FOR STARTERS
Some ideas about changes we the people must demand. We must stand our ground. These items are not and should not be negotiable at all. THe alternatives have already proven to be a massive failure for 99% of the US population. Any system that works only for 1% of its inhabitants is a complete and total FAILURE. It is time, therefore, to throw off this government and start again, just as the Declaration of Independence teaches.
It has to be broken first, before we can fix it. So first we have to tear the rest of this crippled system away:
Remove all currently installed members of Congress
Remove all currently installed members of SCOTUS
Remove the currently installed Executive and staff
During the transitional phase, these individuals will NOT be needed. Each and every proposal shall be voted on by member citizens and not their corrupt, bought-and-paid for "representatives" in congress or the bought-and-paid-for philosopher-king cabal on the high court.
In no particular order, the following federal decrees, prohibitions, pre-emptions, amendments and actions are suggested. Remember, states are soverign and when and where appropriate, suggested changes that can be made on a state by state basis are noted. However, in recognition of the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution, federal authority can be limited and expanded as needed and based upon whether citizens feel certain agenda items should be nationalized in order to ensure uniform application throughout the USA:
INTERNATIONAL POLICIES THAT MUST BE CHANGED:
Join in an international and reciprocal decree that all international debts are forgiven.
Recall troops from Afghanistan and Iraq (may require phased withdrawal)
Other withdrawals and changes to military policy may be made/considered)
Re-ratify the Geneva Conventions and declare the use of torture an abboration to humanity and illegal as a matter of moral, statutory and treaty-based law.
Close concentration camps presently in use by the US military or their privies, associates, agents, advisors, employees, officers, directors or anyone affiliated with their operations, anywhere and everywhere in the world.
Sieze and retool so-called RX-84 FEMA camps located throughout the United States, presently held by military interests, and make them available for use as government assistance centers, and not as concentration camps for the incarceration of US citizens as they were intended to be used.
Repeal and prohibit as an aborration to humanity and all known law since the Code of Hamurabi was handed down, any claim by the Executive, his agents, minions, appointees, representatives, advisors or lackeys, the authority, WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF LAW, to apprehend, hold against their will, imprison, punish, torture, or assassinate, ANY person. As used herein, "due process of law" means all those rights embodied within the 4th-8th Amendments and all common law, interpretive, statutory or other pronouncements in accordance with those amendments, presently afforded US citizens.
Arrest, apprehend and prosecute all persons responsible for War Crimes against Humanity, to be identified via detailed, open and public investigation;
Restore the original name of the Department of Defense (Department of War)
MILITARY RE-THINKING
Decree military waste appropriate for budgeting (more on this at another time)
ARTCILE II REFORM
Congressional terms, number of representatives and Senators and congressional authority and procedure need overhauling in several major areas. This will require much more detailed development.
We can start with this:
Abolish the ability of the Senate to engage in sham filibusters. If a filibuster is called, all Senatorial members must remain present until it is over. The filibuster must be conducted in person; and debate on the matter filibustered held and continued until resolved. This will encourage the reservation and use of the filibuster infrequently and only in and for the most extraordinary reasons.
ELECTION REFORM
De-publish and repeal any and all SCOTUS decisions that decree spending money equals free speech (as that term is used in the 1st Amendment to the Constitution)
De-publish and repeal Citizens United ruling.
Impose federal prohibition against private campaign donations to candidates seeking FEDERAL office by ANYONE
Establish a fund (to be financed with federal tax funds) to finance publicly all elections. Spending limits will be decreed and based upon the office sought. THESE RULES APPLY ONLY TO FEDERAL ELECTIONS.
Require that any electronic means of recording, tallying, counting, holding, maintaining or handling in any way, votes, must meet the following criteria:
1. All such machines must provide paper copies of every vote registered; The copies must be provided (a) to the voter; and (b) maintained in the system for independent verification
2. All equipment, including proprietary software used for any purpose described herein is subject to complete reverse engineering, inspection, testing and, where necessary, retooling, redesigning, refurbishing or rewriting. The federal government will agree to those owners of the proprietary data, non-disclosure of same.
FEDERAL TAXATION
Repeal existing federal tax code.
