RESET BUTTON calls for a two phase retaking and clean up of the American political and economic system.
I read through it. I mostly like it. I want to share it with this community. I also think it might be a good document for discussion among those of us in the occupation movement (and that's really all of us isn't it? Whether you're there or not, most of us here are really you're part of this movement). It might serve as a template for further effective action, as this document does not just present ideas but also describes some concrete actions that they believe will move us toward them. There may be real elements of it that can be gleaned for the movement and that's why I posted it.
It starts with a call for Election Reform. Follow me over the squiggle for some details and a link to the website and a detailed document.
It's another leaderless movement. It's got the feel of an almost pure leftist worldview with a little bit of libertarianism thrown in here and there for "flavor". (What can I say the word "sovereignty" sort of freaks me out). It reads like something that would've been written by Bernie Sanders with a few words and sections snuck in by Ron Paul while Bernie stepped away from the computer to go pee. And I mean that in the most flattering way possible.
I'll let you judge for yourself. But to whet your appetite, here's something from the document that you might find interesting.
The Reset Button document is an immediate call to action to all of the citizens of the United States of America, and an urgent call for support from all citizens around the world. This document redefines the role of the American people in self-governance. This document creates a movement which demands specific changes within the operational structure of the United States government, to reverse collusion and return governance of the United States to the people of the United States.
Phase I of The Reset Button is true election reform, which puts the sovereignty over and control of elections into the hands of the citizen electorate – for the first time in the history of our nation. Phase I of The Reset Button calls for one US Constitutional amendment – Amendment XXVIII (Election Reform Amendment) – to be ratified immediately, and one law – the Election Reform Act of 2011 – to be passed immediately, in order for the citizens of the United States to gain sovereignty and democratic rule in the United States of America.
Once Phase I is accomplished, Phase II of The Reset Button outlines major, simultaneous changes in governance, to steer the United States to a course of integrity and away from collusion, to real peace and away from imperialistic and militaristic and predatory behavior, to sovereignty over and control of healthful food, air, water, and healthcare, to a world-changing embracing of non-polluting energy technologies and the accompanying paradigm shift from scarcity to abundance, to a blended ideology of social democracy for our needs and restrained capitalism for our desires beyond our needs, to social, economic, and environmental harmony, benevolence, and justice for all.
So what's first according to them?
The citizens of the United States hereby issue a directive to the joint houses of the US Congress: the immediate ratification of Amendment XXVIII (Election Reform Amendment) and the passage of the Election Reform Act of 2011 – as contained within this document.
Sounds good right? I know what you're thinking. Same thing I thought: Yeah, I'm so sure our elected officials are going to do that!
But check it:
Until this directive of the citizens of the United States is met, in full, this document calls for:
1.a General Strike by all US citizens (a 'stay-at-home strike'),
2.a full boycott of all large corporations,
3.removal of all money from all national and international banks,
4.divestment of all funds in the stock market,
5.paying the minimum amount on credit card bills,
6.a massive movement of US citizens filing legitimate lawsuits against the major financial institutions and major corporations involved in collusion.
Hm. Definitely more interesting to me now. I'm not so sure about a never ending general strike - I'm not sure the country is ready or the movement big enough for that yet but, still, some good ideas here. And why I thought of #OccupyWallStreet when I read it. This can only work if millions of people buy-in.
There's a ton more goodness in the document. And (IMO) a little bit of crazy too. No, I'm affiliated in any any way. A facebook friend posted it to his updates and I found it that way.
So what's Phase II?
Beginning with the passage of legislation to enact the changes outlined in Phase II [sic] of The Reset Button, [we] agree to a period of 20 years, (5 election cycles of four-years), to hold – with only minor tweaking, as necessary – to core components of a transition into a new variant on governance: Social Democracy/Capitalism Unification and Reform. Those core components are outlined herein as Election Reform, Congressional Reform, Banking Reform, Stock Market Reform, Corporate Reform, Tax Reform, Energy Reform, Medical & Pharmacology Reform, Health Care Reform, Food, Water, and Air Sovereignty Reform, Education Reform, Agricultural and Ranching Reform, Mass Media Reform, Judicial and Penal System Reform, Military Reform, Intelligence Reform, Security Reform, and Labor Reform.
As I said, it's an interesting document, often a fun read and a real solid attempt to outline some deep systemic problems (about 20 pages), set a course for fixing them and about 45 or so pages detailing some very specific provisions and ideas for exactly what "fixing them" means. It does get into the weeds. But I like the specificity even if I don't agree 100% with all of it. The Tax Reform section is a bit "much" for my socialist ears but hey, what the heck. I'd need to crunch the numbers to see if it's as wacky as my jerking knee suggests. And the "position" on 9/11 is...[ahem]...out there...but the actions called for in "Security Reform" are dead on.
Here's the link to the PDF.
And for those who don't want to (or can't) open the PDF here's a link to an HTML page with a bullet-list version of the document on it. Way shorter than the PDF. And again, I'll say it's got some stuff I totally agree with in it and some stuff I think is - sort of funny. But so what. I think it's a nice framework for discussion and possibly for action planning. And that's what we do here. Discuss. And act.
So I'll leave you with this rather salient thought from the longer Reset Button document:
“Divide and conquer!” had been a tactic used by the controllers of society against the people of the society for thousands of years, and is just as effective today as ever. There are tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of US citizens that recognize that there are major problems that need to be addressed. People with good hearts, full of passion and compassion, try to attack and solve some of the problems. Some of these passionate, compassionate people attempt to juggle many issues at once, and divide their time between several issues that they feel are most critical.
Some of these passionate, compassionate people attempt to pick one major issue, such as ending wars, protecting the environment, trying to get true health care reform, trying to stop the genetically modified food takeover, reducing the size of the government, protecting worker's rights, changing the education system, … and the list goes on and on … and they dedicate their time, money, and efforts to the problem they feel most strongly about. The controllers of our society don't need to divide us; we have divided ourselves.
We now know that dividing our energies does not work, so we regroup and recognize that none of the major problems will be solved until we succeed in gaining sovereignty and self-governance. With clarity, we realize that Phase I of The Reset Button – the immediate ratification of Amendment XXVIII (Election Reform Amendment) and the passage of the Election Reform Act of 2011 – is the only thing that will succeed in gaining sovereignty and self-governance. It will succeed by our united efforts, we will have a clean slate, and then we can move on to all of the other issues listed in Phase II of The Reset Button, and beyond.
Take some time to read the doc (the PDF really is a nice read) and comment on it. What do you think of it?