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“Instead of seeing government as a partner we fear, I think we should see them as a partner we welcome.” Peter Drucker
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Overview

Declaration of Reindependence (DOR) is a non-profit, nonpartisan, and cooperative effort to improve the effectiveness of American government by:

  1. Removing political leverage of special interests
  2. Broadening the candidate base
  3. Improving the legislative process
  4. Increasing government accountability and transparency
  5. Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of laws, agencies, and programs
  6. Providing better representation of US citizens

Unlike political non-profits that have a variety of hidden agendas, DOR has a singular and open agenda: providing a nonpartisan solution to remove the impediments to effective government and create a much better environment for citizens, businesses, and the government itself. Without intervention, it is safe to say that these problems will never be fixed.  For the same reason a patient cannot be cured with an infected needle, a government that is infected with influence cannot and will not fix itself. DOR provides the intervention to solve these issues.

The Problem

Although there has been a long history of political influence and infighting in the US government, it has recently grown to the point where the government today is effectively broken. Despite significant issues threatening the future of the country, the government has proven incapable of taking effective action in many areas. There is no shortage of individual federal officials with good intentions, but the current problems in government are so deeply engrained that effective regulation is often impossible. Instead, regulation is frequently passed that gives the appearance of solving a problem while simply moving the floodgates to new locations (click here for recent examples).

The Solution

The symptoms of government issues are innumerable, but their causes are finite.  DOR defines eight “DOR Laws” that surgically address the underlying cause of problems in government without requiring changes in government structure. DOR unites US citizens on a path of “common sense” reform by providing the opportunity for citizens to refine and endorse the laws. The single digit to low teens approval rating for Congress indicates public’s broad desire for effective government and DOR defines a clear path to achieve that. Citizens are asked to comment on the DOR Laws and endorse them through electronic signatures.

Summary of DOR Laws

The full definition of the DOR Laws is provided following the DOR introduction, but the table below provides a brief summary and preview of the laws (Click here to skip directly to the full definition of DOR Laws).  

DOR Law Development and Enactment Steps

  1. Present the DOR Laws and refine them through public feedback (click here to skip directly to DOR Laws)
  2. Allow citizens to electronically sign the DOR Laws to create a record of endorsers (click here to sign DOR Laws)
  3. Allow candidates and existing federal officials to electronically sign the DOR Laws to indicate their individual commitment to work towards enacting them in office.
  4. Citizen DOR Law signers limit voting consideration to candidates that have endorsed the DOR Laws.

The Debt Situation

DOR applies to many areas beyond debt reduction, but debt is such a significant risk to the country that it merits special discussion. The federal debt is $16 trillion, and the projected deficit for 2012 is $1.3 trillion. These numbers are not sustainable, and the situation will become significantly worse when interest rates rise from their historic lows as predicted by the CBO (CBO Fed Interest Rate Graph) or when rates rise additionally due to increased risk. Solution of the debt crisis requires both tax and spending reform, but Congress has repeatedly proven ineffective at making any progress in these areas.  The DOR Laws remove impediments to reform, improve the legislative process to prevent waste, and provide transparency to help ensure issues are actually solved when actions are taken.

Buying Influence

DOR finds it impossible to reconcile the paradox of a country where bribery is illegal in almost any form and political leverage is legal in so many forms.  This is especially true considering that the negative effects of political leverage are significantly more severe and more permanent than those of bribery. Also, it is impossible to reconcile the fact that, while it is illegal to take actions that alter the outcome of a sporting event, it is currently both legal and commonplace for individuals and organizations to use money and influence to alter the outcome of elections.  Political leverage by special interests can negatively impact the entire country, sometimes for generations. Most elected federal officials are reliant to some degree on multiple special interests, both for their initial election and for subsequent reelections.  Therefore they must satisfy the “many masters” of special interests rather than focus on the “one master” of the citizens that elected them. The 535 legislators in the House and Senate cumulatively serve a huge number of special interests and therefore many laws can be passed only if they are embedded with loopholes.  The DOR Laws ensure that effective legislation is possible because legislators serve only one master – the citizens.

The Mission of “Reindependence”

The “Reindependence” in Declaration of Reindependence signifies independence from the political leverage of special interests. DOR establishes the term “political leverage” as the legal name for political influence that becomes illegal under the DOR Laws. DOR is not dismissive of special interests and recognizes the importance of maintaining dialogue between the government and the private sector – the DOR Laws simply ensure that such discussions are pure “peer-to-peer” exchanges of information rather than politically leveraged events that apply pressure to the government or officials. Because influence currently rules so many facets of the government, it has created a “reverse Darwinian” situation where the government is literally on a fixed course to become less and less representative of its citizens over time. The DOR Laws effectively remove influence from controlling the government while maintaining healthy dialogue between the government and the private sector.

