It's time to throw off the failed government of the United States of America. The present incarnation of our countries leadership is the ultra wealthy and has canceled the constitution and with it all civil liberty for the people. The Government has broken the constitution by becoming thousands and thousands of corporate government entities (IE your state, town, district, county, judicial system, and many smaller subdivisions are each separate corporations). Corporations exist by nature to make profit, and so by incorporating the country government we have turned into governance for profit. Corporations are not bound to the will of the people and do not need to represent the people they govern- instead they are bound to the will of their share holders. This is the rule of the elite designed to impoverish the masses and strip citizens of their rights.

Worse when looked at together the US Governments holdings (subdivided into the thousands of smaller corporate governments) it's clear that the US Government is massively profitable (not that those profits are being used for the good of the people) and scarily has a major stake in nearly every company on earth. This merger of corporate and government then means that the government cannot (and would not even if it could) regulate any of the companies it owns. Worse the government then makes laws (like Obama care) which prop up the industries they own. Why else would major corporations be able to pay little to no tax and avoid all charges when unmasked for having criminal dealings?

One cannot just tear down a government without a ready made system in place to replace it otherwise you wind up with an equal or worse tyrant. The first steps toward freedom then is to build the framework of what will replace the old failed corrupted government. The first thing we as a people must do is to take responsibility away from the government and into our own hands- if something needs doing we must do it ourselves without aid from the government. With that in mind I want to offer some ideas for the new system.

Our constitution has been broken. It's time for a new one. Remember the constitution is not what gives us our rights (we possess those rights inherently by being alive), but it is a agreement to belong to a system (a government) that exists to protect those natural rights.

We vow to protect the rights of all humans. We recognize that every human is entitled to these rights. These rights cannot be taken away from anyone through governance or by force.
    Every person has the right to wellbeing- the fundamental right to be safe and to have necessary, affordable healthcare. They have the right to water, food, and shelter.
    Every person has the right to Free Expression- any person may write, speak or think without fear of persecution.
     Every person has the right to free action- you may live your life as you see fit with no oversight, provided that you do not impede on the rights of anyone else.
    Every person has the right to knowledge- equal education must be provided freely for all. Everyone must have access to all forms of communication.
     Every Person has the right to due process should they be detained for any reason, and while detained their right to wellbeing must still be observed.

         This code should be the foundation of our society because it protects all of the freedoms of the individual. Any government built on those principles would exist to primarily to ensure that those basic rights are met. It would provide the infrastructure to ensure access to knowledge, health, and communication.
     I'm unconcerned with the exact structure of the replacement government. As long as it exists only to protect those freedoms then the structure is unimportant.
    I believe that instead of a handout based welfare system the government should have a works program that puts unemployed to work on infrastructure projects. (currently the bridges nationwide are disgraceful, our communications grid is aging and we lack high speed rail which would all be massive projects that could be undertaken generating jobs and would make travel and communications cheaper here to encourage business and boost quality of life).
    The country must print its own money backed by physical assets. It may not carry dept (though individual years may yield a deficit it may not be so great as to exceed left over past surplus. The deficit as it stands will be paid with the excess funds held by the current government (CAFR's show that the present government is flush with cash and holdings in all major corporations). Liquidating the assets that are tied to business (and instead taking on holdings in physical goods and our countries own currency) must be done to separate the government from the corporate interests to allow governance that is led by the will of the people and makes effective regulation possible.
    Governance must be done publicly. There can be no closed doors. Time must be given between the proposal of a bill and a vote on it to allow the bill to be examined properly. Open government can be the only government. Kickbacks cannot be tolerated and should be viewed as treason. Elected officials must be devoted to only the people and never any foreign power (including a special interest).
    There should not be formalized parties. Individuals must seek office under their own name alone, and cannot accept bribes. Any position in the government should be compensated directly based on the earnings of those who are being governed (IE if there is a position of representative that position should pay the median income of those represented)
    Rebuilding the government on the foundation of protection of rights and transparency is a matter of survival as a nation, and potentially as a species. Our country is being decimated plundered and set to collapse by the ultra wealthy who are the present government. Without reform they will successfully plunder the wealth made on the back of this nation. Without a revolution and a return to a republic government we face eradication. Historically what lives the working class have had can be attributed to the need of our labor but now our labor is increasingly obsolete due to computers, mechanization, and robotics. Those ultra wealthy have shown little to no regard for human life even when we were their source of labor now it will be worse.