The following tax scale wiill be applied to all income regardless of source:
Either abolish federal income tax or (if the FST described below is insufficient to fund the SSA, military, Medicare, Parks, Roads structures and Bridges (and other necessary federal agencies to be determined on an ad-hoc basis) then it may be necessary to impose a progressive federal tax on income. If so, the proposed scale for individual humans would be (1) 0-$10k/annual = EXEMPT $10,000.01-20k = 5%; $$20,000.01-$75,000.00= 10%; $75,000.01-2.5M=15%; over $2.5M-$1B-20%; over $1B-25%. So, if you earn $5B, you pay 5% on the first $20k; 10% on the next $750k; 15% on the next 2.5M, etc.
Also or alternatively depending on what becomes of FIT:
Impose progressive scale federal sales tax based purchase price of item
Impose a 35% income tax rate on all corporations doing business in the United States, if residents or corporate citizens thereof.
Non-resident/citizen corporations will be taxed on a pro-rata basis to be determined based on profit margin.
There will be no deductions as to any tax classification. Hardship programs will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
FINANCES, DEBT RELIEF AND BANKING
Repeal the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and all subsequent amendments, modifications, branch legislation, codes, statutes or schemes thereto.
Pre-empt and Nationalize all banks; break them into small enough to fail without destroying the entire world pieces.
Repeal Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2001
Reinstate Glass-Stengal effective immediately; provide federal supervision of division/breakdown/separation of institutions presently in violation of those provisions. These institutions will not be penalized as their organization preceded the reinstatement of GS.
Repeal every piece of legislation relaxing regulations on financial institutions enacted since Reagan
Repeal and withdraw from NAFTA, CAFTA,BAFTA and SHAFTA effective immediately.
Issue federal decree of abstinence as to any and all matters concerning or relating to the purchase, sale or transfer of real property held as State versus Federal land, as those matters are exclusively in rem and to be governed by the laws of the State in which the property is situated.
Pre-empt and impose federal Usury law limiting interest rate to no more than 7.5%.
Impose a nominal tax on each and every single financial transaction that is made on the Dow Jones, any Stock Exchange, commodoties market, etc. The amout of that tax will be determined at a later date.
Impose 75% income tax on every single dollar (or equivalent) that resident corporations off shores money/profits.
Impose 50% income tax on every single corporation, resident or otherwise, that earns profit in the US but off-shores jobs, including entities that have replaced American workers with foreign workers in other lands;
Impose federal minimum wage of $15 per hour NATIONWIDE. Require that any business entity doing business in the Unites States that employs inmate or migrant labor is also subject to the US minimum wage law. The purpose of this requirement is to disincentivize the use of slave or indentured labor.
Decree Equal Pay for Equal Work to apply to all workers, regardless of race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, or age. Violators will be fined the amount that should have been paid to aggreived workers (which amount shall be awarded to same) plus an additional 50% per hour per worker for each and every hour that worker was deprived of their rightful pay. More than 3 violations will result in the jailing of whatever individuals are found and held to be in charge of and responsible for the offending conduct. If found to be the actions of a non-person such as a corporation, the corporation's charter shall be temporarily revoked pending investigation and resolution. Additional fines may be imposed on ad-hoc bases.
Issue immediate and irrevocable relief to all US citizens of all existing mortgage/deed of trust debt, IF AND ONLY IF the debt was originally incurred before 2008. Resident non-citizens may apply for mortgage/DOT amnesty on an ad hoc basis
Repeal the fiat debt-based currency system; offer cash-exchange program, junk dollars for real money backed by gold (see below)
Impose federal prohibition against fractional reserve leding. The US government henceforth will issue precious-metal backed currency and will be the only issuer of its own currency.
Sieze and redistribute on an equal per-capita basis throughout the country to each citizen, a portion of all bank accounts belonging to every and all persons who can be identified as having caused, participated in, served as impetus for, aided, abetted, benefitted from or associated with in any way, the bundling of good and junk assets and reselling as derivatives; the rating of every junk bond or security containing junk assets as AAA; the lending of money to any person under circumstances where the lender knew or should have known that the loan they were offering to the putative borrower would likely default or otherwise not truly be affordable for the borrower. This of course will require concerted and detailed investigations of this, the single biggest fraud ever perpetuated on the world. It is assumed that these monies were unlawfully obtained from the persons who will benefit from said redistribution
Apprehend, prosecute and punish all those individuals and entities responsible for the above.
