PeopleCount’s purpose is to fix our representative democracy, allowing citizens to guide government. It’s about good governance, not about direct democracy, not about majority rule. In this article, we’ll see how it would lead to a better energy policy.

PeopleCount will enable our representatives to communicate with us, so they can actually represent us. And it gives us accountable communication with them. We guide them. Incumbents and challengers report to us and we grade them. Then we’ll be able to use those grades to help choose who’s best in the next election. This feedback will lead to better solutions.

Addressing climate change with a better energy policy

Surveys tell us that over 50% of Americans are concerned about climate change. If America had a “majority rule” system, it’s conceivable that Congress would have already voted to tax oil and coal or have a U.S. Cap and Trade system, with all of its defects.

Let’s now look what kind of solution PeopleCount would lead us to. If I were a representatives working for a good solution, I’d look at a wider range of options. Appeasing 51% of us doesn’t sound very good. I’d look for a solution that 80% or more of my constituents would be excited about.

I might choose something like The Solutions Project, Before committing to it, I’d let all voters state their opinion about it, on PeopleCount. Not only does it address climate change, but it saves us significant amounts of money- one estimate is $70 trillion over the next 23 years! It creates millions of new jobs and ends our habit of sending billions of dollars to the Middle East for oil and inadvertently funding terrorism. With it, we can make America energy independent and help balance the budget.

Why isn’t this possible currently?

Currently, if your representative wanted this kind of a plan, he could say so in his newsletter. But few people read it. And he could say it in his speeches. But many members of Congress need the support of oil and coal companies to fund their campaigns. And they focus the funding on members of Congress who are part of the key committees. When your rep puts forth his bill, it probably just gets ignored by a committee.

How does PeopleCount make it possible?

With PeopleCount, everyone in the country sees the options. If an idea begins to get attention, it becomes obvious.

Could the oil and coal companies spread disinformation? Over the past decade, they had abundant time to spread climate-change doubt and denial. They not only had years to do it, but they had tight control of many members of Congress, so Congress couldn’t act quickly. This would not have happened if our representatives had efficient communication with us.

PeopleCount will make citizen opinions much more important, and much faster. The pressure will be nationwide. Voters don’t lack power, we lack a way to organize and wield our power between elections.

Plus, PeopleCount will free members of Congress from a lot of their pressure to please wealthy donors. The money from donors is used to pay for campaigns costing millions of dollars. That money is used to reach voters. PeopleCount offers a better way of doing this at a much reduced cost. It’ll reward politicians who satisfy their voters rather than special interests.

When a good idea becomes popular, politicians will act quickly

Imagine this kind of idea becomes popular on PeopleCount. Your incumbents will act quickly to get on board before challengers do. There’ll be much more pressure in Congress to act. If an industry owns the committee chair, members of Congress will put pressure on the Speaker to replace the chair. If an industry owns the speaker, members of Congress will work to replace him or her.

Currently, members of Congress are accountable to many different industries and special interests. Bills are enacted only if there’s party support. Feasible bills are those which have no powerful foes. With PeopleCount, members of Congress become accountable to the people. Just as with finding a better energy policy, Congress will look for solutions in every area that work better for a larger number of voters.

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