Policy for We The People, by We The People

We lead politicians back to being accountable to “WE THE PEOPLE,” using our independent, citizen-centric public utility.  At NewGov.US, constituents develop and promote policies in numbers significant to their politicians’ careers. We:

• Coach politicians through an online, free exchange of ideas.
• Collaborate on policy rather than yelling about politics.
• Support politicians who collaborate with us.

Like any coach, we retire politicians who choose not to collaborate.*

NewGov.US has big goals, with the biggest being to help facilitate a change in our political system. But each part of the system is a straightforward module for a specific purpose. We give YOU the opportunity to get the attention of your politicians just like lobbyists and special interest groups.  YOU may not have a lot of money to give, but YOU have something even more important, a vote.  We bring much-needed balance to the political system.

*COACHING POLITICIANS: The NewGov system for 21st Century Democracy.

Who's in charge of your Congressional District? Your congressman. Why? A member of Congress is the quarterback for the team of staff members that represent their district's voters. But NFL quarterbacks are never in charge of the team – the coaching staff is – and that's how it should be in politics.  We voters should be coaching our lawmakers and their teams of staffers because we have so much more real-world expertise than lawmakers. Now, thanks to NewGov, we can get together and decide what we want and build our political power online. 

NewGov uses the power of blogging, commenting and social networking to share your ideas and opinions and to invite others to "feel the power".  The purpose for the site is for everyone, (no matter your political leanings) to work together to develop public policy and assist your legislators in doing what is right for your district.  It is not about a party because everyone collaborating is better than one side alone. The voters living IN the district will know what is best for them more than a politician with other outside influences placed on them by the party and special interests.

INDEPENDENCE:
NewGov.US is operated by the not-for-profit corporation Independence Year Foundation.  Ownership is in a blind trust that can never be sold or controlled by insiders.  What this means to you is that like a public utility, the users of the site will ultimately control the site.  It will never be owned or operated by a political party, special interest group or political action committee.  We will not accept advertising or other sponsorships on the governance portion of the site to avoid any appearance of influence or favoritism to one group over another.

WHY NEWGOV WORKS :
The power of NewGov comes from our members.  Once you join and become a SuperVoter (SV), you unite with other SV's to start coaching your politicians.  Why will they listen?  Because we certify that you are their constituent by running a small ($5) credit card transaction and your card billing address is confirms the political districts you can affect by voting. Politicians know they are dealing with the voters that can keep them in office or toss them out.  

If you are not a SuperVoter, you can register as a member, create your own blog posts (but not add them to another blog), you can read, rate and and comment on posts and articles. When you become a SuperVoter, you can join groups, blog on the groups you are a member of, comment on other posts and start a group of your own. You can also invite any of your friends from other social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. 

There are 2 major facets of NewGov, Governance and Elections. It is important to create better laws, but it starts with electing the right people to office. Governance involves coaching your politician.  You can give your opinions on how and what they are doing, build support for an idea you have and create legislation for them to present. The Election groups are about supporting your candidate, asking questions, learning about them from other supporters and telling them what is important to you as a voter. If we work together and listen to each other we will come up with better answers and better politicians.

We have Policy Development Groups for each state's senators (50 groups) and representatives (435 groups). That is a total of 485 individual groups so you can really hone in on what is important in your state and district. On top of that, there are 30 different Issues Groups you can join. These are national level groups, but if you would like to work on civil rights at the state level, you can start a group for that purpose.  

The launching of NewGov is starting with Elections Discussion Groups for the Presidential election for each congressional district. We will add groups for each national and state level senate and house election later this year.   

Here is where it gets interesting. You can form your own groups for issues not covered.  They can be public (where anyone can join) or private and visible only to its members. 

We will continuously add more features to the site.