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Pure Democracy
Definition
A democratic republic is governed by elected representatives who vote on behalf of the people. A pure democracy, however, is conducted by the citizens themselves who vote on the issues directly without the need for representation.
Structure
A pure democracy consists of two parts: the President and the citizens of the country. Voting by the general public is conducted every month to pass legislation though an emergency vote may be issued whenever it is deemed necessary (e.g., declaration of war).
A pure democracy places all of the authoritative powers for governing the nation in the hands of the people. Because of this, the role of the President becomes only a figurehead for the country with the remaining responsibilities of scheduling monthly ballots, handling international matters, and assisting with humanitarian concerns.
Other activities such as issuing executive orders, war powers acts, vetoes, and pardons are all removed from the position since they are contrary to transferring authority to the people. In a pure democracy, the President may propose an idea such as a trade embargo or military offensive, but the position doesn't have the authority to perform the action until the nation votes upon the matter.
To introduce new legislation, political parties, government officials, and other organizations may make a proposal, but its approval is solely dependent upon the nation's voters to ratify the bill into law. The general population may also introduce new legislation as well if enough signatures are provided for the measure across the nation.
The Cabinet personnel (e.g., Secretary of Commerce, Defense, Labor, etc.) become advisers to the nation and provide a monthly status of their activities to the country. They will be responsible for presenting their budgets, project schedules, and tentative plans for upcoming months.
Since voting on a workday is not ideal, it would be better if the first Saturday of the month became the official day to vote for the nation. Also, rather than using paper ballots, it may be more convenient to vote electronically through the local cable/satellite service so that the ballot may be conducted at the voter's own residence (through the television/home computer). Which would be similar to purchasing a pay-per-view event, but the user would be making selections on an electronic ballot instead.
For presenting the monthly issues in a clear and concise manner for everyone to understand, the Department of Education will be responsible for informing the public the various pros/cons of the subject matter. By doing so, the topics will be presented at the educational level of the general population that won't be swayed by the particular presentation or bias of the news media.
Advantages
The main advantage of a pure democracy is that the accuracy of public opinion would be greatly improved since a more direct manner of governing the nation would be provided than by the "middle man" (representatives).
Another advantage is that greater impartiality of the issues will be achieved due to the lack of a representative being coerced by a biased influence of some kind (e.g., a politician's personal opinion, gifts from special interest groups, etc.). By eliminating political corruption in this manner, a pure democracy is inherently more reliable and trustworthy than a representative form of government.
A pure democracy will also eliminate the possibility of "pork" (extra legislation) being added by lawmakers to satisfy their personal self-interests. Laws will become more simpler in nature since the proposed legislation will be written with the general public in mind, so bills will become less complex and easier to understand with fewer loopholes.
A pure democracy will also allow political parties to be more effective when drafting bills for their perspective. In other words, political groups will draft their particular version of the proposal without the need to compromise with others. This prevents the possibility of deadlock from occurring that typically results in a government shutdown for the nation.
A pure democracy will also enable voters to become a "grand jury" to decide the most serious offenses against the country. If the Justice Department is unable or unwilling to pursue charges, voters will have the option to revoke the offender's citizenship as an alternative measure (e.g., a government official who committed treason). So, there will be new constitutional powers that will be granted to the public consisting of overriding past laws and legislation, Supreme Court rulings, pardons/acquittals, and the need to correct unethical behavior (c.f. True Citizenship for examples).
On an international level, the greatest advantage of a pure democracy is that it may prevent unnecessary war between nations. For example, America's involvement in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq was not reflective of public opinion at the time and could have been prevented if the nation had voted on the matter beforehand. Even a major event such as World War II that involved a multitude of nations could have been prevented if the people of Germany had voted on the issue as a pure democracy.
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