A DIVIDED DEMOCRACY IS IN NEED OF “TRUE” REFORMStudents and Scholars are Essential to Forming a New “Electorate Legislative Branch”An Open Letter from Michael A. Freeman, Executive Director/Co-Founder_______________________________________Judging from recent exit polls and voter sentiments, there seems to be a growing sense of disillusionment with the political process in Washington, D.C. — and perhaps that may even be a bit of an understatement. Like many of you, we have been carefully weighing the words of our Presidential candidates this election season to see if there are any hints of “reform” seriously being proposed as part of a grassroots movement?
In particular, one candidate recently urged our citizens to “rise to a higher calling” and for our nation’s youth to “answer a call to service” by volunteering in “community programs.” Still, it seemed that our nation’s youth, some of whom volunteer for America’s military forces, could do something similarly life-altering in terms of civil service to our country? It was that inspirational notion that brought a different vision to mind: “Why not take it to another level altogether by going to the nation’s ‘best and brightest’ to form a populist, reform-minded legislative consortium?”
Specifically, we want to share with you a vision of an electorate-backed Trans-American Alliance for a National Consensus (TANC) — with students and scholars serving as the foundational catalysts behind a “populist legislative assembly.” In fact, the time is now for an “Electorate TANC” legislative body empowered to bring badly-needed consistency, accountability, transparency, and “consensus law-making” to our American democracy. The core mission of the TANC is to harness the power of America’s world-leading universities and colleges to serve as a “decentralized legislative assembly.” To convene locally, regionally and nationally through a representational number of universities and colleges around the country, TANC will regularly hold committee hearings and town hall-like meetings to bring together a nonpartisan public/private consortium from all segments of society — working together to author proposed legislative bills and enact them into federal law (followed by subsequent votes of passage by Congress and the President).
Also referred to as The Alliance, our overarching mandate is to enlist students as “Delegates” and scholars as “Counsels” in seeking out “expert” testimony and guidance from America’s other key constituent groups to help jointly author “reform” legislation as a binding “fourth branch of government.” PROPOSED PARTICIPANTS
It is our intent to clearly imprint TANC as the “ethical conscience of democracy,” a checks-and-balances “fourth branch” arbiter between the established Legislative, Judicial and Executive branches of the U.S. government. Because of the decentralized local/regional nature of this college-based consortium, it is TANC’s goal is to diffuse the influences of certain lobbyists and special interest groups funneling their efforts on our elected representatives in Washington, D.C. In exchange for providing service to their country (much like our long-established “all-volunteer” armed forces), a proposed restructuring of the Federal Student Aid (FSA) loans and/or grant programs would be converted into “Working Grants” for a participating student’s reward for legislative service — thus creating a hugely beneficial, positive ripple-effect across all other segments of our society. Additionally, students will be graded and gain credits for their legislative efforts, offering them so-called “real-world” experience in government reform and the shaping of economic practices and regulation, revitalizing the “collective” brain power and productivity of America’s workforce, a critical measure of “competitiveness” among industrial nations globally. On the other hand, scholars, especially those who specialize in economics, scientific research, medicine/healthcare, and social and government reform, can find their schools’ participation awarded through a proposed restructuring of institutional grant funding from established government agencies and private foundations. Through the “consortium” structure of The Alliance, a restructuring of existing grant funding for a variety of TANC-seated committees will be dedicated to delivering “reform” legislative action to our democracy. If TANC is able to enlist a representational number (3% to 6% initially) of America’s 4,200-plus accredited universities and colleges across the country, imagine the sheer critical mass of over 50,000 students and scholars convening Economic and Healthcare reform committees on the local and regional levels. That is the decentralized kind of critical mass our federal democracy is going to need to reverse decades of unaddressed socio-economic problems. If either house of Congress votes down a TANC-authored bill, or the President vetoes it, The Alliance would have the ultimate option of calling for a “National Electorate Referendum” to be put in front of all American voters. Conducted through regularly-scheduled primary or general elections, a majority of at least 51 percent of all National Electorate Referendum voters would be able to override vetoes/no-votes and mandate “final legislative passage” — where the federal government ultimately “accedes to the will of the people.” Perhaps, like no other time in our country’s history, it is going to take a young, uncompromised collegiate-led alliance to do the nitty-gritty, roll-up-your-sleeves work on the local, regional and national levels to consistently address many of our nation’s lingering ills. To accomplish this, TANC is proposing that the existing Legislative and the Executive branches expeditiously enact the National Alliance Reform Act (NARA) as part of a new 28th Amendment attached to the U.S. Constitution. It is going to take non-partisan support from citizens, students and other “thought-leaders” to ignite a groundswell of grassroots support from around the country. At a time when our faith in politicians to solve our problems may be at an all-time low, where voters and non-voters are feeling increasingly apathetic, cynical and utterly disenfranchised by our federal government, it is you, our students and scholars, who can be the catalysts to restoring our faith and raise the hopes of our electorate to revitalize our democratic processes and institutions by contributing to much-needed, critical reforms. That’s why TANC is simply asking students and scholars, and all other citizens alike, to join in by writing to their Representatives, Senators and the President to begin the proposed bill-making process for the National Alliance Reform Act (NARA) as part of a new 28th Amendment to the Constitution — granting broad, complementary law-making powers to The Alliance on par with the Legislative and Executive branches of the U.S. government. Without a doubt, it is going to be students and scholars who will be the true “agents of change,” and the nonpartisan catalysts in bringing all other segments of our society into an “Electorate Legislative Branch.” Like the evolution of life itself, a democracy needs to be reshaped and revitalized to meet the needs of our contemporary society. It was John Marshall, a leading Constitutional advocate and U.S. Supreme Court Justice, who, back in 1821, best described how citizens should take an active role in shaping their own democracy: “The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their own will, and lives by their own will.”
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