Posted on 10/19/2011 6:09:31 AM PDT by randita
An OWS Working Group Committed to Elect a Non-Partisan National General Assembly
BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
WE, THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in order to form a more perfect Union, by, for and of the PEOPLE, shall elect and convene a NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY beginning on July 4, 2012 in the City Of Philadelphia.
1. Implementing an immediate ban on all private contributions of money and gifts, to all politicians in federal office, from Individuals, Corporations, Political Action Committees, Super Political Action Committees, Lobbyists, Unions and all other private sources of money to be replaced by the fair and equal public financing of all federal political campaigns. We categorically REJECT the concept that money is equal to free speech because if that were so, then only the wealthiest would have a voice. These actions must be taken because it has become clear that politicians in the United States cannot regulate themselves and have become the exclusive representatives of corporations, unions and the very wealthy who spend vast sums of money on political campaigns to influence the candidates’ decisions and ensure their reelection year after year.
2. The immediate reversal, even if it requires a Constitutional Amendment, of the outrageous and anti-democratic holding in the "Citizens United" case by the Supreme Court, which equates the payment of money by corporations, wealthy individuals and unions to politicians with free speech. We, the People, demand that institutional bribery and corruption not be deemed protected speech.
3. Prohibiting all federal public officials and their immediate family members, whether elected or appointed, from EVER being employed by any corporation they regulate while in office and/or holding any stock or shares in any corporation they regulate while in office until a full 5 years after their term is completed.
4. A complete lifetime ban on accepting all gifts, services, money, directly or indirectly, to any elected or appointed federal officials or their immediate family members, from any person, corporation, union or other entity that the public official was charged to regulate while in office.
5. A complete reformation of the United States Tax Code to require ALL citizens to pay a fair share of a progressive, graduated income tax by eliminating loopholes, unfair tax breaks, exemptions and deductions, subsidies (e.g. oil, gas and farm) and ending all other methods of evading taxes. The current system of taxation favors the wealthiest Americans, many of whom, pay fewer taxes to the United States Treasury than citizens who earn much less and pay a much higher percentage of income in taxes to the United States Treasury. We, like Warren Buffet, find this income tax disparity to be fundamentally unjust.
6. Medicare for all American citizens or other single-payer healthcare system, adjusted by a means test (i.e. citizens who can afford it may opt-out and pay their own health insurance or opt-in and pay a means tested premium). The Medicaid program, fraught with corruption and fraud, will be eliminated except for the purpose of providing emergency room care to indigent non-citizens who will not be covered by the single-payer program.
7. New comprehensive regulations to give the Environmental Protection Agency expanded powers to shut down corporations, businesses or any entities that intentionally or recklessly damage the environment and/or criminally prosecute individuals who intentionally damage the environment. We also demand the immediate adoption of the most recent international protocols, including the "Washington Declaration" to cap carbon emissions and implement new and existing programs to transition away from fossil fuels to reusable or carbon neutral sources of power.
8. Adoption of an immediate plan to reduce the national debt to a sustainable percentage of GDP by 2020. Reduction of the national debt to be achieved by BOTH a cut in spending to corporations engaged in perpetual war for profit, the "healthcare" industry, the pharmaceutical industry and all other sectors that use the federal budget as their income stream AND a truly progressive income tax code that does not allow the wealthy and corporations to evade taxes through excessive deductions, subsidies and loopholes. We agree that spending cuts are necessary but those cuts must be made to facilitate what is best for the People of the United States of America, not multinational and domestic corporations.
9. Passage of a comprehensive job and job-training act like the American Jobs Act to employ our citizens in jobs that are available with specialized training and by putting People to work now by repairing America's crumbling infrastructure. We also recommend the establishment of an online international job exchange to match employers with skilled workers or employers willing to train workers in 21st century skills.
10. Student loan debt relief. Our young People and students are more than $830 billion in debt from education loans alone. Payment and interest on these debts should be deferred for periods of unemployment and the principal on these loans reduced using a corporate tax surcharge.
11. Immediate passage of the Dream Act and comprehensive immigration and border security reform including offering visas, lawful permanent resident status and citizenship to the world’s brightest People to stay and work in our industries and schools after they obtain their education and training in the United States.
12. Recalling all military personnel at all non-essential bases and refocusing national defense goals to address threats posed by the geopolitics of the 21st century, including terrorism and limiting the large scale deployment of military forces to instances where Congressional approval has been granted to counter the Military Industrial Complex's goal of perpetual war for profit.
13. Mandating new educational goals to train the American public to perform jobs in a 21st Century economy, [particularly in the areas of technology and green energy, taking into consideration the redundancy caused by technology and the inexpensive cost of labor in China, India and other countries and paying our teachers a salary that is competitive with the private sector. Paying our teachers a competitive salary commensurate with the salaries of People in the private sector with similar skills.
