"Who is sovereign?" Alexis de Tocqueville asked. "He who commits the acts of sovereignty."

But when people in a democracy become alienated from the process of government, they no longer are in sovereign control. Citizen advocate Ralph Nader and sovereignty expert GregoryFossedal examine how America's representative democracy, in combination with the two-party system, has become a kind of perpetual motion machine, ignoring issues and failing at government. Drawing from examples in contemporary politics and popular culture, Direct Democracy presents the case for citizens to take back control of their country through a bold system of national initiative and referendum: citizen law-making via direct votes by the people based on the Swiss model of direct democracy. With this one change America can reawaken the activism and involvement of a working democracy and truly become a nation of self-government again.

Four generations of Americans have followed Ralph Nader's lead on civic and political issues. From fighting for car safety in the 1960s, to opposing the policies of the World Trade Organization, to running for president, Nader continues to be a force for grassroots activism and democratic change.

Gregory Fossedal is the author of Democracy in Switzerland (Transaction Publishers, 2002) and was one of the founders of The Dartmouth Review.