Dear friends,

Obama-Romney care is universal health insurance not universal heathcare, and anyone who has been seriously long term ill can explain the difference. Our government is forcing everyone to get insured and calling it healthcare, yet they have done nothing to address the issues in the health system. Our system is being run for profit, and it's extremely profitable, by massive corporations. There are so many different corporations all making bank on our illness that the cost of care has skyrocketed to unpayable (especially in the new economy). Every time you receive care you are being bilked by insurance, a hospital or doctors office, a pharmaceutical company. Now when I say bilked I mean you are overpaying by many times over. Pharma and insurance are the major issue (though for profit hospitals are certainly a problem too). The question I have for you is why do we want to make the health of our citizens a profit enterprise?

When the motivation is profit instead of care then you are in trouble. Suddenly your doctor's first responsibility is to shareholders and not to you, and this is when you're care will be second rate. Wait though because you aren't even your doctors second priority- there's the Pharmaceutical companies to think of, so we have to get you their meds regardless of if you need them. So as an afterthought you might get treatment for whatever it was you walked in the door with... or not- unless can we do a shit-ton of tests? Great thanks! Oh here's the bill, and by the way your health insurance will only cover some and umm because they think treating you for illness is “unproven” they won't actually pay any. Soooooo yup you're fucked. You can walk in with a headache and walk out with a headache a stomachache from stress, radiation from testing, broke, and filled with drugs for “restless legs” or some other bullshit.

Each player takes a massive cut, hospitals have large overhead to begin with, but now they need to extract every cent to be profitable. Insurance companies exist to make huge pools of money for themselves, and the best way they can do it is to deny you as much as possible while charging you as much as possible. The pharmaceutical companies creat drugs to treat- and not cure you because they want you ill and taking their products forever. They have no financial interest in curing anything. Each member of this takes a huge amount of cash directly from you, and this is why the cost of our system is out of control. Both candidates have passed legislation to mandate that you get health insurance and feed this vampire system while doing nothing to address the real issues or to provide any actual healthcare.

There are things that should not be unregulated business enterprise- education and healthcare are two of the prime examples. I want universal healthcare because it is one of the basic human rights that any government should exist to protect. One of the ways to judge a society is on how it treats its sick, and our country has been failing, and will continue to fail. Healthcare is not a luxury item- you are sick and you need treatment, so the system is a basic necessity and should be run as such. Right now we are hostage to the system we must use because we get ill, and we must be insured under law so we are forced too have our money taken from us and given to the already wealthy corporations involved.

This system is in place to keep us sick powerless and broke. Demand better from your elected leaders. I'm not usually a Michael Moore fan, but watch Sicko if you want to see the issues of vampire healthcare and insurance for profit.
Be well

     I totally get it- I mean it makes sense for the police to be in the streets rioting all the time- just look at what they are up against. The Democrats have slashed police budgets all over the place- in Boston they lost their pension and then there's the Pennsylvania folks who got their pay dropped to minimum wage. The republicans are running a candidate who has said he wants to fire policemen so yeah i'd be pissed off too-
wait... you mean they're hitting- no sorry SHOOTing other protesters? Oh so the police aren't protesting? Why?

     Okay so I guess I don't understand at all. I figured the police were on strike and marching in solidarity with the protesters, but I guess they've been shooting us with “less lethal” rounds instead. I'd say they are shooting their on toes... but it's more like they're shooting women, kids, elderly, and every other group of unarmed protesters. The polices actions leave me bewildered because it is clearly against their own interests- and against public interest so again why? It seems to me that the police certainly look bad when they are tear gassing teenagers, or shooting up an artwalk- or pepper-spraying students so why would they do it when they gain seemingly nothing?

