Initiative & Referendum Can Prevent Foreign Policy Mistakes
By Jim Mangia

Once again, the U.S. government has intervened in the decisions of a foreign people to make their own political decisions. In the Nicaraguan elections held this week, the Bush administration authorized the spending of tens of millions of dollars to run a campaign tying one of the candidates to "terrorism." Daniel Ortega, the Sandanista leader seeking the presidency in free elections, was compared to Osama bin Laden. Whatever your opinion about the particular brand of "democratic socialism" advocated by the Sandanista movement in Nicaragua, they are not terrorists. The massive demonstrations against U.S. election-tampering now taking place in Nicaragua reveal the growing resentment against U.S. policies around the world. The issue here is that once again decisions were made by the U.S. government to meddle in the internal affairs of a foreign nation and spend a lot of money without the approval of Congress or the American people.

What is wrong with that? Besides being in opposition to the basic tenets of democracy and fair play, it is frighteningly clear that our government has still not learned the lessons of Afghanistan. We must never forget that it was the C.I.A. under the direction of the executive branch of the U.S. government, that trained and financed Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, as we had trained and financed Sadaam Hussein before them. The American people never had a say in those decisions, though we ultimately paid the price at the World Trade Center. There was no way to voice our support or opposition, and more importantly, there was no way to receive information about what our government was actually doing.

I believe we can and must reform the way America does foreign policy. This would change the face of how we do international business and make us less vulnerable to foreign policy blunders by our government that result in a more dangerous world for our citizens. There are two ways to accomplish this: increase access to information and give Americans a way to express their opinions on foreign policy and other national issues.

Firstly, we must loosen restrictions on the media in the coverage of what happens around the world. While the Pentagon likes to point to "polls" that show how many Americans "support" the Pentagon's restrictions on media access to the war in Afghanistan, the fact is there has been no real "poll" taken. Polling 1,000 Americans with a questionable "scientific" method, does not a majority make. What if the nation had a non-binding national initiative and referendum process, where the American people could actually express their opinions on these issues? We could have a signature threshold that would show support in various sections of the nation in order to qualify a referendum, which would ensure a significant amount of interest in an issue before it could make the national ballot. This would prevent tying the process up with nonsense not supported by a significant plurality of American voters. But a national initiative and referendum process, not unlike the propositions on the California ballot (though these would be non-binding), would allow the American people a modern and effective way to voice their opinion about issues we currently cannot way in on.

It will be a hard road to accomplish. The "polling" industry may oppose these reforms --with all the lobbying connections and big money campaign contributions they can muster. Career politicians and the two major parties will shrivel and shriek at the possibility of mass democracy and political reform that may expose how out of touch they actually are with the views of the American people. But the American people will have a chance to actually know what is going on and act on it, if at least only by voicing a collective opinion. More democracy, not less, is a critical component in fighting terrorism. The American people must have a check and balance against the ongoing mistakes our government makes on the world stage! Since September 11, it is clear that innocent citizens are now paying a disproportionate price for those mistakes.
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Jim Mangia is the founding national secretary of the Reform Party and the President of the Coalition for Political Reform.