14. Subject to the elimination of corporate tax loopholes and exploited exemptions and deductions stated above, offering tax incentives to businesses to remain in the United States and hire its citizens rather than outsource jobs and reconstruct the manufacturing capacity of the United States. In conjunction with a new jobs act, reinstitution of the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps and a similar emergency governmental agency tasked with creating new public works projects to provide jobs to the 46 million People living in poverty, the 9.1% unemployed and 10% underemployed.
15. Implementing of immediate legislation to encourage China and our other trading partners to end currency manipulation and reduce the trade deficit.
16. Immediate reenactment of the Glass-Steagall Act and increased regulation of Wall Street and the financial industry by the SEC, FINRA and the other financial regulators, and the commencement of a Justice Department criminal investigations into the Securities and Banking industries practices that led to the collapse of markets, $700 billion bail-out, and financial firm failures in 2007-2008.
17. Adoption of a plan similar to President Clinton’s proposal to end the mortgage crisis and instead of the Federal Reserve continuing to lower interest rates for loans to banks who are refusing to loan to small businesses and consumers, the Federal Reserve shall buy all underwater or foreclosed mortgages and refinance these debts at 1% or less to be managed by the newly established Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (and foreclosure task force described below) because 1% or less is the interest rate the Federal Reserve loans to the banks directly who hoard the cash rather than loan it to the People and small businesses.
18. An immediate one year freeze on all foreclosures to be reviewed by an independent foreclosure task force appointed by Congress and the Executive Branch to (in conjunction with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ) determine, on a case by case basis, whether foreclosure proceedings should continue based on the circumstances of each homeowner and propriety of the financial institution's conduct.
19. Subject to the above ban on all private money and gifts in politics, to enact additional campaign finance reform requiring free air time and public campaign finances to all candidates who obtain sufficient petition signatures and/or votes to participate in the primaries and/or electoral process, to shorten the campaign season and to allow voting on weekends and holidays.
20. An immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and a substantial increase in the amount of funding needed for veteran job placement and the treatment of the physical and emotional injuries sustained by veterans in these wars. Our veterans are committing suicide at an unprecedented rate and we must help now.
Well, I was joking. But others, who will utter pretty similar things, will not be. Better be ready with an answer. A good one.
If I want to set up a PAC to oppose a candidate, I'm having trouble seeing how that wouldn't be protected speech. Seems like that's right-down-the-middle of the First Amendment.
And nude dancing isn't protected speech. You can breathe easier.
Bang on your bongo drums and sing Kumbaya until we stop laughing?
I’ll accept the tax stuff if and ONLY if everyone pays. No “poor” exemptions at all.
Like that’s gonna happen...
I'm a girl
Then, maybe, the slouch pimp hat I had in mind won't work. I'm sure the "chinchilla and hat amendment" will allow for some Princess Beatrice monstrocity for girls.
An American Citizen Committed to Upholding the Constitution
BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
WE, THE 53 PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA who actually pay taxes and are not whiners demanding others pay for mistakes under threat of incarceration or death, in order to restore a more perfect Union, by, for and of the PEOPLE, shall oppose any steps taken to undermine our glorious Constitution.
1. Recognizing that beyond simple conversation or yelling, all communications entail inherent cost which nigh unto always involves an exchange of currency. BE IT HELD that the right to free speech, and the right to free association, means that citizens may pool their resources to facilitate one citizen’s voice as to reach millions of ears.
2. The continued sustaining of the holding in the “Citizens United” case by the Supreme Court, which recognizes the right of any associative group of citizens to pool their monies and donate those funds to politicians to facilitate the high practical cost of free speech on a large scale. BE IT HELD that nobody may stifle the right of one person to voluntarily pay for the use of microphone, press, or website by another in the exercise of protected speech.
3. In recognizing that it is human nature to leverage concentrated power thru financial influence of leadership, and that prohibiting such influence to any meaningful degree is impossible due to the scope, complexity, and leverage of laws, the sociopolitical imperative must be to minimize the influence of the federal government by reducing federal revenue and spending to the minimums intended by the Founding Fathers and embodied within a plain reading of the Constitution.
4. (See #3.)
5. A complete reformation of the United States Tax Code to require ALL citizens to pay a fair share of a flat income tax thereby eliminating loopholes, unfair tax breaks, exemptions and deductions, subsidies, and ending all other methods of evading taxes. The current system of taxation favors the poorest Americans, 47% of all citizens, as a whole pay an order of magnitude less taxes to the United States Treasury than 1% of citizens. We, who bear the burden of taxation are becoming outvoted by those who pay no taxes, find this income tax disparity to be fundamentally unjust.
