There's been a lot of talk about "direct democracy" since Obama was elected - about how his campaign involved people at a level never before seen in national politics, how his White House has been using online programs to get peoples' input, and so on.  But what if we as Americans could participate on a level even beyond this - what if we had the power of lawmaking?

I'm not saying we should get rid of Congress, I'm saying that we should add to it by embracing The National Initiative for Democracy (aka NI4D), a campaign for ballot initiatives at all levels of government.

Together with a few dozen other people, I am helping to create a documentary about the history of democracy and how the NI4D is the next natural step in that process.  Even though we're making the movie with volunteers, we still have some small costs, and that's where you come in.

DONATE TO FUND THE FILM HERE

Find out more below the fold.

In case you didn't see it, former Senator Mike Gravel also had a diary about this yesterday.

Welcome to the second edition of Election News Roundup.  So far, we've had no new title suggestions and no volunteers to help, so I'm still looking for both!  I go away for most of the summer, so if someone would be willing to do it during that time, I would greatly appreciate it.

The news in this diary has been collected from last Tuesday until today, if you couldn't tell by the title.  If there is any outdated news, let me know.

On the Dailykos version, there is a poll which I will post the results of next week.

Before we start, ALERT: If you're from Pennsylvania, you may have been purged from the voter rolls, along with about 200,000 other PA voters.  53,000 were in Allegheny County alone.  If you're missing from the rolls, at this point in time you can't vote in the election on May 19, but it's still worth re-registering.  The Pittsburgh Tribune Review via Daily Voting News.

Today I intend to start a brand new series that will be at least semi-weekly here on MyDD (along with Congress Matters and Daily Kos).  It will not focus on election results or the horse race or even the policy positions of candidates.  It will focus on what makes elections work - or not work.  

I will hopefully be presenting a clear, complete picture of news regarding how elections are carried out, why they are done that way, election reforms, the ballot initiative process, and anything else that might be related to that.  I will be looking for some help with this series (from anyone with expertise/interest in this area and anyone else at all who might want to help out), so please read on and stay updated!

Last Sunday (the 22nd), I left for Washington, DC.  I went on a trip with my synagogue to meet up with a bunch of other Jewish high school students, where we helped the homeless, lobbied Congress (I was wrong in my previous post - I only met with my Senator, not all of the ones I listed), met with AIPAC, learned about mortgages for low income families, and a lot more interesting stuff.

It was a great trip.  I feel like I actually do have a bit of power in this corrupt, mangled political system of ours, and I'd love to tell you why.

As I write, an effort is underway to entirely transform the way presidential elections are conducted.  The Electoral College is slowly being picked away at, and hardly anyone realizes it's happening.

Today the government of California made a deal with the devil, in the form of State Senator Abel Maldanado.  He was the single Republican vote that was needed to pass the desperately needed budget.  Hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars rested on this man's shoulders.

So, of course, he chose to be greedy and selfish.

Among other trivial and selfish requests that held up this man's vote was a request for a nonpartisan top two primary.  Californians will have a chance to defeat this at the ballot box just like they did in 2004, and defeat is what must happen.

In Part 1, I introduced you to the palm oil crisis and talked about how it is affecting orangutans.  In the poll, I also called for a "boycott."  However, that may have been the wrong move on my part.

If you're interested - particularly if you didn't read Party 1 when I posted it - please read on to learn about how a seemingly harmless vegetable oil that is in one out of ten consumer products is one of the most destructive forces on our planet today.

I know this is a Democratic blog, but I think that progressives should have more than one option for political progress.  Why be the Democrats' option when they are our priority?  Why let the goal of "more Democrats" lead to more Blue Dogs and less actual progressives in power?

Well, this week was a good one if you feel the same way as I do.  The Green Party's highest elected official in the nation has done something to give his party more credibility and make it easier for more independents to get elected in the future.