DOR and Business

Although DOR removes private sector political leverage from government, DOR is absolutely pro-business. This apparent paradox is best explained by example. While many are upset about tax breaks leveraged by large companies (NY Times: How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Taxes), DOR recognizes that these examples are just symptoms of a larger problem.  The painful reality is that these tax avoidance strategies are currently legal and, because they are legal, avoidance tactics become almost necessary if companies are to compete when their competitors are already engaged in the same behavior.  Although it is emotionally satisfying to vilify these companies, it is critical to bear in mind that these examples are only symptoms of the actual problem. DOR is instead focused on fixing the cause of the problem by removing political leverage so that the tax code can be updated effectively by taking actions such as removing specialized exemptions.  Effective tax code reform, absent political leverage, will likely create a lower overall tax rate for all businesses and individuals.  DOR recognizes that, currently, there is a very high cost for companies to engage in tax avoidance tactics and many of these very same companies would rather have a reasonable tax code that eliminates the need for expensive and cumbersome tax strategies. Finally, DOR recognizes that the current tax code incentivizes companies to park assets overseas and this is a significant impediment to the creation of domestic jobs needed for economic recovery.  It is a bit ironic that the DOR Laws’ removal of corporate influence over government will likely be a positive for business overall because it removes the congressional gridlock to allow effective reform of the tax code.

DOR and Officials/Political Parties

Although DOR is critical of government execution and the effect of private sector influence, DOR is not against any individual official or political party. DOR believes it is impossible to hold specific individuals or groups accountable currently because the current system of legal influence essentially requires entangled relationships between officials and the private sector for any official to be elected or reelected.  The DOR Laws surgically remove the entangled relationships by eliminating the ability for the private sector to apply political leverage.  DOR does recognize the critical importance of discussion between officials and the private sector – it simply resets the terms of that relationship to be “peer to peer”. 

DOR Boundaries and Focus

DOR is solely focused on removing political leverage and improving the execution of the government.  DOR will not comment on or attempt to change policy itself based upon the rationale that policy will become self-correcting when the government’s execution and influence issues are resolved.  Although it will take time to for the issues to be resolved, it will not take a long time to be on a clear path to resolving the issues if citizens choose to become actively involved in refining and endorsing the DOR Laws.

How You Can Help:

  1. Review the DOR Laws and comment to refine them or electronically sign (click here to sign) if you agree
  2. Refer others to www.dofr.org so that DOR benefits from their feedback and endorsement
  3. Consider supporting only candidates and officials that have endorsed the DOR Laws

The DOR Laws

The eight DOR Laws are presented below.  The laws are displayed in “summary” format by default, but the text of the laws and the additional rationale information can be viewed by clicking the expand/collapse links within each law. Please note that the DOR Laws outline the requirements of the law, they are not intended to represent the final text of the laws.  The final text of the laws will be developed through the normal legislative process; however the laws that are enacted must meet or exceed the requirements outlined in the DOR Laws below. 

1: Law-CAMP – Federally-financed, uniform campaign environment for nomination and election of all federal officials.

Comment on this Law

Intent

  1. Eliminate the ability of individuals and organizations to influence or dictate who is in office through campaign donations, advertisements, or other incentives.
  2. Attract a much broader selection of candidates by significantly lowering the financial and logistical hurdles to running for office.
  3. Allow officials already in office to focus on legislation by removing the burden of fundraising that, for many officials, currently consumes hours per day
  4. Create an “equal exposure” environment for all candidates so that every election is a contest of merits rather than a contest of funding or connections.
  5. Ensure officials up for reelection must earn the position by competing against a strong candidate field.
  6. Provide much better background information about candidates, and provide online tools to allow voters to compare candidates (such as allowing the public to register for real-time updates from candidates via a consolidated Twitter-style feed).
  7. Establish an environment where candidates and elected officials serve the “one master” of the citizens that elected them, rather than the many masters of special interests.

Text of The Law (Click to expand/collapse)

Background Info/Rationale (Click to expand/collapse)

2: Law-PL – Elimination of political donations, gifts, advertising, and any other form of political assistance or manipulation from individuals and organizations to candidates, federal elected officials, agencies, and staff. Establish the term “political leverage” (PL) as the label for illegal political manipulation.

Comment on this Law

Intent

  1. Eliminate all forms of donations and election assistance to remove the ability for private individuals and organizations to influence who is in office.
  2. Establish the term “political leverage” as the legal term for political manipulation that becomes illegal under DOR.  Ensure that political leverage applies universally to all forms of political manipulation just as the term “bribery” applies universally to all forms of general manipulation.
  3. Eliminate all forms of material political leverage so that meetings between elected federal officials and the private sector become pure “peer-to-peer” information exchanges absent of any form of leverage applied to the candidate or official.
  4. Provide transparency on interaction between federal officials/agencies/staff and non-government personnel with required registration and logging.
  5. Create more effective legislation as a result of elected officials being able to act freely without undue pressure from individuals and organizations.

