How many of you are fed up with the way the government is doing things these days? I bet that a lot of people are. In this essay, I propose some very broad changes in how this country is run. This essay was prompted by some events at my old highschool. Read the essay, if you like. Tell your friends, if you like. Copy it and send it to people, if you like, of course being sure to credit the author, namely me. If you don't like it, feel free to E-mail me about it. Thanks.

Author's note: I don't really believe this anymore, but it was still a good essay! 1-13-08

For years now there has been an inefficient government 
in place. All one has to do is look at the government shutdowns of 
a few years back to see this. 

It's time this country had another revolution.

A bloodless revolution. A revolution that will make the central
goverment have less power, and the people have more power. After all, 
that's what life is really all about: Who has the power? Right now, 
the answer is that nearly all the power is in the hands of a select few. 
The opposite should be the case: Nearly all the power  
should be in the hands of the many, that is the common person. 

Change is imminent, and I think that the time is now to make this change.
Throw out all the obsolete practices, the obscure paragraphs, 
the clauses that can be interpreted one way or another to give the 
central government unlimited power. 

Replace all that with *REAL* democracy. The person on the street
making decisions for him/herself, and every person doing the same,
The majority, the real majority, not the fake majorities that pass the 
laws now, will be in charge. The means exist now to make this a reality.

                The internet is the means. 

Through public access points for those who need them, and personal 
computers and university labs for those who have access, each and 
every citizen of this great nation of ours can have access 
to the internet. Each and every citizen will have a  say in how the 
country will be run, what laws are passed, through the internet. 
Laws will be proposed on the internet. Voting on these laws will take
place on the internet. 
Announcing of passage or non-passage will be done on the internet. 
 

This change must start at the very root of our society and work its
way up.

Notice, I am not advocating eliminating governments altogether. I am
advocating the total re-structuring of the entire legal code as it
relates to the proposing and legislating of laws. The people know what laws
they want. The people know what laws they *don't* want. Let the people
choose what laws pass and don't pass. Not the beaureaucrats in Washington
D.C., or Albany, or Sacramento, or Austin or any other beaureaucrats. If
the people want more police on the streets, let them appropriate the
funds and hire them. If the people think that too much is being spent on
defence, let them change it.

REAL democracy, not the two-party "I'll vote for your pork if you vote
for mine" politics of Washington. Not the gridlock that has plagued the
government since I can remember.

There would, of course, need to be some framework in place. Murder,
for example, should *never* be made legal, in any state, in any country. A
system of police *is* necessary, however much it may need to be reformed.
Some sort of legal system needs to be in place. Roads need to be maintained.
Schools, perhaps the most important institiutions, need to be kept public.
Health care needs to be provided for all those who truly need it, and so on.

These should be the jobs of a central agency, a *new* central agency.
The role of this new central agency should be to make sure that
education, and healthcare, and adequate crime control, and the basic
infrastructure is maintained, and nothing more. The rest should be in the
hands of the people. Should abortion be legal? In what cases? The people
should decide. Should the death penalty be made the law in certain cases?
In which cases? Who should decide which offenders get the death penalty?
The people should decide.

The people, even the majority, can be wrong, however. Provisions must
be made for this. The death penalty for stealing a candy bar, for
example, is obviously too extreme. Again, there needs to be some
minimumm standards, a basic framework. This framework is perhaps the 
most difficult, and yet the most important part of this new system, for 
without it, harsh judgement could potentially be passed on small crimes.

Above all, Freedom of Speech, and of the Press, *MUST* be maintained. 
In their true form. 

Do not give up these rights. DO NOT!!! Fight to the bitter end to maintain them. 
They are the basis of our society. 
They are all we have between  freedom and opression.

*Dylan Thomas

Special thanks to Anne Jefferson, without whom this essay would not have been written. And many others without whom this essay wouldn't have reached it's current form.

Back to the Writing Page.

Back to my homepage

Send me some E-mail!

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page