A recent NYT/Siena Poll says that around 2/3 of Americans think our country is too divided for government to work. An NPR-PBS-Marist poll from September shows that 25-31% of Americans think that violence 'may be necessary to get the country back on track'.

My thought is that Congress has not only given up on passing bills to address the concerns of Americans unless their financiers support it, but that major issues never even get brought to the floors in Congress.

My thought is to allow citizens to petition to have bills considered. If 5% of the people who voted for President in the most recent election in 34 states sign a petition for a bill, Congress has to debate it and vote on it. The Senate and House would each be required to apportion 30 hours for debate unless a chamber voted to increase the allotted time. 30 hours was chosen because that is the length of time allowed after the Senate votes to end a filibuster.