Steele on Electoral Reform: Introduction of a New Series

image
Created: 06 Mar, 2012
Updated: 13 Oct, 2022
3 min read

I have been invited to post a series of short commentaries on the Electoral Reform Act of 2012, a crowd-sourced outline that started in 2000 and was first developed over time by myself with Jim Turner (former #2 to Ralph Nader), Michael Cudahey (former top aid to Barry Goldwater), and Jock Gill (former communications specialist for Bill Clinton).

When Occupy came to my attention on 17 September 2012, I immediately took notice and quickly noticed that Electoral Reform was a key element of the US Day of Rage web page .  I spoke about this to Russia Today TV, that got me a call from a US Day of Rage person, and that led to my briefing the Occupy NYC Electoral Reform Working Group in October, driving my trusty 1964 MGB with Soccer Mom letters (photo below, parked in front of the 60 Wall Street atrium used for meetings).

A video was made of me by someone else, speaking for six minutes, and then posted a couple of weeks later to YouTube.  It made the front page of Reddit, and went small viral (30,000 main votes, at least a dozen copies).

That in turn -- and this is the important part -- caused a number of stakeholders in electoral reform to get in touch with me, and led to the crowd-sourcing of the Electoral Reform Act of 2012.  Now at version 4.4, it started as 2.0.  Below are the existing links at We the People Reform Coalition, where I have tried to create a "package" that could be used to mobilize a third-wave campaign--trans-partisan in nature--to trash the two-party tyranny in 2012.

ELECTORAL REFORM

A DOCUMENTS

….1 International Election Integrity Principles

More Choice for San Diego

….2 Occupy NYC Working Group on Electoral Reform

….3 Election Integrity Pledge

….4 Electoral Reform Statement of Demand

B STRATEGY, METHODS, ORGANIZATIONS

….1 Richard Winger on Electoral Reform Short-Cut

….2 Campaign Finance: Amendment or Law?

….3 Americans Elect: Manchurian Fraud or Redeemable Good Idea?

….4 General Strike

More Choice for San Diego

….5 Directory of Activist Individuals & Organizations (USA)

Learn More

My individual discussions of each of the eleven elements are not at the above links, they will be unique to Independent Voter Network (IVN), less one consolidated document posted at BigBatUSA after all of the pieces have been posted.

Robert Steele is a former spy, honorary hacker, #1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction, a former small business CEO, and founder of Earth Intelligence Network, a 501c3 committed to creating public intelligence in the public interest. This is the first part in an ongoing multi-part series “Robert Steele on Electoral Reform”. The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of IVN or IVN partners.

Series:

Introduction of a New Series

Part 1: Process

Part 2: Ballot Access

More Choice for San Diego

Part 3: Voting for The People

Part 4: Voting for Issues

Part 5: Debates

Part 6: Cabinet

Part 7: Representation

Part 8: Districts

Part 9: Funding (Coming Soon)

Part 10: Legislation (Coming Soon)

More Choice for San Diego

Part 11: Constitutional Amendment (Coming Soon)

Part 12: The Stakeholders (Coming Soon)

Part 13: Overview of The Ethics (Coming Soon)

Part 14: Overview of The Action Plan (Coming Soon)

Part 15: The Pledge (Coming Soon)

Part 16: The Statement of Demand (Coming Soon)

 

Latest articles

Several ballot boxes with different colored ballots sticking out.
Open Primaries Bill Passes New Mexico Senate, Moves to House
With a short legislative window to work with, the updates on a bill to open New Mexico's taxpayer-funded primary elections to more than 330,000 independent voters are happening fast -- and so far, it is good news for reformers....
21 Feb, 2025
-
1 min read
100 dollar bills.
15 Years After Citizens United, Seattle Can Show the Way Forward
January 21, 2025, marked the 15th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, a decision that opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending in elections. Since that ruling, super PACs and outside spending have skyrocketed, and the voices of everyday voters have been drowned out by wealthy donors and corporate interests. The impact of Citizens United is clear: the political system is increasingly controlled by the rich, while ordinary voters are left behind....
20 Feb, 2025
-
3 min read
Donald Trump at rally.
Poll: There's Strong Support Among Independents for Trump's Bipartisan Potential
The Independent Center released the fourth and final installment to its 2025 State of the Union Poll, highlighting where independent voters, Democrats, and Republicans have the most secure common ground....
19 Feb, 2025
-
2 min read