Representative democracy was the smartest way to vote, when it took weeks of riding a horse for one official to vote for his entire state.
State officials no longer ride horses for transit. They can fly anywhere in the country within a day. They can also be any race and gender identity, not just white, male, property owners. And all of us can already vote every year in our state. We do that now. We’ve come a long way.
We don't need these representatives to make as many decisisons for us anymore. We can govern ourselves. We can take back the power we gave them.
The US Constitution is 230 years old. Isn't it time for Constitution 2.0?
We want to implement a direct democracy to modernize our political system. Direct Colorado is how we do it.
That said, almost half our population doesn't vote. We're disheartened and disenfranchised. We don't think our vote matters. When we can only elect politicians we don't feel represent us, there is little motivation to engage in the political process.
But that's not all voting does. It also allows us to sign ballot initiatives, and create our own laws. We can make a ballot initiative to do anything we want. It's how we legalized cannibus.
In the path to democracy, those in power prefer you not vote (and not verify your vote is counted). The more disempowered you feel, the better their chance of you not standing up to them. This process is called “learned helplessness” (link).
We are trying to unteach that, by showing you; once enough of us take action, they can't stop us.
We want to oppose the political corruption by monied interests. We want to end abuse of our democracy in the name of profit.
We want to re-engage the American voter base by showing them their vote matters.
Direct Colorado is a digital space to gather interest in passing laws directly by voters. It is a website where people post ballot initiative ideas, and voters pledge to sign them. It is the first step to building a direct democracy, where The People make our own laws without politicians.
Direct Colorado educates citizens on the voting process, and connects ballot initiative creators with interested signers.
Direct Colorado is any citizen ready to take back our government by passing our own laws. Direct Colorado is 100% volunteer run. We’re not here to make money. We’re sick of politics as usual, and we’re ready to do something about it.
We want to create an easy legal channel for social and environmental justice. We want to enable people to band together to pass our own legislation through ballot iniatives.
We, The People, can already make laws with ballot initiatives, now. They are our path to re-taking our government. When enough people wake to the idea that we can create our own laws, we'll start doing it. If you don't know what a ballot initiative is, we’ll be posting a video soon. In the mean time, check these out:
Ballotopedia's explanation of ballot initiatives
Wikipedia's explanation of ballot initiatives
Once we create a network of engaged people ready to sign ballot initiatives, we can put any law we want up for a vote by Colorado voters. This means, if we can get 5% of Colorado voters to:
1. Sign onto directcolorado.org once a year, and pledge to sign the initiatives they like.
Then...
2. When the initiative is ready, go to a central signing location on a weekend and sign each ballot initiative petition that they want to become a law.
When enough of us realize we can create our own laws through Direct Colorado, we become the law makers.
In order to sign a ballot intiative, you need to be a registered voter. To register, or check your registration, follow this link to the Colorado Secretary of State website: Colorado Secretary of State
When it’s time to sign, we will email you and let you know: where you can sign, and/or what organization will reach out to you to gather your signature. We need your autograph to make the laws you care about!
When it’s time to sign, we will email you and let you know: where you can sign, and/or what organization will reach out to you to gather your signature. We need your autograph to make the laws you care about!
When it’s time to vote, you can find your polling location here: Vote 411
We will never give, sell, or share the personal information you provide here, for any purpose other than to connect you with the initiative group whose initiative you pledged to sign, by upvoting it on this site. Our goal is to connect you with initiative campaigns, so you can sign their petitions. For that reason, we will send your contact info to the group(s) whose initiative(s) you pledged to sign, so they may collect your signature.
Those groups may only use your contact info to obtain your signature on their initiative. They may not use your contact info for any other purpose without your expressed consent. If any group or organization violates this agreement, they agree to pay all costs associated wth their breach of trust. These costs include, but are not limited to:
-Your legal costs to uphold this agreement
-Direct Democracy Colorado's legal costs to uphold this agreement
-Anyone else's legal costs associated with that group's breech of trust
By agreeing to this privacy statement, you acknowledge this is a very new process. No one has ever tried to mobilize people for all initiatives at once before, or to connect multiple groups to multiple signers at once. No one has done any of this online before either. Because of which, and because this site is entirely volunteer run, you will use discretion and patience as we move forward. Our ability to unite people and groups depends on your cooperation as we create this process. Because of which, we may change this agreement without notice; but no matter what the change, we will only give out your info to the group(s) whose initiative(s) you pledged to sign, and only for that purpose.