More than three decades ago, Howard Beale, a fictional TV anchor in the movie "Network" tried to galvanize the nation by urging everyone to stand up and shout out their window, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore."
Glen Simmons is doing the same thing, but in his own way.
"I'm not going to yell out a window," he said, chuckling.
Simmons, a 67-year-old San Clemente retiree, has invested $200 to file a proposed ballot initiative that would make it a crime for politicians or the mass media to twist the truth to influence an election or affect public employment.
Simmon's initiative proposes a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for members of the public trust who intentionally deceive in providing "material facts" to sway the public.
"If we could just get the people who serve in the public trust to tell us the truth, I think there's enough collective wisdom in the hearts and minds of Americans to do what's right," he said.
Critics might have plenty of ammunition to use against such a measure, including whether Californians truly want police officers responding to such "crimes," whether crowded prisons could free enough space, and whether judges should spend time trying to determine whether a statement was true, false, or was a misleading conclusion from an obscure fact.
Simmons has no political organization or funding behind him. He hopes to qualify his initiative for the November 2010 ballot, but he concedes that he has never led such an effort before.
Put simply, Simmons said he just feels compelled to do what he can -- because ignoring problems can make them worse.
"It's almost like that old saw that if you don't vote, you lose your griping rights," he said.
As for his own party registration, Simons demurs, saying he tends not to vote the Democratic or Republican party line.
"I don't have a lot of faith in either one of them," he said.
Torey Van Oot and the Bee Capitol Bureau report on the people and politics of California government. Get 
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