Biography of First Democracy Author, B. Thomas Marking
B. Thomas Marking was born and raised in the Dakotas except for a one-year stay in Montgomery,
Alabama during the mid 1960's.
Hoping for an Army career, he completed a bachelor's degree in Political Science at The CITADEL, The Military College of South Carolina in 1970.
When that door closed, he entered graduate work in Political Philosophy and International Relations at the University of Maryland. It was during this study that Mr. Marking began a life-long fascination with the history of democracy, specifically with why it had failed to achieve its full promise. His exploration persisted even after graduate school.
In the meantime, Mr. Marking continued a career in public service. He spent some twenty-two years in Washington, D. C. working at several federal agencies. In addition, he completed six years of overseas duty at our embassies in Islamabad, Manila and Ankara. This experience provided extensive insight into the daily workings of our government. It served only to deepen his resolve to open his fellow citizen's eyes to possibilities beyond the republican form of government; i.e., government through representatives.
Over the decades, Mr. Marking looked into the efforts of various individuals and groups who had developed a like conviction that America needed Direct Democracy to grow and survive. However, it was clear that none of them had managed to stir the imagination of the general population or even to gain reasonable attention in the mass media. It was at that point, that B. Thomas Marking began work on a screenplay entitled Mr. Smith Returns to Washington. The ambition was to develop a product that would be as inspiring and enduring as Frank Capra's classic movie while introducing the public to the benefits of an updated political system. That screenplay grew into the novel Amendment XXIX. Mr. Marking now resides in the Black Hills of South Dakota where he continues a life of public service as a long-time volunteer with the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary and the American Red Cross.
Interview with Author
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