The major shifts we need...

Two major shifts are necessary in the governing ideas and actions of the United States, at home and abroad:

First, the national government is failing America. It no longer works for the American people. An increasingly corrupt and ineffective Congress and executive branch – which now only serve the interests of those who can buy access to policymakers through the political-campaign process – must be returned to the control of the people. That requires changes proportionate to the government’s corruption and ineffectuality: (a) each citizen must be given the right to vote for president (a right they do not now possess, according to the Supreme Court's 2000 decision in Bush v. Gore), to have that vote counted, and to have that vote counted equally (direct election of the president by national popular vote; abolition of the Electoral College); (b) all contributions for campaigns for national office (president and congress) must be limited to citizens – no organizations of any kind should be permitted to contribute money -- so that people, not interests, control Washington; (c) free broadcast air time must be given to all general-election candidates for national offices -- so that they need not spend inordinate time on fundraising rather than the people's work -- although that air time must consist solely of candidates themselves, not theatrically produced commercials; (d) a recountable paper trail must be established nationally for all electronic voting systems; and (e) concurrent presidential and House terms of four years should be created, with a four-term limit on House members and a three-term limit on members of the Senate, and a procedure for mid-term special-recall elections for the House and the President should be created.

Second, to restore America’s influence in the world, the money and resources that our government distributes all over the world must be provided to the people of countries that suffer from dictators, enormous inequalities, and massive violations of human rights, rather than this aid going to governments. Help must flow to nongovernmental organizations and indigenous groups working for the people’s rights, and all assistance to undemocratic governments must cease. Our assistance should focus on strengthening the democratic means by which people solve their own problems, not particular outcomes in terms of regimes or economies. We must help people develop the capacity to fight for and obtain their rights, develop their own societies, and govern themselves – not coerce or manipulate them, much less use violent force as a way to produce political outcomes that we want.

These changes amount to a simple proposition, which is the same at home and abroad: The United States will stand with people who are working to achieve their rights and freedom – and it will help strengthen their capacity to have a “fair start in the race of life”, in the words of Abraham Lincoln.