     Who do you serve? Who do you protect? I think these chants are completely fair questions because Police officers are public servants sworn to serve and protect- yet are consistently oppressing and assaulting the citizenry. They are certainly “just doing their job” which is what officers have said to me at protests I’ve attended- but I think what they mean is they are doing what they are told by their superiors. Well sure but that's not doing your job is it? If they truly did their job then wouldn't they have arrested the bankers- for instance HSBC who launder Mexican drug cartel money or standard charter bank for breaking the sanction with Iran? Of course that would be serving and protecting Americans, but as we see the only thing the police serve is the corrupt leaders of society and they would rather shoot us in the streets than do an honest days work.

    Every single police officer makes a decision about their involvement in the assaults on protesters, and it's time for them to start making better decisions. Yes protesters are very angry with you for assaulting us, but you are the 99% and if you are ready to join us peacefully we'll welcome you- because you are us and we're all being screwed by the people whose bidding you have been doing. Better yet when you join us protect us! Officers you of all people should know that we need to be protected from those who want to see us shot and arrested and beaten. Some of you must have your doubts about the course this country is taking and some of you must know it's wrong to shoot unarmed protesters (I hope this is the case anyway since you hold jobs of high responsibility and authority granted to you because we believe you have good judgment). Please join us when we march and protect us when we are assaulted- arrest those who illegally attack protesters. In all likelihood this means arresting other police, but at this point isn't that really your job?

    You need to start actually doing you job as opposed to blindly following orders that are illegal because if the police officers across this country continue to show that they are not interested in upholding the law and are merely the paid thugs you will teach the populace to hate you. Maybe you don't care, but you are members of the community and we will revile you. Police have a reasonable reputation in our society- heck kids grow up wanting to be officers... you are dismantling your own reputations each time you assault us or stand by and allow us to be assaulted by other officers. My personal belief is that there are only a few officers who are sadistic and enjoy harming protesters, but they are protected (and encouraged) by the whole system- I think they are likely repugnant to the officers who have honor and want to do their jobs. There is very little we protesters can do to change the system, but any officer who is honorable can do their part to change the system much more. So any officer who does have honor left, and who doesn't want to be lumped in with the sadistic officers stand up to them and stop them- and refuse to stand with them at protests- arrest them when they break a law.

Why should we protest in America?

Recently I told a coworker I wanted to film the ongoing protests, and his response was to ask what protests I was referring to. I said the occupy protests and other related activities (like the NATO, or Anaheim protests) and my coworkers said... oh what's occupy? We need to spread the message better. We need to reach out better. We need to get wiser. There are people who haven't noticed that we've been protesting for the last whole year.

One issue people have is it's hard to identify why we are protesting. There are many reasons that people come to protests, and the fact that we have some many different issues with our government has been used to say we lack focus and direction. It should be eye opening that there are so many important issues that our country is currently failing to appropriately address that there are many people massing in protest. I can't speak to every reason people have for protesting but I can give a general blueprint for what I am protesting about and why I believe many others are involved in the protests as well.


We are protesting because:

1. The economy is crashing due to unrestrained greed culture lead by the elites
   
   
2. Our government is restricting our civil liberties
   
   
3. Our country is in the longest continuous war in its history
   
   
4. Our president is a war criminal
   
   

The economy is a crashing- we've been in a recession since 2009. Economic abuses and runaway greed is the major culprit. Greed has become the culture norm for our country and it is unchecked at the highest levels. Over the past three decades the gape in wealth (and power) has widened to unsustainable margins- the result is the collapse of our economy.

