Democracy and Human Rights

Let voters share law-making power with Congress, giving US a check and balance against torture, domestic spying, perpetual war & debt, Presidential "signing statements," ad nauseum. The Swiss have kept their Parliament honest this way since 1891! National ballot initiatives would be like state ones but far more deliberative, easier and less influenced by money. The best proposal is by Sen. Mike Gravel and YOU can now vote to ratify it at VOTE.org, much as citizens ratified the Constitution!

Support the National Initiative for Democracy! This idea, proposed by Sen. Mike Gravel, would empower the American people to become a kind of supplement to the Congress. They would propose legislation, vote on it, and pass it into law if it got enough votes. This would empower the American people to stop relying on corrupt politicians and a broken system in order to get things done and better their nation. Support real, direct democracy in America!

The only answer to today's problems is to empower the American people to make laws, which is the very definition of freedom.

Send a clear message to the Pakistani people that we support democracy in their country by empowering dissenting voices like Bhutto, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Nawaz Sharif. Attach some strings to the billions we're sending over in aid by DEMANDING that whoever the President is, they kill or capture Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri.

Ban all lobbyists from influencing government spending and start making humane decisions on government spending based on the needs of the people.

UN peacekeeping soldiers need the training and authority to effectively quell unwarranted aggression in the areas to which they are deployed. For too long, these forces have been ineffectual and effete - their status as peacekeepers shouldn't preclude their using the force necessary to protect democracy and quash totalitarian abuses.

And stop any and all funds to the United Nations.

"America did not invent Human Rights. Human Rights invented America." -US President Jimmy Carter US standing in the world has receded as America's human rights record has been dealt blows by a failure to observe the rule of law and scandals like Abu Ghraib and the military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. The US must repair its record and standing in the world. THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS www.americanprogress.org

Every single thing that this "administration" has done to dismantle the Constitution MUST be reversed. The process for restoring our nation's freedom must begin on Day One. How can we possibly preach "democracy" to the rest of the world if our own leaders don't want us to keep it here in America?

The next U.S. president needs to end U.S. support for the practice of nation-building--is not something that the U.S. is good at and failing states do not threaten U.S. national security interests.