Since the very first day of the republic’s existence, common working citizens of the United States have been fighting for one or more human rights: civil rights, woman’s rights, voting rights, children’s rights, right to live your own lifestyle, right to a fair wage, right to a reasonably priced healthcare system, right to this, and right to that.

The reason for this unhealthy condition is that wealthy, and other privileged citizens influential enough to affect the making of laws, have always held the power of government and the making of laws. These people have never wanted the U.S. republic to be a true democracy, nor a culture in which all citizens are politically equal. They have always preferred authoritarian or totalitarian government. The Constitution of the United States, therefore, has been deliberately structured to exclude the voices of common Americans from government's decision-making processes. This has given the people's political "representatives" great control over the values and laws of the republic, especially true of the Senate, often called the "House of Millionaires" because Senators are normally very wealthy individuals.

Consequently, for more than two hundred years common working Americans have been embattled in class warfare with privileged, elitist Americans who prefer their "representative" democracy over true democracy, for it is a form of government that places profit above people, personal welfare above social welfare, and ignorant commoners above educated commoners. The ignorance of American commoners to the republic's true history, and what their political leaders and corporate rulers truly are is the only reason the repressive American System still exists.

Chapters For Change is the American Institute of Direct Democracy's program to familiarize working Americans to these hidden truths and instill within each and every citizen—who wants such knowledge—the skills necessary to personally participate in the maintenance of government, making it possible for them to control their own lives.

The Chapters concept is simple. Chapters are discussion groups. Every month (or whatever time frame Chapter members prefer) the Institute will suggest a specific topic for discussion by Chapter members such as the pros and cons of both representative and direct democracy, public ownership of banks as opposed to private ownership, public ownership of utility services as opposed to private ownership, and other topics relating to the comfort, safety, and freedom of all citizens of the U.S.. Initially, these lessons will revolve around the information in the two books found only on our webstore: The Democracy That Never Was, and The Malfunctioning Animal.

A Chapter will succeed only if its members understand that the group starts with a shared commitment to define a better way of living in a human collective and that differences of opinion are to be resolved maturely and logically keeping emotions under control. New suggestions and conclusions will be posted on the Institute Discussion Board so that all chapter members who want to comment, can. It is expected that face to face contacts within each Chapter will help to improve communications skills and inter-chapter dynamics should demonstrate that people of different ethnic, religious, and economic status possess the same human hopes for peace, security, and happiness as you, and that working together in harmony is the most logical way to transform the dream of peace and security into reality.