Washington is gridlocked. Our government is broken, completely dysfunctional -- and almost certainly will remain so for years to come. We have a choice, whether to submissively accept it, or whether to fight back and try and change it. While we will always believe there are worthy candidates to support, we don’t see anyway out of a gerrymandered, frozen political system that refuses to heal itself, overturn Citizens United, and pass meaningful campaign finance reform. We wish we did, but we don’t. However, there is an opportunity to end run the ‘business as usual’ crowd by going directly to the more than 20 states that allow some form ballot initiative -- and that is exactly our plan. TakeItBack.Org has started its efforts in South Dakota, and will be moving on to other ballot initiative states seen here in blue:

Here is what is in the works thus far, and what we hope you will support. 1. We helped to successfully refer SB69, a bill passed earlier this year that would make it almost impossible for an Independent candidate to get on the ballot.2. We helped to successfully refer SB177, a bill passed this year that would exempt ‘teenagers’ from the recently passed minimum wage of $8.50 an hour.3. We will help pass a constitutional amendment that creates a ‘nonpartisan redistricting commission’ that will remove the politics from drawing legislative districts.4. We will help pass a constitutional amendment that will remove partisan designations from all county and statewide ballots, which will effectively turn the SD Legislature into a nonpartisan body -- the same as our neighboring state of Nebraska, which has had a nonpartisan legislature since 1936. 5. We will help pass a statute that will create a nonpartisan ethics commission, expand transparency and disclosure requirements, limit campaign contributions and close various campaign finance loopholes, and create a public finance system that incentivizes small donations and dilutes ‘big money’ impact. We are partnering with several organizations in South Dakota and around the country including the South Dakota Farmers Union, Represent.Us, and Open Primaries. We have done the legwork, drafted the ballot language, run the legal traps, partnered with various stakeholders, and now are gearing up to hits the streets with paid and volunteer petition circulators to collect a total of over 100,000 valid signatures in less than two months.This is a very aggressive plan, and we need to raise the funds to train and hire 100 paid circulators, recruit volunteers and find supporter housing. But just imagine the difference that passing even one of these measures--let alone of all five of them--would make. We will send a message that, starting in South Dakota, we are taking matters into our own hands and using direct democracy to make the changes that the ‘business as usual’ crowd refuse to make. Please consider a contribution of whatever size you can afford -- our polling shows that these measures are extremely popular, and we know we can pass them with your continued support.Please sign up to volunteer at TakeItBack.Org to help us get these initiatives on the November 2016 ballot. And please forward this email to family, friends and colleagues and ask them to join us in our campaign to take our country back.Thank you so much!Rick Weiland and Drey Samuelson