive purposes of blame and punishment.  Just demand real democracy by voting for it.  That is the Revolution by Vote.  

 

The evidence of lethal dysfunction is clear:

When I was a child, my mother told me the Democrats represent the interests of the working people and the Republicans represent the interests of the rich investors and dominant corporations.  Now the Republican Party has gone to obvious extremes in defending the selfish and narrow interests of a small majority who place their own monetary profits above the national interest.  We have a strong military force and high technology, but we are becoming a backward nation in terms of meeting the needs of ordinary people, while we continue to cause levels of environmental damage that are not only extreme but possibly irreversible.  The Two-Party System became a tyranny because it obstructs majority rule and prevents the people from electing candidates and policies that compete with the ruling elite in the Two-Party Partnership.  While other nations adapt to the social changes generated by technological change, the United States is stuck in a mud season of racism, contrived, simplistic economic theories, and a political process that has degenerated into a form of crude sports entertainment where the "winner" has no obligation to serve the national interests.  If we, the American people, do not use the power of our votes to correct this problem, our country is going to become a failed nation. 

 

REMEMBER, they will not listen to you when you march and protest and express your opinion -- they will listen to you when they SEE that you are a resident of their district and you plan to vote against them and their Two-Party System.  Most legislators are in a "safe district."  If you don't know what that means, you are lost and have no effect.  You will never get the results you want by expressing your opinion; you will get the results you want only when you exercise the power of your vote to remove them from office.  If you cannot or will not remove them from office, they don't have to do anything for you.