Referenda give the legislature the true opinion of the voting public on issues, and initiative is no more subject to abuse by special interest groups than the legislative process. Referenda give a voice to anyone who is registered to vote, and have worked very well in states that use them.

Not allowing individuals to remain in office for an eternity is an important step we need to take to restore confidence in both Congress and the Senate. Term Limits have been introduced in the House but never received the two-thirds vote it needs to pass. In order to move towards restoring America, we need to have fresh faces to help bring new ideas to Capital Hill. Therefore by introducing term limits, this will limit the "career politicians" that are currently stagnant in Washington, DC. It takes courage to make change happen; By signing this petition, it will be a good start! I will be meeting with Congressmen/Women this upcoming Friday when I visit the House Chambers to talk about term limits. Please help me achieve the 50 signatures needed in order to get the ball rolling on term limits. Lets make it happen!

Stop all types of donations to all Congressmen, Senators and politicians

Stop state spending on trips for American children in the custody of the CT Department of Children and Families to travel outside of the jurisdiction of the state to visit non-resident non-custodial parents.

A Schuylkill County (Pennsylvania) police chief is making national news for his videos that seemingly encourage people to shoot U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Gilberton (PA) Police Chief Mark Kessler also calls his political opponents "libtards," who should "go f*** yourselves." In one video, he shoots a target he calls "Nancy Pelosi" while saying, "We're gonna give two to Nancy, then we're gonna put two in her face." (see videos at http://tinyurl.com/FireKessler NSFW) This outrageous behavior should result in his immediate firing. It is obvious that a person like this cannot objectively carry out his duties. So what is the reaction of the mayor of Gilberton? She says it’s a free speech issue and she won’t stop him. Her reaction is almost as outrageous as Kessler’s comments. Write to Mayor Mary Lou Hannon and the Gilberton Borough Council. Tell them to fire Kessler today. He obviously lacks the temperament, levelheadedness and objectiveness that any law enforcement office needs. He is clearly unable to protect people who disagree with him. He needs to be removed from his position immediately. Here’s a summary of his recent videos: In a video that has received wide attention, police chief Mark Kessler repeatedly tells those upset by his use of profanity to “go f*ck yourself” as he fires various automatic weapons. Mayor Mary Lou Hannon told The Morning Call that Kessler had the right to express himself. The city would “not take action to quash free speech, whether or not each member of council or any member of council agrees with it.” Kessler has uploaded several profanity-laced videos to YouTube. In one video, Kessler berates “libtards” and warns of an armed rebellion against the government. “F*ck all you libtards out there, as a matter of fact, read my shirt,” he says, turning around to show a message on his back which read, “Liberals take it in the a**.” “You take it in the a** and I don’t give a f*ck what you say so you can all just go f*ck yourselves. Period. I wont be going to D.C. and I don’t give a f*ck. If you f*cking maniacs want to turn this into an armed revolt, knock yourselves out. I’m not about that, so see you on the other side.” In a video on basic pistol defense, Kessler repeatedly shoots a picture of scary clown, which he says is Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). He calls Secretary of State John Kerry a “c*cksucker” in another video before firing off an automatic weapon. (Thanks to Susie Madrak, writing at Crooks and Liars) Write to Mayor Mary Lou Hannon and the Gilberton Borough Council. Tell them to fire Kessler today.

The North Carolina General Assembly passed HB 589, a needlessly restrictive bill designed to make voting more difficult for everyone in our state. We need the Governor to show real leadership and veto this bill before it becomes law. Nothing less the future of democracy in North Carolina is at stake. The bill cuts the early voting period from 17 to 10 days, although counties would still be required to provide the same number of hours for early voting. It also prohibits counties from extending early voting hours on the Saturday before Election Day to accommodate crowds and eliminates same-day voter registration during early voting. Other provisions in the revamped bill include: - Eliminate pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, who currently can register to vote before they turn 18. - Outlaw paid voter registration drives. - Eliminate straight-ticket voting. - Eliminate provisional voting if someone shows up at the wrong precinct. - Prohibit counties from extending poll hours by one hour on Election Day in extraordinary circumstances, such as in response to long lines. Those in line at closing time would still be allowed to vote. - Allow any registered voter of a county to challenge the eligibility of a voter rather than just a voter of the precinct in which the suspect voter is registered. - Move the presidential primary to first Tuesday after South Carolina's primary if that state holds its primary before March 15. That would mean North Carolina would have two primaries during presidential elections. - Study electronic filing for campaign returns. - Increase the maximum allowed campaign contribution per election from $4,000 to $5,000. - Loosen disclosure requirements in campaign ads paid for by independent committees. - Repeal the publicly funded election program for appellate court judges. - Repeal the requirement that candidates endorse ads run by their campaigns. The voter ID requirement is more restrictive than the proposal the House passed in April by prohibiting university students from using their college IDs.

