FAQ

Q: How do direct democracy representatives differ from others?

A: Today’s typical politicians want their constituents to accept the personal decisions that they make for them to follow and obey. They do not want their constituents directly involved in deciding laws, mandates, political appointments, policies, or any other choices they make as elected representatives. Many spend little time communicating with their constituents after elections.

Unlike our typical political Party politicians, direct democracy representatives accept their roles as public servants. They want their constituents to be actively involved in every decision they make for them every day they are in office! These representatives want a lot of feedback from their constituents when it comes to how they should vote on laws, based on what the democratic majority of their voting district communities want. Otherwise, how could they address the interests and needs of their communities, if they don’t listen frequently to a substantial number of their constituents?

Q: How does the platform of direct democracy lawmakers differ from typical political party politicians?

A: The platforms of today’s political party politicians are made up of promises that appeal to the ideological values popular among voters of one or the other major political parties currently in power. However, few make little or no effort to write any specific law that supports the promises they make, as this would invite challenging rhetoric from their opponents. Moreover, when they do write laws, they can be hundreds of pages long, and cover a multitude of unrelated issues. Therefore, they rarely pass legislation supporting the promises that are supposed to benefit their constituents in any meaningful way.

On the other hand, the platform for direct democracy lawmakers focuses solely on shifting the political power of decision making from them to their constituents. Direct democracy representatives want their role to be that of educators who explain the pros and cons of legislation relating to their community’s interests and needs. While they may express personal positions on legislation, their constituents determine the final results of how they vote on it.

Direct democracy lawmakers seek to have agreement with what their constituents want and what they can provide to them through laws. For far too long, our voting citizens have lost trust and confidence in how our two major political parties have functioned. This has been due to many of their politicians listening and responding more to the interests of their corporate or wealthy donors, or their political Party bosses, instead of the interests and needs of their own constituents. A direct democracy eliminates these influences.

Q: How would a direct democracy representative respond to ideological issues that are not popular with the majority of voters?

Every political issue is based on laws or policy decisions derived from laws. Direct democracy representatives respond to issues of law and policies according to their constituent’s polling results. Citizens vote for the decisions they want them to make, and the majority of voters determine the outcomes for how representatives respond to them. Whether voters have liberal or conservative values, a direct democracy representative hears their voices and responds to them.

In contrast, typical political party politicians spend much of their time talking to other politicians or their corporate and wealthy donors. This produces laws and policies that are watered down, or completely useless in defining what their constituents actually want from them. Many times, this results in failing to pass beneficial laws and instead, passing ones that can end up being against the interests of their own constituents.

Q: Who can become a direct democracy candidate?

A: In short, anyone who qualifies for the office they seek. All lawmaker offices have few requirements to run for office. There are no US Constitutional qualifications for experience in any occupation, or any civil service exams to determine competency to perform job duties. Therefore, by law, the majority of adults in any voting district are equally qualified to be a representative of it. The vast majority of elected offices have literally millions of citizens meeting the requirements for running for any office. No one is more or less qualified for being elected to office, they are only qualified, or not qualified, according to any federal or local laws.

When direct democracy candidates are elected, it will essentially eliminate political party bosses and corporate and wealthy donors from influencing legislation decisions. For example, people that do not even live in a voting district, but donate large sums of money to representatives to pass laws that they want. None of these people will have more influence on the legislative decisions of a direct democracy representative than anyone else, as voting in a poll will be their only influence on a representative’s decision-making. That is, those who live in a representative’s voting district can have just one vote in any poll to pass or reject legislation. It doesn’t matter whether they are a multi-millionaire CEO of an international corporation, or an 18-year-old working at a fast-food restaurant. All will have an equal voice in government decisions.

Q. Should direct democracy candidates run as Democrats, Republicans, other political party candidates, or Independents?

A. Yes. It all depends on how they can get on an election ballot. Most voters in cities vote for Democrats, and most suburban voters vote for Republicans. Therefore, it might be advantageous for direct democracy candidates to run in primaries for the dominating political Party where they live. The significant difference between direct democracy candidates and those in political parties is that direct democracy candidates vote on legislation that is independent of political party politics influenced by corporate and wealthy donors.

This is why it’s recommended that direct democracy candidates start running in their most local elections. This gives them the best chance to win, and to build their reputation to take on higher levels of office. Local elections in villages, townships, and cities have less ground to cover, making it easier to get the attention of voters. There may also be more opportunities to get local media resources to get the concept of direct democracy publicized, challenging the rhetoric of typical political opponents who refuse to give up their personal political power. Local election campaigns are the least expensive to run to educate voters about the benefits of a direct democracy.

In sum, a direct democracy offers us a choice in elections that was not possible until this 21st century. A direct democracy represents each citizen living in their voting district equally, regardless of their political ideology or economic status. Using today’s readily available polling technologies, even a ten-dollar flip phone becomes a powerful hand-held voting machine for citizens to vote on legislation and other matters that affect their daily lives.