6. Removal of all distortions of the healthcare market, encouraging all citizens to choose and pay for services rendered as they see fit. A medical “safety net” may be erected for those who forgo preparatory coverage, and will be billed for use thereof with the option of negotiating long-term payments evaluated on a per-case basis in consideration of means (ex.: lifetime payments of $5/day, sale of “luxury” items such as HDTVs and XBoxes).
7. New simplified regulations to give the Environmental Protection Agency limited powers to shut down corporations, businesses or any entities that intentionally or recklessly damage property and/or criminally prosecute individuals who intentionally damage property. We also demand the immediate rejection of the most recent international protocols, which rely in large part on transference of guilt to those with deep pockets, and on harnessing energy via means little more practical than unicorns on treadmills.
8. Adoption of an immediate plan to eliminate the national debt by 2041. Reduction of the national debt to be achieved by BOTH across-the-board spending cuts achieving an immediate end of deficit spending AND a flat income tax code that does not allow the majority of citizens to evade taxes by rank idleness. We agree that tax cuts are necessary but those cuts must be made to optimize revenue according to the Laffer Curve.
9. Passage of a comprehensive jobs act in the form of letting employers and employees agree on a wage, removing the prohibition of jobs worth less than an arbitrary amount.
10. Student loan debt relief. Our young People and students are, being bright enough for college, smart enough to decide how much debt they can afford and whether their pursuits have reasonable odds of providing an income suitable for paying it off in a reasonable time. To achieve relief, the one who agreed to the loan must, by whatever means, earn enough to pay it off. Getting a degree is no guarantee of getting a job.
11. Immediate enforcement of immigration laws. There is to wit a front door which anyone may request entry through in accordance with established laws mirroring international practices, and anyone coming in the window without permission shall be shown the door.
12. Recalling all military personnel at all non-essential bases and refocusing national defense goals to address threats posed by the geopolitics of the 21st century, including terrorism and limiting the large scale deployment of military forces to instances where Congressional approval has been granted via declaration of war involving the literal phrase “declare[s] war”.
13. Mandating new educational goals of excellence achieved through competition fostered by school vouchers, and paying our teachers a salary that is competitive with other private educational institutions.
14. Elimination of corporate tax loopholes and exploited exemptions by eliminating corporate taxes. Corporations are nothing more than the aggregation of individual taxpayers, and are therefore taxed enough already. Incentives to businesses to remain in the United States and hire its citizens rather than outsource jobs entails removal of blindly prohibitive taxation, regulation, and prohibitions. By permitting employers to pay what jobs are worth, and eliminating welfare for the able, will give jobs to the 9.1% unemployed.
15. Implementing of immediate legislation to remind trading partners that currency manipulation serves only to damage their own economies in the long run.
16. Immediate repeal of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Dodd-Frank Act, and other increased regulation of Wall Street and the financial industry. Commencement of a Justice Department criminal investigations into the Securities and Banking agency practices that led to the collapse of markets by requiring them to make loans to people who could not afford them.
17. Adoption of a plan to let the market sort out the government-induced mortgage industry mess on its own terms. Anyone who obtained a mortgage without reason to believe they could pay it, and any company which issued such a loan, shall enjoy the obvious consequences of doing so.
18. A review of all foreclosures to assure claimed debt holders are in fact so.
19. Subject to the natural right to free speech and free association, taxpayers shall not be compelled to pay for speech they do not agree with nor agree to support.
20. An immediate restoration of a modernized form of the Militia Act of 1792, coupled with full respect for the Second Amendment, recognizing that everyone who lives here is obligated to their part in defense of self, home, community, and country.
It became free speech when communicating with 100,000,000 citizens cost something more than a deep breath preceding a yell.
If I like your message, but you can’t communicate it to enough people in a given time, my own “free speech” may take the form of buying you a bullhorn, website, or radio ad time.
Seems like “bribery” would be a more accurate word.
Life not being fair, what a resounding shock. Our Constitution should make everything absolutely fair!!! Oh, wait, who does that sound like.
The phrase "conflict of interest" wasn't just made up by the stinky hippies, you know.
Actually, a judge in Oregon apparently decided it was back in 2007. I think you understand my real point, though.
Well, I believe the unicorn-n-glitter crowd included a provision for a budget for all qualifying candidates. Right now we have a system wherein the man with the biggest bullhorn wins. That’s what got us all the softshell RINOs we’ve had for the last 20 years, and our most recent Soros-puppet. And it’s what’ll give us Romney as our candidate, you wait and see.
Nonsense, you can slip a cop $50 when he pulls you over, and even if he takes it, he might bust you anyway. Especially in Mexico. Yet it’s still called bribery.
Others are starting to connect the dots:
http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/forum/2690/occupy-wall-street-grassroots-or-well-organized-conspiracy
Good research and lots of food for thought.
“And when you’re done with that, one of the cross beams has gone out askew on the treadle.”
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