How can we ordinary citizens reform the federal government ourselves?

How can we reform the federal government? First and foremost, we must be familiar with the Constitution. Why? Because it's the rule book, the entire rule book, under which the federal government operates. A copy of the Constitution is posted on this site. As you read it, you'll realize the founders designed the federal government with a single overarching goal in mind—to ensure that we ordinary people will always be able to take care of our own business, and protect ourselves from any threat. Our republic was set up specifically so that we regular folks can govern ourselves. We can choose our own representatives from among ourselves to serve in congress, and make our own laws for our own benefit. Then, if the president won't "faithfully execute the laws", that is, in the manner and for the purposes we intended when we passed them, we can impeach him and remove him from office. If members of the supreme court make judgments contrary to the Constitution as it is understood by us ordinary people in congress, we can impeach them too, and remove them from the court. If we participate in our own governance, and only if we participate in our governance, we'll truly be in charge of our own government. Precisely as the founders intended.

Getting involved in our government without first reading the Constitution is like trying to play a board game without first reading the rules.  It sets forth the complete framework under which we ordinary people are supposed to get involved in our own governance. The Constitution practically beckons us ordinary folks to participate. It very clearly provides that virtually any responsible, reasonably mature adult citizen can run for public office. It requires only that:

• Representatives shall have “attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and … when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen”.
• Senators shall have “attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and … when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen”. 
• The President shall be a “natural born Citizen” and shall have “attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”

That’s all. There are no other requirements to hold those offices. Think about that for a moment and get a sense of how extraordinary it is. In the history of the world such a government has never existed before. The Founders invented it. They might have included all sorts of other requirements. They might have required that the people running the government have certain experience or education, or a certain amount of wealth or property, or a certain background or estate.  Instead, the Founders purposefully arranged things so that just about anybody can participate, so we can run our government ourselves.

And that’s precisely what is needed now. It is clear that “politics as usual” will never result in real change. In fact, politics as usual is the problem. Party politicians will always do what their party leadership and special interests want them to do, because if they don’t they’ll lose the support they need to get elected and stay in office. And party leadership will always be mindful of the wealthy for the same reasons. That's why the “two party” system of politics will never result in real change. 

Fortunately, the two party system is not a part of the Constitutional scheme! The Constitution doesn't require political parties, or even mention them. In its original condition (after it was ratified by the states, but before any amendments were added), the Constitution actually required the new federal government to have features designed to make it difficult for political parties to influence governmental decision making. For example, the original method of electing the president was entirely new and different, nothing like it had ever been done before. The method was practically impervious to party influence, and that's precisely why the founders conceived it. But you'd never know that if you haven't read the Constitution. We've been taught all our lives that our system of government is a “two party” system, but that’s not true. It’s not even a one party system, like communism. It’s a “no party” system. Political parties were imposed later, probably by people behind the scenes trying to get control over the government's power and use it for their own advantage. And that’s exactly what has happened. 

The solution to this situation should be obvious. Simply sidestep two-party politics altogether. Just refuse to play that game. Don’t become a candidate of the two dominant political parties. Don’t campaign for two-party candidates. Don’t vote for two-party candidates. And don’t get involved in two-party politics. We, the People, want real change, and it is crystal clear that we won't get it from two-party politics or their politicians. We want to establish real justice, and stop putting up with unfair systems that put us at a disadvantage. We want to honestly promote the general welfare, and stop catering to the wealthy, and to corporations, and to other interests with deep pockets. We want to "secure the blessings of freedom" for ourselves and for our children, and not compromise our freedoms and allow our privacy to be unjustifiably invaded. In short, we want to advance the purposes for which our government was created and set up in the first place. The very first paragraph of the Constitution says so in plain language! And that's the document that guided the creation of the federal government, and defines its power, and most importantly imposes strict limits on that power. To get real change, we ordinary citizens must run for congress, and even for president. And we should run as Independent Citizens, not as party politicians. And we should begin as soon as possible, because things are getting worse too fast to delay. We need people to run for office in the next upcoming election, and in every election from now on.

