Occupy the SEC

A small group calling themselves "Occupy the SEC", has set an example of how ordinary citizens can participate directly in government, by using the public comment period in executive rule-making to send the SEC a 325-page document detailing the problems and loopholes in the rules implementing parts of the Dodd-Frank Act.

"What we ended up doing is having a book club, where the Volcker Rule was our book. And so we would meet once a week at first, and then twice a week, and we read through it line by line ... and we came up with bulleted lists of answers, and then we split it up, and we embellished those bullets. And we ended up writing 325 pages." -- Alexis Goldstein

If this sort of action can have a good effect on the ways laws are implemented, it can serve as a model for future efforts to influence government in ways other than just standing around and shouting.  The shouting works best if it is drawing attention to a real petition, rather than general discontent.