On June 10, 1776, a committee of five statesmen were appointed by Congress to draft a statement of independence for the "thirteen united States of America". Those thirteen colonies had been in rebellion against the British monarchy, and Thomas Paine's pamphlet, "Common Sense", had already sold over 100,000 copies, encouraging a break from Great Britain. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman worked on numerous drafts until Congress finally approved "the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America" on July 4, 1776. It was the most momentous moment in the fledgling nation's brief history.
On Wednesday, May 7, 2008, rough drafts of new legislation were still being prepared on the tropical island of St. Kitts by more than thirty committees, appointed to address specific articles of resolutions proposed by O.U.T.R.A.G.E. between January 23 and February 26, 2008. Only twenty-five non-binding resolutions had been introduced, but there were other resolutions being drafted into formal legislation that hadn't been introduced to the general public. The objective was not to change the spirit of the original American documents; indeed, it was imperative that the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and other doctrines remained intact. The purpose of these new resolutions was to eradicate some ot the worthless legislation that had splintered the nation and contributed to the corruption of the national ethic. The first article of resolution was to "take the 'con' out of Congress"...legislation designed to return Congress to its role of servitude to the people. Members of Congress had allowed hubris, corruption, pomp and arrogance to blind them; to a man (or woman) they viewed themselves as superior to the 'common' people, lavishing excessive salaries, extravagant health care and retirement benefits, and extraordinary 'perks' upon themselves. These people were supposed to be public servants; instead, they had turned themselves into a hierarchy of privileged citizens who devoted most of their time and energies to being re-elected.
All new candidates were harshly grilled on this topic: the new United States of America (or whatever new name might be used in the future) would be a true democracy, wherein the government was ruled of the people, by the people, and for the people.
No longer would elected officials rule the republic; referendums on virtually any legislation would be voted on by popular vote, tabulated with state-of-the-art technology, and submitted to Congress for final action. Members of Congress would be required to do the majority's bidding. While they might avail themselves of any opportunity to argue for or against any particular piece of legislation, these new public servants would be honor-bound to ultimately follow the dictates of the people. Critics complained that this would cause massive congestion to the political process; proponents argued that it would be no more cumbersome than the way Congress had operated for years. The big difference would be that "we the people" would make the final decisions instead of Congressional members being swayed by wealthy elitists, special interest groups, lobbyists, or big business.
Nearly unanimous public agreement far outweighed the cries of the naysayers (most of whom were surviving elitists, political diehards, lobbyists, representatives of special interests, or big business opportunists).
O.U.T.R.A.G.E. computer technicians were creating a massive network of voting capabilities which would allow vitually every registered voter to cast a ballot electronically with foolproof accuracy and complete anonymity. The system was designed to confidentially identify each voter and allow them to cast their vote from wherever they were in the world. A complete paper trail would be able to reconcile computer tabulations in the event there were any disputes. "Hanging chads" and other voting discrepancies resulting from inadequate procedures would be eliminated; high-tech voting would make it easy for anyone to cast ballots in complete confidence that their votes were being counted and accounted for properly. Architects of the new system had even installed numerous safeguards to prevent fraudulent tampering with the system. Ballots would be cast across the country with uniformity and consistency, recorded instantaneously, and backed up with appropriate documentation should anyone challenge the results. This new system was costing millions of dollars to develop and implement, which brought up another question that hadn't yet been asked: where in the world did O.U.T.R.A.G.E. get all its money??