MEDIA AND BROADCASTING:
Declare internet "bloggers" (see below) included in the press protections extended by the First Amendment to the Constitution and all decisions, rulings, statutory enactments and common law pronouncements thereto. Guidelines defining protected "bloggers" will be developed.
Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and its concomitant Equal Time Amendment
Decree as a matter of federal law and policy pursuant to its public broadcast licensing authority, that all licensees have an obligation to devote at least 15% of their weekly programming to the pubic interest.
Decree as a matter of federal law and policy pursuant to the First Amendment of the Constitution that any public broadcast licensee holder holding itself out as a news organization (whether "fair and balanced" or otherwise) is prohibited from publishing as news, stories that are not factual. Any news organization wishing to report on a subject for which only anonymous source or sources are available, are required to furnish at least one identifiable, verifiable basis for the story. The publication of rumors based on what "some people say" or what "some people heard" is herewith declared not "news" as defined herein. Any such publication must be clearly defined and labeled as "opinion" or "rumor". If such publication is made and identified as news, its publisher will be subject to the immediate repeal of the public broadcasting license issued to it. In such cases, the burden will be on the publisher to establish a good-faith basis for publishing the story, but then, only to appeal and seek reinstatement of its license. We are confident that the preceeding will act as a sufficient deterrent for publishing absolute garbage as "fact" and "news" without imposing a chilling effect on actual "facts" and "news" reporting.
Media ownership by private entities and or individuals shall be limited as follows:
2 radio stations
1 television station, whether affiliate or network
5 publications (whether newspaper, magazine, blog, circular or website*)
see above regaring "bloggers"
These limitations apply to each and every owner, whether individual or entity. Ownership and licensure may not be addative but instead is cumulative. An individual may not double up by taking ownership as an individual and also as an entity or as any part of an entity (owner, investor, officer, director, employee, etc.)
PATRIOT ACT
Repeal and defund PATRIOT ACT in its entirety and along with it any expansion of police power conferred by said act.
MARIJUANA PROHIBITION
Repeal the federal prohibition against cultivation, possession, sale and use of marijuana;
Reclassify marijuana on FDA/DEA Drug Schedule to reflect new standard.
Defund the FDA budget AS IT APPLIES to marijuana prohibition.
Terminate and defund any and all present and ongoing DOJ actions to enforce marijuana prohibition
Decree all persons imprisoned in federal prison USA or its territories for cultivation, possession, sale or use
DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION
Decree the death penalty abolished throughout the land; pronounce all existing capital sentences COMMUTED.
CORPORATIONS ARE JUST BUSINESSES NOT PEOPLE
De-publish ANY federal court decision holding, suggesting (even in dicta) or hypothesizing that corporations are persons (unnatural or otherwise).
Affirmative decree that corporations ARE NOT persons for the following principal reasons (1) corporate veil protects directors and officers and shareholders (aka decision-makers) from liability (unless blatantly criminal and ultra vires); (2) the corporation itself cannot be jailed); (3) so-called natural persons have both privileges and responsibilities, whereas because of (1) and (2) corporations have only privileges. Henceforth, civil and criminal wrongdoing by corporations will be addressed be (1) fine; (2) regulatory mandate or (3) abolition without the opportunity to reorganize under bankruptcy laws
COMMERCE DOES NOT INCLUDE FORCE:
Decree that "Commerce" under Article II Section 10 does not authorize Congress to require, mandate or force any citizen to engage in a commercial transaction of any kind.
PERSONAL PRIVACY
REPEAL FISA and with it, the immunity from prosecution conferred upon big telecommunications for violating the 4th amendment rights and privacy rights of US citizens. The federal authority will also sieze control of that certain room located in or on property owned or controlled by ATT described in news reports as being a central switching, eavesdropping and control center)
Issue federal decree that medical decisions are private matters to be determined solely by doctor and patient. Any person seeking intentionally to interfere or intentionally causing interference with the patient's unfettered access to the health care provider of their choice will be (a) arrested and removed from the premises and (b) fined in an amount to be determined. Any and all persons seeking to assert a first amendment objection to any given medical procedure at or near the situs of where the procedure is to be performed, or information, consultation concerning the procedure provided, will be obliged to stay at least ____ feet away from the facility. All medical procedures, regardless of their nature, are covered by this decree.
MEDICARE FOR ALL
Decree federal pre-emption of health payor position and announce Medicare for all because health care is a human right. Offer phased retraining/placement for displaced members of the private health insurance industry.