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Text of The Law (Click to expand/collapse)

Background Info/Rationale (Click to expand/collapse)

3: Law-LEG – Elimination of vote trading in legislation. Require quality standards and performance metrics for proposed legislation and require documented review of legislation prior to voting.

Comment on this Law

Intent

  1. Enact more effective legislation by ensuring voting is based purely on the merits of the bill.
  2. Eliminate burying of loopholes and exceptions in the text of laws.
  3. Ensure that all bills have sufficient time window for review and eliminate pre-recess votes.
  4. Require bills to pass an objective review for conciseness, prevention of duplication, and inclusion of budget estimates before they can be proposed.
  5. Ensure that all programs, agencies, and laws (where applicable) include performance metrics that are actively monitored and transparent before they can be proposed.
  6. Require and confirm that all legislators have reviewed each bill before they are able to vote.
  7. Sharply reduce the frequency of calls for repeal shortly after laws are passed as a result of a more effective legislative process.

Related Articles

Text of The Law (Click to expand/collapse)

Background Info/Rationale (Click to expand/collapse)

4: Law-EMP – Establish waiting period and full disclosure of post-office consulting, employment, and appointments.

Comment on this Law

Intent

Establish waiting period and provide transparency on post-office hiring of elected federal officials to reduce ability for organizations to apply political leverage through offers of future employment, appointments, or opportunities.    

Text of The Law (Click to expand/collapse)

Background Info/Rationale (Click to expand/collapse)

5: Law-COMP – Competitive compensation for elected federal officials.

Comment on this Law

Intent

  1. Establish competitive compensation that will attract the best possible candidates.
  2. Eliminate other sources of income during office and compensate on a level that makes eliminating additional income a reasonable demand.
  3. Pay appropriately for the role of active and effective legislation rather than have federal office serve as just a stepping-stone to larger opportunities.
  4. Reduce federal staff size and other travel luxuries that insulate officials from the public.
  5. Establish a culture where officials act as highly paid employees of their electorate rather than elitists that are insulated from the public.

Text of The Law (Click to expand/collapse)

Background Info/Rationale (Click to expand/collapse)

6: Law-INS – Eliminate issues related to disclosure of inside information by federal officials, agencies, and staff.

Comment on this Law

Intent

  1. Eliminate issues related to the disclosure and use of inside information from federal government.  Fix gaps that were not addressed by the STOCK Act signed on April 4, 2012.
  2. Eliminate the currently routine practice of officials sharing of inside information with external parties (such as corporations or hedge funds that profit directly from the information).
  3. In instances where disclosure of inside information is required with external parties, ensure that a standardized Law-INS Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is executed prior to the discussion to eliminate sharing or profiting from the information.
  4. Create government-hosted online utility to allow streamlined NDA execution and to create an auditable disclosure record.
  5. Eliminate sharing inside information within the government for parties that do not have a material role in the decision process.
  6. Establish an independent group for oversight of inside information rules to eliminate the conflict of interest of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversight. 

Related Articles

Text of The Law (Click to expand/collapse)

Background Info/Rationale (Click to expand/collapse)

7: Law-DASH – Public dashboard for the effectiveness of laws, agencies, and regulations.

Comment on this Law

Intent

  1. Create public online “dashboards” with simple “at-a glance” reports that monitor the status of critical exception issues in government.
  2. Create in-depth online dashboards for government’s internal management of critical issues and exceptions.
  3. Provide transparency for critical areas to ensure that gaps in laws or agencies remain “front burner” rather than being ignored or forgotten.
  4. Highlight areas that represent ongoing risk so that future negative events can be proactively prevented.
  5. Achieve much better efficiency and effectiveness of laws through active monitoring of:
    1. Performance metrics for new laws/agencies/etc. as mandated by Law-LEG
    2. New GAO-defined metrics for monitoring the performance of existing laws/agencies/etc. (applying Law-LEG metrics to selected existing laws/agencies/programs/etc.)

Text of The Law (Click to expand/collapse)

Background Info/Rationale (Click to expand/collapse)

8: Law-SUPR – Address issues associated with Supreme Court lifetime appointments.

Comment on this Law

Intent

  1. Eliminate the circumstance where the most powerful branch of the government is the only position with lifetime appointments and without checks and balances.
  2. Provide a mechanism for orderly rotation of Supreme Court justices.
  3. Establish fixed timing for Supreme Court appointments to minimize potential for political manipulation.

Text of The Law (Click to expand/collapse)

Background Info/Rationale (Click to expand/collapse)


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A non-profit, non-partisan organization uniting citizens for common-sense reform.