What is a direct democracy? Learn how We the People can bypass Congress and restore liberty

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: direct democracy, Gerald Celente, liberty

(NaturalNews) "There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come."

That quote is attributed to Victor M. Hugo, a French poet, playwright, novelist and advocate of the Romantic movement - an artistic and intellectual movement during the second half of the 18th century in Europe - who opposed the authoritarian rule of Napoleon. And it is the theme of a new Direct Democracy Now movement that is catching on in certain quarters around the world.

According to the DirectDemocracyNow.org Web site, the global movement seeks to circumvent traditional "representative democracy" and replace it with the direct democracy concept of one person, one vote.

"As a citizen of the world, the time for your voice to be heard is now! No longer can we just sit back as elected representatives pass legislation and enact policies detrimental to the general welfare... While furthering the welfare of only the very powerful, the very rich and special interests," writes the site's creator, Gerald Celente, founder/director of the Trends Research Institute. "I believe that time is now."

Celente maintains that representative government, like that set forth in the U.S. Constitution, is repressive.

"Unlike the current 'Representative Democracy' where elected representatives make decisions regardless of the wishes of their constituencies," he writes, "in Direct Democracy individuals vote on critical issues and their decisions are carried out by their elected representatives... Whether they like it or not."

According to the site, there are DDN movements afoot in the U.S., Greece, Ireland and Poland.

For his part, Celente has been praised by a number of experts and publications for his forecasting abilities. On his Trends Research Institute site, Celente has listed a number of endorsements.

"There's not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he's talking about," says CNBC.

"Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right," adds USA Today.

In his book, "Trends 2000," Celente predicted what turned out to be the "Occupy Wall Street" protests:

They flooded the streets. Day and night, they marched ... As the demonstrations mobilized and gained momentum, the students were joined by their uncollegiate peers - the unemployed, the underemployed, the unemployable... No one was sure what had turned the protestors into marchers, or what had pointed them in the direction of Wall Street. All that was known for sure was that a mob of adrenaline-pumped young people funneled into the narrow streets of the Financial District...

Celente has a rather impressive list of accurate forecasts on the TRI site, including predicting the global spread of revolutions (Oct. 2010), the financial meltdown of 2008 (Dec. 2007), and the beginning of a gold run (Dec. 2001).

What hasn't come true yet? A second American revolution, but given the current state of the union and Celente's record, it's a prediction worth noting.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.directdemocracynow.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo

http://www.trendsresearch.com/forecast.php