Guidelines as to how this program will be expanded; what coverages will be provided and limits thereof, is still to be determined. The basic structure is in place and the goal would be to expand coverage and maximize decision-making between physician and patient with as little third party input as possible. This is to be a pay fund primarily, and a "let's see if you really need this procedure" fund secondarily to avoid waste. Administrative guidelines would be developed to err on the side of approving treatment rather than denying it. But of course, Medicare is a NON PROFIT entity, as the provision of health care in this country and indeed, the world, should be.
PUBLIC HEALTH, GENERAL WELFARE
Prohibit the use of GMO crops in US food products;
Prohibit the use of HFCS in US food products;
Regulate and monitor adverse effects of asperitame, for possible removal from market;
De-publish and repeal SCOTUS' ruling that Aloe Vera plants and their derivative products cannot be used, produced, marketed or sold as remedial or medicinal;
STOP Codex Alimentarius implementation; defund same immediately;
Remove proprietary protections from so-called "patented" crop seeds, spawns, cuttings, or derivatives ONCE planted in the ground. Purchasers of proprietary items described hereinabove shall not be held legally liable to sellers thereof because of cross-pollenation or other such incidental spreading of same. Third parties whose crops become cross-pollenated with the derivative of such proprietary crop seed, spawn, cutting, or product thereof, shall not be held liable to the original seller or the individual who purchased and planted same and from whose planted crops cross-pollenation of the Third Parties' land became possible and/or came to fruition. Intentional acts of theft of the seller's crop seed, spawn, cutting or derivative remains illegal.
Increase budget for Food Safety Administration
Increase budget for Health Administration, including Medicare pay and administration.
Repeal any prohibitions, tarrifs, proscriptions against importing medications from other countries. The US pharmeceutical market needs to become competitive with that in the rest of the world.
Appoint strong progressive leadership to head the Consumer Protection Agency. Immediately increase funding and work with her to develop a strong consumer agenda. Appoint one representative from industry to speak for their respective industries in the event of regulations that are viewed as adverse by those regulated. This is done with the understanding that individual industries may seek specific exemptions, rather than to avoid regulation altogether.
Increase contributions and payouts to and from Social Security by eliminating cap on income. Maybe the wealthy are lucky enough not to need social security but anyone who tells you they don't apply for and collect it is lying. Ask John McCain, who despite having a very good paying job and free health care, also collects disability and social security. He is not alone. But, even if the wealthy do not use Social Security, they don't live in a bubble and they are part of this society. It is in their best interests that their fellow citizens continue to prosper or, in the case of Social Security recipients and dependees, don't die homeless and sick in the streets. Accordingly, everyone in every income bracket will contribute their fair share to Social Security. People who don't like being part of a world where human cooperation is the cornerstone of survival, progress and evolution, can go live on an island.
Establish and fund federal commission and authority to develop alternate energy sources;
Fund US automakers' R&D and PRODUCTION of alternate powered vehicles (bring back my Prius!)
Decree Federal farm subsidies limited to farms earning less than $5M per year.
ADMINISTRATIVE
DISBAND and DEFUND the Department of Homeland Security and disentangle individual agencies (FEMA, etc.) into independent entities as they were originally.
Constitutional Amendments to consider:
Amend 14th amendment to delete reference to "unnatural" persons, as corporate personhood (to the extent it was ever truly recognized by SCOTUS) is REPEALED
Insert into 14th Amendment, sexual orientation and lifestyle as protected classes.
Recommend to all member states that they abandon the practice of issuing marriage licenses and instead issue domestic partnership licenses in their place. Such an objective reference removes any issue as to whether a given state "approves" or "disapproves," "authorizes" or "prohibits" marriage between same gender partners. The state's only authorized role in licensing domestic partnerships is to provide the financial protections being in a licensed relationship, sanctioned by the state laws and constitution, to each partner. The state's interest in whether under any religious creed, dogma, belief or tenat, a same-gender domestic partnership can also be thought of as a marriage, is non-existent, as this is a matter to be left to the clergy, of which the state clearly is not one and from which the state is constitutionally separate.
These are just some basic changes that IMHO must be made before we can progress as a nation. The USA is a failure at providing the means of even mere survival to 99% of its inhabitants.
We are the 99%
The middle class is too big to fail