News

• Libertarian Mike Gravel interviewed on Al Jazeera
• Mike Gravel, who ran to be the Libertarian nominee for president this year, was recently interviewed on Al Jazeera English. He talked about various subjects, including his presidential campaign, his book A Political Odyssey, Sarah Palin, the United States’ role as a world police, and, most notably, how the two major parties rig the system to work in their favor and against other candidates. The interviews can be seen below: Part 1 Read the Rest...


• Legislators’ nod to citizen initiatives may be tied to re-election hopes
• GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Citizen-initiated measures, such as gay rights and physician-assisted suicide, are not a uniquely Western U.S. phenomenon as traditionally thought, but have their roots across a wide geographical area that includes the Deep South, a new University of Florida study finds. Read the Rest...


• Few statewide ballot measures face Nevada voters
• RENO, Nev.—Nevada voters will decide only a handful of ballot measures in November after what started out as a dizzying scramble of competing initiatives was reduced by court challenges or behind-the-scenes compromise.Of the four statewide questions remaining, one deals with eminent domain; two involve tweaking tax law oversight; and a third would remove from the Nevada Constitution a six-month residency rule for voter eligibility—a requirement the U.S. Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional more than three decades ago. Read the Rest...


• How to Celebrate Constitution Day
• Today, September 17 is Constitution Day, but very, very few Americans know this or will celebrate it.  If you think of yourself as a politically engaged, civic-minded and patriotic American, then I urge you to celebrate today by expanding your mind about a critically important but never-used part of our Constitution.  Read the Rest...


• Propositions to the people, online
• It's is a political truism that big donors and special interests (hello, both sides of Indian gambling Propositions 94-97!) drive California's ballot initiative process. But now, taking a Web page from social networking sites like Facebook and Linkedin, Republican political consultant Mike Madrid has launched a site he says will make it easier for the masses to reclaim direct democracy.  Read the Rest...


• Mike Gravel on the 2008 race
• Mike Gravel is a former senator from Alaska who ran for president this year - twice – once as a Democrat and once as a Libertarian.  In his campaigns, he has criticised the military-industrial complex that shapes US policy and fought for "direct democracy" – allowing ballot initiatives at the federal level so people can decide laws without Congress. Read the Rest...


• Warning! A police state is coming fast, Naomi Wolf cautions
• "We need to understand that a war has been declared on us and on our freedoms," said author Naomi Wolf. "It's not an exaggeration - it's an emergency." To meet that emergency, Wolf urges citizens to band together for more direct democracy - a call she'll take to the University of North Carolina Wilmington on Monday night. Read the Rest...


• Valdehuesa: All we have is a caricature of democracy
• TO INSTITUTIONALIZE true democracy, it is important to ensure that it is operative at the grassroots, the primal base of a political system, whence emanates state sovereignty and all government authority. To speak of the grassroots is to refer to one's community - in our case, the barangay. It is our basic political and economic unit. What's your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers Read the Rest...


• State Voters Can Give Themselves Stronger Voice
• Nov. 4 will be a seminal day. We the people will be able to gain a stronger voice by voting yes on a ballot question, "Shall the state Constitution Convention be convened to revise or amend the state Constitution?" This question appears every 20 years as provided for in our state constitution. Read the Rest...


• The Voters of Arizona Launch the ‘NO on 105’ Campaign in Phoenix and Tucson Declaring That it is Wrong to Count People Who Don’t
• Vote NO on 105 and protect voting rights PHOENIX, Sept. 10 PHOENIX, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Voters of Arizona gathered today simultaneously in Phoenix and Tucson for the official NO on 105 Campaign Kickoff. In opposition to Proposition 105, the "so-called" Majority Rules amendment, the Voters of Arizona Committee cited the pitfalls of this proposed constitutional amendment as an attack on the act of voting and on Arizona voters. Read the Rest...