Mike Gravel - Citizen Power: A Mandate for Change

Citizen Power

A Mandate for Change

Copyright 2020 by Mike Gravel

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher or author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within.

ISBN: 978-1-64749-109-3

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To Whitney,

The love of my life

And to my grandchildren

Renee, Alex, Madison & Mackenzie

And their parents

Martin & LizaBeth

Lynne & Drake

With love and hope for the future

Contents

National Initiative for Democracy: Legislature
of the People

Acknowledgments

B ooks seldom are written without a great deal of assistance and encouragement from friends and associates. This book is no exception.

With respect to the original Citizen Power , my thanks to the wonderful women on my staff, whose abilities and efficiency made it possible for me to find the time to write a book without diminishing the effectiveness of my office: Flora Bergman, Dianne Church, Susan Gordon, Roselynn Heath, Marcia Miller, Elisabeth Romayko, Betsy Schoenfeld, Alice Slater, Jill Smythe, and Kathy Morgan.

My gratitude to those who contributed many of the thoughts and writings from which much of the finished product was drawn: Dr. Len Rotberg, Dr. Douglas Jones, Dr. Tom Lantos, Bill Hoffman, Egan OConnor, Arlie Schardt, Joe Rothstein, Karl Hess, Marcus Raskin, Charles Fishman, Tom Smythe, Ted Johnson, Tom Reeves, and Michael Rowan. Also, my appreciation to many others too numerous to list here for their helpful suggestions and thoughtful comments.

Special acknowledgment and deep personal gratitude to the two men who served as my chief editorial consultants and advisers throughout the compilation and the preparation of this work in 1971: Bill Howard and my administrative assistant, Marty Wolf, and his patient wife, Sonia.

Since the original text in 1971, my efforts have centered on the development of the National Initiative a Legislature of the People. My work would not have been possible without the creative participation of Donald Kemner, David Parish, Charles Turk, Sylvia Shih, John Sutter, Esther Franklin and others.

For this current edition, I express sincere gratitude to Susan Giffin, Stacy Standley, David Eisenbach, Laurence J. Kotlikoff, Victor Fuchs, Joe Lauria, Mike Gray, Ralph Nader, and to Vid Beldavs of AuthorHouse.

With special appreciation to my 2008 campaign staff, advisers, and support team: Chris Petherick, Elliott Jacobson, Alex Colvin, April Shapley, Jose Rodriguez, Eli Israel, Jim Brauner, Augustine Gyamfi, Michael Grant, Skyler McKinley, Lynne Mosier, Dick Thomas, Deborah Petri, Alexander Rosenberg, David Nelson-VanDette, Beckey Isaiah, Mindi Iden, Jim Dupont, Jon Kraus, Marie and Tom Lombardi, Tom Lombardi Jr., George Ripley, Michael Szymanski, Mike Foudy, Richard Rebh, Peter Peckarsky, Paul Linet, Rob Ryan, Hans Barbe, Dan Connor, Jeff Rammelt, David and Hi-Jin Hodge, George Rebh, Josh LeKoch, Wayne Madsen, James McCrink, Jeffrey & Cici Peters, Greg Piccionelli, Larry Rothenberg, Catherine Hand, Jim Stork, Ron Ansin, Lynn Stewart, David Weisman, Theresa Wrangham, Afifa Klouj, Phil Davis, Casey McIlvaine, Jake Futerfas, and two of the most unusual supporters of my political career, Greg Chase and Jeff Tausch.

Foreword

L ike a fresh wind coming from Alaska, the state he represented as a U.S. Senator from 1969 to 1981, Mike Gravel is determined to start a debate about the fundamentals of democracy.

Throughout his work in public service, Senator Gravel has understood that politics is about powerwho has it, who should have it, who misuses it, and how it can be used to the betterment of human life here and around the world. He not only understands it, as the clich has it, he also has walked the walk.

As a senator, he became known for releasing the controversial Pentagon Papers at an ad hoc committee performance. He was early against the Vietnam War. He was early in advocating diplomatic relations with China. More recently, Senator Gravel was opposed to the War in Iraq even before this quagmire and criminal endeavor began. He opposes military action against a completely United States-surrounded Iran. He understands the inequities in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Senator Gravel knows that elections have been commercialized to the point where the very media expectation of candidates is determined by how much money theyve raised in every quarter. Its almost like a corporation: What is the quarterly report? Money from commercial interests, such as the drug industry, the oil industry, the nuclear industry, the auto industry, the banking industry, and insurance industries, with their 10,000 political action committees, comes heavily in terms of quid pro quos . They are rarely specific about what they want in return.

Senator Gravel understands what very few candidates are willing to understand and demonstrate publicly. Now more than ever, this country needs a shift in power from the few to the many. He understands that we must make the domination of just about everything by giant corporations a major issue. These giant corporations see no boundaries to their hegemony, to their greed, to their abandonment of our country, to the control of communities, to the infiltration of elections, and to the control of every department and agency in the U.S. government, including the Department of Labor. With their political appointments, their thousands of political action committees, and with their 35,000 lobbyistsif you dont make this a major issue, it will affect our economy and our electoral reforms, and we will be avoiding a critical issue and engaging in rhetorical charades, slogans, clichs, and self-censorship.

If money is the index of electoral politics, Senator Gravel rightly believes our democracy is gone. Were supposed to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. There can be no democracy if it is a government of the Exxons, by the General Motors, for the DuPonts.

For over a decade, given the failures of elected politicians, Senator Gravel has been engaged in some extraordinary research and consultations with leading constitutional law experts about the need to enact another check to the faltering checks and balancesnamely, the National Initiative for Democracya proposed law that empowers the people as lawmakers in a Legislature of the People.

In recognizing this, Senator Gravel has convened conferences of some of the finest constitutional law experts in the country. He has engaged them in a fundamental debate regarding the plenary power of the American people to enact their own laws, rooted in the Declaration of Independence, a juridical document, not just a protest, the U.S. Constitution, the Federalist Papers.