It's pretty obvious that gerrymandering districts leads to lopsided party breakdowns in Congress, undermining representative government and our faith in real elections.

I am starting this petition because I want my vote to count as much as anyone else's vote, but not more than any one individual. In addition, I am tired of worrying about partisan laws being enacted to suppress the vote and disenfranchise people and the very real possibility of voter rigging.

The Supreme Court has determined that the playing field in America should continue to be tilted to favor the wealthy. By hijacking every state's ability to self-govern with a flood of money from not only wealthy corporations but now wealthy individuals too, every state is ripe for the picking and any individual with an axe to grind and money to burn can make policy, buy elections and the free speech of the rest of us is silenced. The very same people who claim to be against big government and for state's rights need to play by that rule; each individual state has the right to elect people, establish laws and the decisions for that state should be made by the people who live there and who will be directly effected by the outcome. These outside wealthy interests will try to establish policy that will preserve their wealth and power over the rights of the people in that state to self govern.

It's important to make sure that people are fairly represented instead of districts being drawn to protect incumbents. People need to be represented instead of politicians.

It is time to stop career politicians and the resulting corruption from the "Good Ol Boys" club. A politician in office for 40 years loses touch with what it means to be an average person working a job. If we can get the legislatures of 34 states to sign off, a Constitutional Convention can propose just such an amendment and Congress can't do anything to stop it. This starts the ball rolling in New York.

As a by-product of "Great Recession" I offer the following - After two failed trade agreements (NAFTA and CAFTA) and with the continued off-shoring of jobs unemployment levels are still at an unacceptable level. Thus, by providing the necessary resources for the next generation(s), together we (the United States of America) will be able to build not only a stronger economic community, but we will set the trend for the future!

"Slamming shut the revolving door between lawmakers and lobbyists will let folks know that Congress puts constituents first and will make government more accountable to the American people," Sen. Tester said.

Gov. Snyder is refusing to acknowledge Mark Schauer's requests for a debate. The citizens of Michigan deserve the opportunity to see its gubernatorial candidates in multiple debates. Our future, and the future of our great State of Michigan, depend on the outcome of the election on November 4, 2014.

I feel that the people are being completely denied in the fact that the members of the house and Senate are allowed to vote their own pay raises. This is not a the way a business, whether it be industry or politics, should be allowed to operate. The preamble to the Constitution states that "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America". Nowhere in the Constitution does it give the Senate and House the right to vote on their own pay raises. This practice needs to stop.

"I took a pledge not to accept contributions from people who benefited directly or indirectly from doing business with the General Land Office. I've sent thousand dollar checks back to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. For sure, most if not all the oil and gas contributors to Bush do business with the General Land Office for leases or pipeline ROW" I am Now Reissuing This Pledge Whereas the Texas Land Commissioner is the fiscal trustee for $29 billion in State assets, we the undersigned do petition the candidates for Texas Land Commissioner to agree to take the following ethics pledge: “I will not accept campaign contributions from any individual who has profited directly or indirectly from doing business with the General Land Office of Texas and ; I will return of any such campaign contributions that may have been unknowingly accepted once I am aware of the ethical conflict of accepting the contribution from individuals or PAC’s that have benefited directly or indirectly from doing business with the General Land Office of Texas.” -John Cook Democratic Nominee for Texas Land Commissioner

Basic Premise (edited 05/31/2014): Any person employed directly by the state or federal government - or - any person employed by an agency or bureau which can be construed to be part of the state or federal government (i.e. IRS) should be prohibited from receiving any additional compensation above their hourly or salaried wage if such payments are derived from tax dollars, fines, fees or levies of any kind. Such person would be defined as persons employed by Federal , state or local governments and their appointed agencies which take its direction directly from the Federal Government, including all departments and their subsidiary offices subject to direction by the Executive Office of the President, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, Department of Justice, Department of Labor (Including federal and state OSHA), State Department, Department of Transportation, Department of the Treasury and Department of Veterans Affairs. In light of the fact that current and past poor performance by certain agencies have failed to provide the services paid for by the tax paying citizens of the U.S (i.e. Veterans Affairs and Internal Revenue Service), it is clear that such practices do not provide added value to our tax dollar and in fact contribute to an environment of corruption. Service to the nation and it's citizens is a honor and privilege and in consideration of that, the government is not obligated to be an employer but rather a limited service provider as defined in the U.S. Constitution and a frugal steward of the peoples monies. Further, persons accepting positions working for the government do so with full recognition that the compensation for their efforts are directly derived from the revenue created from taxes of an already strained budget, it is unreasonable that such persons should be paid bonuses above and beyond their hourly or salaried wage, particularly when such employing agencies often create additional cost to the common citizen through fees, permits, levies and where poor performance causes a burden to those citizen who have paid for said services.

Gun violence is a major public health issue. In the wake of shooting after shooting, we've got to figure out the root causes and how to prevent the next tragedy before it happens. Did you know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used to research gun violence in the 80s and 90s, but the NRA bullied Congress into banning it nearly two decades ago? After the Sandy Hook tragedy, President Obama ordered the CDC to get back to studying “the causes of gun violence” but the CDC still avoids it. We have a chance to do something about this, and potentially save lives. In the hours before the latest San Bernardino shooting, doctors urged Congress to lift the funding ban. New legislation introduced back in June in the House and Senate would restore funding for gun violence prevention and gun safety research by the CDC. But it won't get passed unless we pressure Congress to stand up to the NRA and do the right thing for us, their constituents. Reference: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2015/01/14/why-the-cdc-still-isnt-researching-gun-violence-despite-the-ban-being-lifted-two-years-ago/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/12/02/hours-before-san-bernardino-mass-shooting-doctors-were-on-capitol-hill-petitioning-congress-to-lift-ban-on-gun-violence-research/