We have a gridlock problem in this country & are being ruled by a minority. Our elected officials are no longer representing the will of the people.  There are many issues which are supported by a majority of voters but fail to become law because the politicians in this country are in the pocket of lobbyists, big business, & other interests who reward them with power/money.  It is not a coincidence that many of our representatives who are voted into office have meager financial worth but somehow manage to emerge from office as millionaires.  They inevitably are beholding to those interests (& accrual of power in government) instead of serving their constituents/communities.  When and if issues such as gun legislation, voting rights, dark money, abortion, etc. manage to make it to the floor of Congress for voting, there is gridlock.  Even though many of these issues are heavily supported by the majority of voters, they fail to become written into law.

Congressional gridlock is getting worse.  There is a growing need for an element of direct democracy (similar to the state referendums, that are being very successfully orchestrated regarding abortion rights, following the overturning of Roe vs. Wade).  

My original petition (Restore “We The People” White House petition as a path to legislation) was written in 2022.  In essence, it would introduce a bit of direct democracy, by allowing all citizens to have input on major issues such as gun control, reproductive rights, etc., in a time when congressional gridlock is at an all time high.  A minority of congress is calling all of the shots & preventing the majority from passing any effective legislation. This has become frighteningly more apparent since Roe v. Wade was overturned (in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization), the threat posed by Trump (& his Project 2025 agenda), and the apparent corruption of the SCOTUS.  After Roe v. Wade, many states are trying to show us the way to preserve democracy and majority rule.  Voters in 7 states (California,Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Vermont) have been successful.  Arizona currently is circulating a petition that required about 384k signatures for a 2024 referendum and, reportedly, have already gained over 800,000 signatures.  If we were to institute either a national referendum or reinstate the original “We The People” petition (initiated by Obama), with a clause that a certain number of signatures (ex: 100k), it would trigger not only White House review but also force congressional floor review/legislation, we would have a path to overcoming congressional gridlock. 

There have been many suggestions by prominent Americans on how to remove the great obstacle of gridlock.  John Dingell (MI, 1926-2019), the longest serving member in the history of Congress, had proposed eliminating the Senate.  Since each state is afforded 2 Senators, regardless of the actual population, this skews undue influence to those states which have small populations, and which tend to be conservative.  For example, "California has 40 million people, while the 20 smallest states have a combined population totaling less than that.  Yet because of an 18th-century political deal, those 20 states have 40 senators, while California has just two.  These sparsely populated, usually conservative states can block legislation supported by a majority of the American people.  That's just plain crazy."

Professor Tim Wu (Columbia University) describes the gridlock as "oppression of the supermajority," caused by "congressional leadership, as opposed to the public, control(ling) the agenda, (with ) most such issues never even com(ing) close to a vote."  He has a whole range of excellent ideas that would help to bypass gridlock but one of them would be veritably easy to implement:  Ballot Initiatives.  Sweden has successfully used ballot initiatives (a form of direct democracy) to create new laws.  Historically, New England Town Meeting also allowed citizens to effect local laws.  And many states have successfully used ballot initiatives.  The initiatives would have to have some teeth and could "give the public more power over the agenda--- forcing Congress to hold a vote on laws supported by a majority of voters, with a further power to overrule Congress if it does not act.  That would help fight what now amounts to an open abuse of agenda-setting power."  And, it would curtail practices by Speakers (such as McConnell) from collecting stacks of proposed bills (& effectively killing them) by preventing them from any floor discussion/votes.

So, how would a ballot initiative be triggered?  The Obama Administration had experimented with an initiative to make government more open through the "We The People" petition process.  They promised that if a petition could acquire 100,000 signatures within 30 days, that it would receive executive review. This petition process was stopped by Trump & never reinitiated by Biden.  If such a process were reinstated (with stronger legislative possibilities, such as the automatic triggering of ballot initiatives), it would give the majority a chance to wrestle back governance from an increasingly corrupt/authoritarian minority.

There is currently an active petition on Change.org, "Restore the White House's "We The People" Petition Site (by Thomas Knapp) which calls for President Biden to reinstate the White House petition.  This petition calls for more dramatic consequences, a triggering of legislative action and/or a ballot initiative.  There are so many issues that could be addressed immediately, if the "We The People" Petition is restored.  Some issues include ending the filibuster, instituting common sense gun control, voting rights, elimination of dark money/PACs, direct drug pricing negotiations, etc.

Harnessing social media could be a great way to stir up interest in this petition, perhaps by featuring it on different forum sites such as Reddit and others. There have been a number of popular social issues which have collected millions of votes within a short time frame.   I will attempt to start a site under the hashtag #WeThePeopledemandmajorityrule.

Proposal:  Restore the "We The People" Petition (originally instituted by the Obama Admin.) so that any issue which amasses 100,000 signature within 30 days triggers either a national ballot initiative or legislative hearing/vote (with power to override congressional vetoes).  Ballot initiatives have been successfully implemented in Sweden among other countries and were actually used in early New England Town Meetings, to decide local laws.

Issues that could be addressed include:  filibuster, voting rights, dark money bans, drug pricing controls, PACs, gun control, abortion

Help spread this petition to any social media forum sites??!  will try to set up a #WeThePeopledemandmajorityrule forum & would encourage anyone to share this site with other contacts...

References:

https://www.vox.com/2018/12/4/18125539/john-dingell-abolish-senate​

https://www.politico.com/interactives/2019/how-to-fix-politics-in-america/gridlock/national-ballot-initiatives/​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_in_Switzerland#:~:text=Voting%20in%20Switzerland%20(called%20votation,about%20governance%20and%20elect%20officials.​

https://www.change.org/p/joseph-r-biden-restore-the-white-house-s-we-the-people-petition-site​

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/12/28/we-the-people-five-years-of-online-petitions/​

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538622/the-bill-the-cat-story-a-bloom-county-epic-by-berkeley-breathed-illustrated-by-berkeley-breathed/#:~:text=About%20The%20Bill%20the%20Cat%20Story%3A%20A%20Bloom%20County%20Epic&text=Almost%20thirty%2Dfive%20years%20ago,penguin)%20and%20Bill%20the%20Cat.