Welcome to CitizenDemocracy.net!

Real democracy is when everyone gets to vote.

Representative democracy is when a small group, most of whom are typically men who are wealthier and whiter than average, carefully listens to the lobbyists bringing the largest campaign contributions and then decides what's best for the rest of us from their somewhat biased perspective.

When our legislative representatives get too far out of step with the voters, and we need to get something done, there is still, at least in about half the states in the U.S., the ballot initiative process (aka "propositions"). It takes tens, sometimes hundreds, of thousands of signatures to put an initiative on the ballot, depending on which state you live in. Gathering so many signatures takes more effort than most small campaign committees can field. We can change that.

What if 10,000 Oregonians or 50,000 Californians or 2,000 Alaskans or a large group in your state each agreed to gather about a dozen signatures from their friends, family, colleagues and neighbors? Could the task of gathering all the signatures needed to launch an initiative (or several as long as we're at it) be accomplished in a matter of days or weeks instead of months? Could the participation of so many volunteers help ensure that only truly popular measures, instead of merely well-financed measures, make it onto the ballot?

Let's find out!

CitizenDemocracy.net is an experiment in massively-parallel activism that facilitates the coordination of large numbers of signature-gathering volunteers using the internet.

All you need to do is:

1. Sign-up for an account on this web site (see link in the blue bar at the top of the page or right here).

2. Log in (see above or click here),

3. Pledge to collect signatures for one or more measures in your state using the simple web page you'll see after you log in-- you decide how many signatures and how soon you can commit to collecting them.

Next, you'll be sent petitions, leaflets and instructions by the respective initiative campaigns (the system helps them send you whatever you need in a timely manner).

Then, just take the petition around to friends, family members, colleagues and neighbors and see if they'd like to sign. If you'd like to gather a larger number of signatures and want some additional pointers, we are looking into organizing town meetings for signature collectors on Meetup.com (the same people who e-facilitated the Dean campaigns' wildly successful town meetings).

When you're done, just send the completed petitions back to their respective campaign headquarters (the system will remind you with e-mail as your self-imposed completion date approaches).

After that, you can login at any time to see how well the campaigns are doing in meeting their targets. Or, if you'd like to do even more, you could attend one of our Meet-Up sessions in your city. Our Meet-Up events can be a great way to meet other local Citizen Democracy members and encourage one another, make friends and have fun! You could help recruit more members in your city, learn tips for collecting signatures at public events and maybe even make plans to work a large event like a concert or festival as a team. It's all up to you.

We are a new organization just started for the 2004 ballot measures, so please help spread the word about CitizenDemocracy.net!

• E-mail your friends in your state and other states that have initiative process (see sidebar) and ask them to sign-up and volunteer.
• Contact people you may know who have been organizers of ballot initiatives in the past.
• Tell news writers about the Citizen Democracy Project.
• If you know of donors who like to support democracy and an involved citizenry, please put in a good word for us and introduce us.

We're excited by the potential of this project and hope you'll sign up today. Please check this site periodically for progress updates.

Thank you!

The Citizen Democracy Project