Conventional wisdom says to make an effective run for congress takes millions of dollars, and to run for president takes hundreds of millions. And, that it requires the sponsorship of one of the two dominant political parties, and a platoon of important contacts. But all of that is good for just one thing—to communicate with us voters, and to influence how we vote. Not very long ago, the only way to communicate with great numbers of voters was to run ads on TV, and on the radio, and in the newspapers, all of which does cost a ton of money. But that's not true any more. Now there's a computer or smartphone in nearly every home, and almost all of us have access to the Internet. We can communicate with each other using social networks and email, and set up websites to promote our ideas and to organize ourselves. And we can do all of this essentially for free, without any waiting, using tools we already have or have easy access to. That's important, because if some of us ordinary people are going to participate in our own governance, we have to be able to communicate with everybody else, with great numbers of voters. And we have to be able to do it without spending a ton of money (because we ordinary people don't have a ton of money to spare), and without spending all of our time (because we ordinary people are already busy with other necessary tasks, like working for a living). And most importantly, without the support of a "power broker", or a political party, or a squad of important contacts, or anyone else who might help us run our campaigns and expect favors if we win. 

Thankfully, you don't have to wait even one minute longer to take action yourself to help improve the lives of us ordinary people. You can begin right now, this very moment, to take effective action. How? You can commit, right now, to take a hard, sincere, honest look at party politics and politicians. And you can decide for yourself whether you'll allow yourself to continue to be led by the media, virtually all of which is owned or controlled by the same special interests that fund campaigns and hire lobbyists.

Or, you can decide that you truly do want something different. That you're willing to take a small risk and vote for the alternative. Vote for people who aren't politicians. For people like yourself. You can post a link to this site on the social networks you use. You can email the web address "AmericanIndependents.org" to people in your contact list, or send them a link to this site, telling them you think this all makes sense and they should take a look as soon as they can. Consider what could happen if you send just ten such emails. For illustration, let's call that a first "level" of emails. Suppose each of those ten recipients then sends an email with a link to ten contacts of their own. Let's call that a second level of emails. Suddenly, over 100 people will have been reached. Suppose each of them similarly send an email with a link to ten of their own contacts, a third level, and so on. Every new "level" of such emails reaches ten times more people than the previous level. After only eight levels, over 100 million people would have been reached! Eight levels is no more than a common "chain email" would go through. If people would promptly follow this plan, essentially every voter in the country could be reached in almost no time. Without spending any money at all! Each person in the chain is inconvenienced only long enough to send an email to ten recipients. Afterward, the vast majority of voters wouldn't have to do a thing except lift a finger. Literally. In the voting booth, to vote for an ordinary person who is NOT a politician. 

Frankly, you can do whatever you can think of to promote this site, and these ideas, and personally help bring about this change. You can even run for an elective office yourself, or find someone you trust that will. That's the only way we, the frustrated people of this great nation—the 90% and more of us voters who don't approve of the job congress is doing, including the disillusioned who don’t even bother to vote any more—only then will we have an actual, genuine choice. And we so-called "common" people can unleash our "common" sense to figure out for ourselves what our most important challenges are, and how to overcome them. We can pinpoint what needs to change in order for us to thrive and prosper, and get to work changing it ourselves. We can refuse to be duped and divided into factions over party-defined issues. Issues that politicians will only talk about but won't try to fix. Issues that won't help us much even if they do try to fix. Instead of addressing our issues, most of which will never even be mentioned! 

When we displace the politicians in government with ordinary people like us, we can figure out for ourselves, using our own common sense, how to implement the changes we need. That includes changes in the government, and changes in the laws to drive changes in society, that we regular folks want. Changes that will help us champion our own lives and livelihoods, and our freedom, and our ability to create our own future. Or in other words, to promote our "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness." Just as the founders intended.