Mike Gravel, the first official 2008 candidate, wants to dissolve Legislative Branch

The first Democrat to announce his bid for the 2008 presidential race is an outsider.  Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, who three decades ago was a major critic of the Vietnam War, says he basically wants to diminish the Legislative Branch of government, and instead let the average person vote on laws:

"Our three branches of government have become like an unstable chair, athree-legged chair," Gravel said. "The founders could not haveenvisioned how much money and special interests would corrupt thepolitical process. Giving us Americans legislative power will put forththe fourth leg of our stool and make it stable."

It's surprising to hear an individual that has a thorough understanding of the constitution conclude that we should essentially do away with an entire branch of government.  The three branches are there to balance against one another -- that was the way the framers intended, and that is what makes our system the best in the entire world.  He is right about the fact that "the founders" didn't envision "how much money and special interests would corrupt the political process."  But since that is the case, maybe the answer should be to reform campaign finance laws, as opposed to taking the polarizing route by dissolving our entire system. 

Our constitution's balance between democracy and representation is something special.  We elect legislators because they are usually more knowledgeable than the average person about the micro aspect of public policy.  If we don't like their job performance, then we can simply vote them out of office.  But I would really worry if we had fringe activist groups on other side of the political spectrum writing our nation's bills, which would then be voted on by average people -- almost all of which do not have time to read hundreds of pages worth of bills to make a reason-based decision.

And generally speaking, if I were him I would be more concerned with Executive power right now.

Comments

[Richard Rebh]

Gravel Not to Abolish Congress:
From what I have read about Mike Gravel, his purpose is NOT to abolish Congress or remove that check on Executive power. Rather, it is to ADD an additional check by allowing the people to vote directly on carefully defined issues.

The idea is similar to Populism at the turn of the century. That movement created the Referendum process at the State level. At that time, the national government had not expanded to such a degree as it later did during WW1 and then in the New Deal--so the referendum process did not extend up to the national level. Now, it needs to--and Gravel has been working on this since he left Congress (defining how it would work--the process he and the Democracy Foundation have defined is even better than the State processes we have today).

This is Reform by greater Democratic Participation--exactly what is needed to keep both Congress AND the Executive in check in the face of Big Corporations and Big Money.

What he is proposing is democracy by working the details, rather than news-grabbing headlines. For example, does anyone doubt that the "people" would not have voted to "solve" the energy crisis by now--rather than permitting Big Oil to control Congress and the Executive and stop investment in alternative fuels or real conservation (supported by tax credits etc)? Money has corrupted the system--tinkering with campaign financing won't solve the problem, because money is like water--it will find a way to flow to its desired destination. Adding another direct "check"--of direct popular vote on national issues, particularly now that the internet provides a robust communication channel among the people--can rein in powers that know too well how to work the current system. The Founders did not contemplate the role of Big Corporations and Big Money--they did not exist in the US in that time.

Gravel's work and ideas are worth careful consideration as a needed solution for the world we live in today.