The problem is multifaceted and the solution therefor is complex as well. Here is a rundown of problems dealing with the extreme greed culture of the 1%:

The 1% have corrupted our government, and have used the government to pass laws in their favor at the expense of the 99%. It takes money to get into office, and special interests donate to every major campaign (and both parties) leaving our representation indebted to the groups of already wealthy people. Additionally the already indebted members of government (which is every member) need to continue to collect funds to get reelected. Governmental power is therefor beholden to special interests (or to put it nakedly the wealthy elites) and not to the people. The greed culture is worsened by the fact that it is now the same wealthy elite who get into the so called “revolving door” between lobbyist, executive, and member of government. The revolving door is named such because of the frequency with which elites shift between those three roles. Our government has become of the elite by the elite and for the elite (and the 99% can F*ck off).

Why is this bad and how does it ruin our economy- and what can we do to stop it? It's bad because we have lost all say in our governance which flies in the face of our constitution and everything that America stands for. It's bad because we have lost any ability to regulate greed- greed has become legalized through this coup. The passage of legislation like Citizens United that allows unlimited corporate funds to be used in campaigning is the embodiment of the greed culture. How does greed ruin our economy? In 1996 Clinton suspended the Glass/Steagall act which removed the legal separation between investment and mortgage banks- the economic collapse on wall-street and in our real estate was directly due to this breakdown. Subsequently our government bailed out the banks (in a direct blow against capitalism). These are naked abuses by the government which benefit only the excessively wealthy while ruining the lives of the 99%.

The excessively wealthy have led a very successful campaign to limit and restrict unions- most recently in Wisconsin. They are breaking all forms of restriction on greed. The government is now a wing of the 1%- and the laws are now in their favor. Unionised voices are being silenced too, and more and more industries are being left to “self regulation” or as it should be called “no” regulation. This lack of any way to work within the system is a great reason to protest, and the seven demands here are simple and would dramatically improve the situation for the 99%.

1. Protest to reinstate Glass/Steagal- end the mad banking schemes.

2. End bank bailouts, and demand the money back- foreclose on banks if they fail.

3. Overturn Citizens united, Corporations are not people, and should not have the freedoms people have.

4. Change campaign finance laws. It is simply the only way to limit corruption. Either create campaign pools that all candidates on the ballot have equal access too- and track expenses of the candidates. End superPACs and restrict third party campaigning, or stop ad campaigning altogether and only allow tv appearances by candidates in the form of debates- or interviews (where every candidate gets interviewed).

5. End the revolving door. Make it illegal to have conflicting interests.

6. End positive interest on money. Money that is sitting in banks making money while not being used to create jobs is doing the 99% no good and we have such little money in comparison in our accounts that the only group who makes anything appreciable off of interest is the 1%.

7. Set ultra low interest rates for borrowing to go to college or to start a business.


Reason 2 to protest in America- Our government is restricting our civil liberties. They are doing this rapidly and very openly. The first massive assault on freedom was the Patriot Act under Bush, but recently Obama and the present congress has dismantled most of the constitution. This is not an overstatement- it is fact.

The NDAA provided provisions for a wartime curtailment of rights for citizens of the United States on an unparallelled scale. Remember the “war on terror” is legally a perpetual war thus all wartime powers granted to the government apply... perpetually. The NDAA has a few serious issues- one it defines US soil as a battlefield (IE the military can conduct operations in America), and it calls for military internment of anyone “suspected” of being a terrorist, or aiding a terrorist organization indefinitely without trial... or rights. This very specifically includes US citizens. Our constitutional right to due process has been suspended because now anyone can be held forever without any rights or a trial based on “suspicion.”

The NDRP allows the government (again in times of war) to seize any resources, utilities or foodstuffs deemed necessary (by the government)- it also allows the government to seize any personnel. This is a suspension of every right and every freedom we have. Anyone and anything can be taken as government property at any time legally with no oversight.

Our government has been working on ending free speech on the internet. CRISPA ACTA are the latest iterations of these attempts PIPA and SOPA having already failed. This is a first amendment issue. As is the nationwide often violent crackdown on protesters. The anti protest activity by our government is a suspension of the right to peaceful assembly and free speech. The anti protest legislation called the Trespass act bans many types of protests- and gives the government the ability to arrest detain and imprison protesters at will (for example the government can declare any site a critical site which makes it illegal to protest at- and then can scoop up protesters and imprison them for years).

