Our form of government was uniquely created by and subject to the will of the people as a constitutional republic of representative democracy, based upon the principles of justice and liberty, wherein sovereign power rests with the people. Unfortunately, factional political powers have undermined, compromised and nearly paralyzed our constitutional sovereignty to such a degree that we are being indoctrinated into committing sovereign suicide.

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AMERICA'S CRISIS: The Direct Democracy and Direct Education Solution
By Daniel B. Jeffs, founder
The Direct Democracy Center
Published September 2000

Synopsis - published in 2000 and the beat down still goes on

America is steeped in uncertainty. Through the last half of this century our society has been assaulted by selfish interests and battered by the failures of good intentions. We have been subjected to political terrorism, social aggression, legal anarchy and media-driven chaos. Our public schools have become factories of ignorance and warehouses of violence. Yet through it all the vast majority of us have remained silent.

We are now in a crisis and in danger of losing democracy. We've lost our voice in government, education and almost everything else in society. But we have now entered the age of communications and information technology. We have the Internet, and with it, we are discovering democracy all over again.

Unless the power of electronic democracy is taken away from us, the Internet can make direct democracy and direct education possible, even inevitable. Rapid advances in network technology means that voting networks and education networks could be connected to all of our homes. But unless we make it happen sooner than later we run the risk of losing democracy entirely.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Daniel B. Jeffs is the Founder of The Direct Democracy Center. Dan's passion for direct democracy began while running for local public office. He has an extensive investigative background in the criminal justice system. Dan holds a law degree and a teaching credential.

Cut education waste
April 3, 2009

Education reformers having been whittling away at the quality of public education since 1960 with failed experimentation and unconscionable results, not the least of which have been outcome-based education, inflated grades, social promotion, and relentless administrative and union empire-building at obscene expense. Graduating students who are functionally illiterate and stealing college students' education is bad enough. But adding insult to the injury of the education money pit, the education establishment simply won't give up the power of well-established indoctrination, taxing and spending at any cost.

The loss of jobs during these tough economic times notwithstanding, outcries from the public education establishment and teacher unions protesting teacher layoffs and lamenting overcrowded classrooms simply doesn't hold water.

Between 1960 and 1995, average student-teacher ratios in U.S. schools fell by one-third. Yet student achievement trends in both the SAT and the National Assessment of Educational Programs (NAEP) showed a general decline in test scores and achievement even as class-size fell during that period.

If it were not for California's 1996 Class Size Reduction Act (SB 1777), reducing K-3 class sizes from roughly 30 students to 20 or fewer, and subsequent K-12 class size reductions, taxpayers would not have wasted billions of dollars on substantial increases in teachers, administration, facility and classroom additions.

The results of a 2004 RAND examination over five years of standardized test scores of 2,892 California schools across the state clearly indicated that the class-size reduction program was generally ineffective. The RAND study was confirmed by a British study of the effects of class size on 21,000 students' achievement, released in December 2004 by the University of London. As far back as 1935, it was determined that class size reductions made little or no difference in teaching and education results. Wisely, the experiments were quickly abandoned.

It's time for educators, legislators and taxpayers to wise-up and stop the bleeding. Tough decisions have to be made, particularly in tough times. President Obama's Huge stimulus plan to inject over $90 billion into public education won't change the education system's status quo of failure in the nation, particularly in California. Indeed, if California voters made the necessary cuts in unnecessary teachers, staff, administration and classrooms -- along with repealing the 40 percent grip on the state budget general fund -- property taxes could be significantly reduced and the hope for balanced budgets increased.

April Fools Day - Sales tax increase
April 1, 2009

April 1st is Fools Day. But when it's the day California sales tax increases one percent, it's no joke to beleaguered taxpayers. It's just the first in a new series of tax crimes enacted by government against the people, adding insult to injury on April 15th. And it's proof there are few better political career criminals around than Benedict Arnold, and the tax and spend wild bunch of Democrats holed-up in Sacramento.

How did it come to this in California? And on a national scale, the federal Democrat mob takeover in Washington? If you were fool enough to keep voting for the mobster protection, or just let it slide, took the pain and did nothing -- look in the mirror. Meanwhile, unless there is an awakening to the loss of liberty and the betrayal of democracy, we the people will be committing the equivalent of sovereign suicide. It seems the costly rude awakening is happening.

Is President Obama's big ocean liner ship of state our Titanic?

In the closing remarks of his March 24, 2009 press conference, President Obama defended his 60 days in office by emphasizing his belief in the philosophy of being persistent in pursuing his plans to deal with the economic crisis, the budget crisis, health care, energy and education. And that he is confident that his administration is moving in the right direction

He concluded by saying, "And we are going to stay with it as long as I'm in this office, and I think that -- you look back four years from now, I think, hopefully, people will judge that body of work and say, "This is a big ocean liner. It's not a speedboat. It doesn't turn around immediately. But we're in a better -- better place because of the decisions that we made."

We the people can only hope that the president is commanding our ship of state with sound judgment and common sense, charting and navigating with a clear view of obstacles, dangers and stormy seas ahead. Hopefully, he will not persist in any reckless pursuits, blinded by magnificent obsessions or deceptions that could turn our ship of state into a philosophical Titanic with insufficient life boats.