We have seen countless national and local jobs bills blocked by the Republican Congress nationally and by PA Republicans statewide. This is totally detrimental to our state and nation Improvements in roads, bridges and infrastructure projects could produce countless jobs while increasing the tax base and general economy of PA and other states!

The two Big parties have a monopoly on political power. They should be brought to court on Anti Monopoly and Anti Trust laws and be broken up like how the big monopolies were broken up a century ago!

We the taxpayers are paying for Healthcare, Pensions, and many other Perks for our elected DO NOTHING congressmen and women, while they DO NOTHING to improve the country and lives of WE THE PEOPLE. Time to cut them off until they do the will of the people instead of the will of their big money interests.

Many in the House of Representatives are proposing draconian austerity measures that will harm our country's long term health.

The so-called "War on Drugs" has turned a public health problem into a multi-billion dollar taxpayer boondoggle. California State Senator Mark Leno's Senate Bill 649 would move California toward a smarter, humane, cost-effective justice system. It would reduce overcrowding in our prisons by allowing prosecutors to charge non-violent drug possession as a misdemeanor, rather than as a felony. SB 649 would free up funds currently supporting jails to be used for drug treatment instead. Studies show that in the 13 states that classify drug possession as a misdemeanor, treatment rates are higher and incarceration rates are lower, with no increase in crime.

The Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission ruling granted corporations the right to unlimited spending on super pacs based on earlier decisions. First, corporations in a number of decisions have been granted 1st amendment free speech rights. Second, Buckley vs. Valejo has been interpreted to say money is equivalent to speech. The Court thus ruled that since free speech is not to be limited, neither is political spending. Long before the Citizens United decision, money played an excessive role in our government and in our lives. 94% of the time in California the candidate who raised the most money won the election. Corporations have been claiming constitutional rights for over 100 years. * Besides 1st amendment right of free speech, corporations have claimed and won 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 14th amendment rights. The right of privacy has been claimed, but not yet secured. *Claiming rights against search and seizure, corporations protect themselves from complying with worker safety regulations and requirements related to pollution. * Claiming right not to speak, the dairy industry sued and won against a law requiring labeling products from cows which were given BST, a bovine growth hormone. The precedence has implication for labeling GMO food. * Claiming 5th amendment taking rights, laws against drilling horizontally under people’s homes for coal were struck down, and entire towns in Pennsylvania sank in 1922. The precedence has implication for fracking. Big money manipulates all three branches of government—the legislative and executive branches though campaign financing, lobbying, and threats to harm the economy, the judicial branch through hiring the best lawyers to seize constitutional rights. While exhaustive grassroots work can successfully counter big money in elections, all future Supreme Court decisions will be determined by precedence and the constitution. Thus, the only recourse to return our democracy to We the People is a constitutional amendment. It is critical that an amendment address both constitutional rights only belonging to human beings and that money is not equivalent to speech. If corporations are curbed of rights, but money remains as speech, CEOs instead of their companies will fund campaigns. If money is ruled as not speech, corporations will continue to usurp rights meant for people to damage our planet, health, safety, and way of life. Given the difficult process of amending the constitution, it does not make sense to accomplish the goal with two or more amendments. There are bills which separate the two issues and bills which only address the single Citizens United decision as well as half measures which leave non-profit corporations alone. The NRA is a non-profit. The Nolan-Pocan We the People bill is the only one which is comprehensive.