Prepare to understand contemporary politics as never before! Prepare to see the future of American democracy!A recent study at Princeton University came to a shocking conclusion. Our system has been so corrupted by money and influence peddling, America is no longer a democracy.This manifesto offers a detailed, step-by-step plan for cleaning up the corruption in Washington DC, replacing the current crop of pay-for-play politicians with progressive, independent, minor-party candidates, who will be bound by legal contract when elected, to faithfully serve the interests of the voting public.This is electoral reform so radical that in one master stroke, it puts America on the path to a healthy economy and directly addresses its #1 and #2 challenges: the suicidal march to war and the destructive impact of a historically high level of wealth inequality.Brace yourself for a real game-changer which will redefine politics for the foreseeable future. Get ready as the nation begins its journey toward a peaceful and abundant future for all of its citizens, not just a privileged few. I have watched both the ineffectiveness and frustration of progressivesbuild and build over the past 15 or so years. The more blatant thetransgressions of our politicians, the more fragmented and directionless the agenda and response of the liberal-progressive class has become.The voice of the left has been both silenced and marginalized. Now, forexample, when political demonstrations are held, they either get nomedia coverage and are promptly squashed by our militarized policeforces. The 60s are over. There are many people who want to turnthings around. Thus there is a tremendous reserve of energy to betapped. Yet I read and read and never see a detailed strategy to FOCUSall this potential activism. A lot of whining. No plan. Moreover, I am astonished at what enormous agreement there is across politicalparties and ideologies on many key issues ... fair taxation of the rich, ending the pointless wars, leaving social security and medicare as full functioning programs, raising the minimum wage, GMO labeling, endingcorporate welfare, on and on. My approach is to get peoplefocused on what they want vs. what they get from Congress, then todemand enforceable contracts from all prospective candidates, butespecially from incumbents. Candidate Contracts offers a hard-ballstrategy of coercion which openly but legally blackmails candidates into doing the right thing or replaces them with ones who will. Itestablishes an ironclad, enforceable platform for demanding our electedrepresentatives do our bidding as their electors, instead of takingtheir orders from the deep-pocketed lobbyists and corporate puppetmasters who are eviscerating our democracy. Will it work? I believe it will. I didn't spend four years developing this strategy as mental gymnastics training. John Rachel has a B.A. in Philosophy, has traveled extensively, been a songwriter and music producer, political activist and is a bipolar humanist. Since 2008, when he first embarked on his career as a novelist, he has had eight fiction and three non-fiction books published. These range from three satires and a coming-of-age trilogy, to a political drama and recently a crime thriller. The three non-fiction works were also political, his attempt to address the crisis of democracy and pandemic corruption in the governing institutions of America. His numerous political essays have appeared at OpEdNews, Russia Insider, Greanville Post, and other alternative media outlets. Never knowing when enough is enough, the hyperthyroid Rachel continues to be very busy. He has three more novels in the pipeline for publication late 2017 through 2018: Sex, Lies and Coffee Beans, a spoof on the self-help crazes of the 80s and 90s; Love Connection, a drug-trafficking thriller set in Japan; and finally The Last Giraffe, an anthropological drama involving both the worship and devouring of giraffes, which unfolds in 19th Century sub-Saharan Africa. John Rachel's last permanent residence in America was Portland, Oregon where he had a state-of-the-art ProTools recording studio, music production house, a radio promotion and music publishing company. He still writes music and, much to the annoyance of his neighbors in the traditional rural Japanese town where he now lives, attempts to sing his original songs.