We always know when presidential/congressional election time rolls around again because the level of partisan lies and deceptions are markedly increased, candidates and their operatives are reduced to slinging rhetorical swill, the electorate's intelligence is repeatedly insulted, and the result -- as usual -- is little more than uncivilized political war. That's one of the reasons why only about half of eligible voters are registered and about half of those registered to vote, vote. Indeed, the main reason is the blatant betrayal of democracy that begs for answers to fundamental questions.

Hasn't getting elected by fraudulently campaigning to the center, then returning to the partisan battles, bitterness and demagoguery of the right and the left gone on long enough? Hasn't the lack of majority consent by the over-governed gone on long enough? The negative questions can be answered by a positive question. Isn't it time to change -- from a marginalized electorate and absolute control of elections and government by the two-party system -- to a better system of nonpartisan elections, with professional government managers instead of campaign-financed professional politicians, more participation in democracy, and reasonably limited government?

The attack on America, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, the war against terrorism, the unrelenting rise of bureaucratic empire building, laws and regulations, dependence on government, government intrusions, social aggression, public education's factories of ignorance, legal anarchy, economic uncertainty and media-driven chaos pulsing throughout the nation should at least tell us that society has lost its moral compass, that our government is not really our government, that it has simply grown beyond our control, and that we have been assaulted by selfish interests, weakened by superficial extremes, and battered by the failures of good intentions beyond reason.

Though the United States of America has the best form of government -- seeded by the birth of democracy in Athens over 2500 years ago -- we can hardly expect Afghanistan, Iraq and other former tyrannies to embrace democracy to suit their particular needs when they see that our democratic experiment in freedom isn't maturing nearly as well as it should.

Daniel B. Jeffs, founder
The Direct Democracy Center