We have no functional rights, not ability to challenge authority for our rights (because our right to due process has been removed), we do not have the right to talk about it (ACTA and CRISPA), and we cannot protest our lack of rights (Trespass). This is a great reason to protest. Yes it's dangerous, but it is so important because we are losing every right rapidly.

Every member of congress and the President has broken their oath of office (because the oath of office states that they will defend the constitution). They have either actively broken their oaths, or they they failed, and in either case they should be held accountable- none of them should remain in office.

Our demands on this point- restore our civil liberties

1. Overturn NDAA provisions for detention, and home soil battleground

2. Overturn trespass bill

3. Cease crackdowns on peaceful protests

4. overturn ACTA and suspend all further Internet censorship bills.

5. Overturn NDRP.

6. remove the oath-breakers from office (recall elections or impeachment) or regular elections.

Reason three to protest- We are in the longest continuous war in the history of our country. I'm not even talking about the government's declaration of forever war here- the war in Afghanistan is the longest war in our nations history. Why are we there? We are bleeding money into the military industrial complex to gain... nothing? Worse we are sending our young men and women to die for... nothing. Our army is being misused in Afghanistan and in Iraq, Armies exist to win battles and to defeat enemies. When they are used to do anything other than that they are being misused- they are not peacekeepers they are not nation-builders. This must end in both countries we are occupying.

Our demand:

End the wars.


Reason four to protest our President, and government, are war criminals. We must hold our leadership accountable for their actions because they reflect on our whole culture. It is not legal to carry out assassinations especially not internationally, but under the direct command of our president our military is doing just that around the globe. This is a war crime. President Obama's Kill list (and the fact that he has been actively assassinating people worldwide should have him impeached and put on trial at the Hague.

Our government considers cyber-attacks an act of war, yet at the direction of Obama our government carried out a cyber attack on Iran (a country we are not at war with). By our governments definitions we have carried out war operations against an government we are not at war with without the approval of congress and without declaring war. This is vastly illegal.

Demands:

Immediate cessation of assassinations, and cyber attacks.

Impeachment of Obama and trials for him and anyone else who is directly involved at a high level in these illegal acts. Willingness to extradite them to face any charges from the Hague.


This is not an all inclusive list of reasons to protest, but they are the reasons that I find most compelling. Without protests we will not exert any pressure on the system at all (it's designed to keep us powerless and isolated). We must protest because we have no direct way to make changes in our government- and our government must be changed due to the myriad reasons mentioned.

The other thing people say is that Occupy is not effective... and it pisses me off- especially when it's cited as a reason why it's okay that police are violently cracking down on protesters (this was the argument two college students tried to make). A single protest alone does not instantly change a situation, but it does publicly air grievances and bring together people who push changes. We have no other way to show our dissent with the current situation, and we have raised awareness about income inequality. This is a success. Beyond that we are continuing to protest because the situations we are protesting against haven't been corrected. By all measures Occupy and the general protests are exerting pressure on the system with is exactly what we want to do. Political candidates must discuss issues we care about, and have been. Without continued protests we will lose our voice again to the special interests.

It will take a lot of work and a long time to achieve many of the goals mentioned in this article, but continuing protests are the beginning of a process of change for the betterment of the 99%. some of these goals are very achievable- ending the wars, ending drone strikes, repealing Citizens United, Trespass, ACTA, NDAA, and NDRP , and reinstalling Glass/Steagall could all be done by putting increasing pressure on the system. We need to start voting angrily. We need to start pulling people out of office. The more we protest, and the more we show that we can and will fire members of our government who support/are part of the greed culture the faster we will regain control of our country.

Don't sit on the sidelines. Spread the word, and get into the streets. Talk about the issues, and plan marches and rallies. Show the world, and the 1%, that we are the 99% of true Americans and we do not accept greedy rule, we do not the suspension of civil our rights, we will not fight their wars, and we will not see this country disgraced though illegal war-crime policy. Do not turn your back on us while we are facing violent suppression by our government.