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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 of 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 the authoritative powers for governing the nation in the hands of the people. Because of this, the role of the President becomes just a figurehead for the country with the responsibilities of scheduling monthly ballots, handling international matters, and assisting with humanitarian concerns.
Other activities such as executive orders, war power 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 something else, but the position doesn't have the authority to perform the action until the nation votes upon the matter.
Ratifying a bill into law depends upon the nation's population to approve of the measure. Political parties, government officials, and other organizations may propose legislation, but the actual approval of the measure rests solely on the nation's voters. New legislation may be proposed by the general public as an additional means if enough signatures are provided for the measure across the country.
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 are responsible for presenting their budgets, project schedules, and tentative plans for upcoming months.
Since voting on a workday is not ideal for everyone, it may 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 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.
The Department of Education will be responsible for presenting the monthly issues in a clear and concise manner to inform the public the pros/cons of the subject matter. By doing so, the topics will be presented at the education 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 representing 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 provided 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 also eliminates the possibility of "pork" (extra legislation) being added by lawmakers to satisfy their self-interests. In a pure democracy, laws become simpler in nature since the proposed legislation will be written with the general public in mind, so bills become less complex and easier to understand (with fewer loopholes).
A pure democracy also allows political parties to be more effective when drafting bills for their perspective. Political groups will draft their particular version of the proposal without the need of compromising with each other. This prevents the possibility of deadlock that typically results in a government shutdown for the nation.
A pure democracy also allows 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 additional option to revoke citizenship as remedial action (e.g., a government official who committed treason, or endangered personnel if the military was used in an unauthorized manner). A pure democracy grants new constitutional powers for the general public including overriding supreme court rulings and correcting errant behavior if necessary (c.f. True Citizenship for other examples).
On a global level, perhaps the greatest advantage of a pure democracy is that it can prevent unnecessary war between nations. For example, America's involvement in past conflicts such as Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq was not reflective of public opinion at the time that could have been prevented if the nation had voted on the matter beforehand. Even a major event such as World War II that involved many nations could have been prevented if the people of Germany had voted on the issue as a pure democracy.
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