While the Occupy movement has boldly championed what it wants to change in our world, there has been little focus on how to get there. To me, the only way to achieve these goals is to provide a supermajority in both the House and Senate to complement a second Obama term. That should be our focus in 2012. Once that is accomplished we can continue to think big.
But where do we then go if we've succeeded? My hope is that we point our nation (and its tax codes) towards a reform based on the first step towards socio-capitalism, an idea that I came up with in a short story I wrote in 2006. That tale was set in 2022 in a 7th grade classroom, as a teacher and his class look back on the origins of "Re-Independence Day." In that future socio-capitalism was the result of America and its corporate overthrow taking us to our rock bottom.
In the five years since I wrote that, the need for socio-capitalism has become even greater. Monopoly capitalism and its corporate control of our government, aided by the GOP's domination of the media, are bringing us now to the rock bottom which I had originally thought would take place during the Bush administration. I had no idea how much worse things could get, how much deeper into third-world status we’d plummet. In 2006 the economy still seemed sturdy; there hadn’t been the 2008 collapse thanks to banksters gaming the system to syphon away our futures by stealing the equity of our homes.
It's time to look at how my fantasy can become our country's reality. Please read my "Optimist's Manifesto" and see if this pathway to a better future rings true to you. And if it does, then please help me find ways to make it happen. I would welcome any suggestions here, or at http://miniprotests.com and its forum.
I can’t avoid the fact that my solutions are a thoroughly self-indulgent way to get there. I’m providing a myriad of my own ideas as the stepping stones to this possible future. The odd part is that all these things are doable, if enough people within the progressive media, the Occupy movement, and progressive activism organizations get on board.
So here is the massively condensed version of my Optimist's Manifesto and how it will lead to the kind of America that can survive another century:
Stage 1: Harnessing the progressive surge through information
-The miniprotesting concept gets viral around the nation, starting with advance actions for Occupy the Courts Jan. 20. Miniprotests are made up of three small groups of four spread out over three consecutive street corners. Each group within this "protest string" has someone in its center holding a 30" x 40" main sign at waist level. The three folks around each central miniprotester hold traditional signs overhead. That way the focus of passing motorists will be on the three main signs at eye level which provide a running message like the old Berma Shave rural roadside ads. This format allows a few seconds (or minutes if traffic is really bad) for folks to digest each part of the message before they see the next. Here's a sample main sign inscription set:
Corner #1: Seen Many Jobs Created by Billionaire Tax Breaks?
Corner #2: GOP “Job Creators” Myth Just Empty Rhetoric, Slogan to Justify Inequity
Corner #3: See Through the Republican Facade. GOP = Greedy One Percent
-"9 for a Spine" is adopted by progressive organizations, prompting millions to make donations to candidates that end with a nine as a universal thank you for showing a spine and doing the right thing in congress. Although most recipients are Dems, some Republicans see the same results when they stand against party leadership. Pavlovian prodding produces tangible results, and even some within the GOP see that corporate cash is not the only means of self-preservation.
-Progressive candidates around the nation sign on to the Fair America Platform (found at http://miniprotests.com/...) and gain political steam from its "1000 Families" new top tax tier, its mandate for public funding for all state and federal elected offices, and its push to restore the Glass-Steagall Act
-Nationwide miniprotests spotlight the difference between true conservatives and the CORPservatives running the country. Things like supporting the Ryan Budget, blocking implementation of the Consumer Protection Agency, and war funding become universally understood as preference for the needs of the 1% over the 99%. The miniprotesting main sign: "Ask Yourself: 'Who are the GOP Looking Out For, CEOs or Average Joes?'" finally helps tip the scales. Here's a sample main sign inscription set:
Corner #1: True Conservatives Should Be Appalled by Today’s CORPservative 1% Agenda
Corner #2: GOP Willing to Sacrifice Medicare to Preserve Oil Subsidies, Offshore Tax Havens
Corner #3: Republicans, Take Back Your Party From the Pious With a Corporate Bias or Go Independent
-On a localized basis, miniprotests in every single state pin support for the Ryan Budget and the Medicare voucher plan on every single Republican seeking reelection, and also remind voters of their hypocrisy in how they react to their support of Bush's spending frenzy.
-The Occupy movement gains momentum, working on three fronts: 1) implement local change including convincing towns to divest in holdings with the Big 5 banks; 2) targeting political and corporate events with protests; 3) keeping the nation's eyes on the prize that progressive changes can bring as the ideas congeal on how to rebalance the scales between the 1% and the 99%
Stage 2: As the tide changes, the country sees its new potential future
-With DLC Dems on the run in their primaries, the power in the Democratic party shifts to those embracing the Fair America Platform
-The inaction of Eric Holder in maintaining economic justice becomes a sticking point for the Obama campaign, and Holder resigns. The new AG Russ Feingold goes headlong after corruption, corporate and banking malfeasance, and the blurring of the separation of church and state.
-Perhaps with an eye to this new pressure, megachurches re-embrace their "live and let live" roots, and a primary tool for hate is silenced as the 99% understand more and more of the sources of their plight. Churches gain popularity as they rail against the evils of greed that have victimized their flocks.
-Corporations try to adapt to the shift, recreating their pasts. The successful ones, though, see the marketing potential of latching onto supporting progressive programming. Just like the in the '60s when Madison Avenue embraced the hippie counterculture and made money off it, corporations new and old will fall all over themselves to climb onto this new populist bandwagon.
-Also seeing the loyalty within this tide of change, either Comcast or a new owner of NBC will see the market share advantages of telling the truth. When actual journalism returns to the mainstream airwaves, the impending joy of liberal control of our government becomes more tangible.
-The stain of the tea party allegiance will bring down the freshman representatives in their primaries
-Romney becomes the GOP nominee with little fanfare and less enthusiasm from the shrinking base. Miniprotests throughout the nation will highlight his flip-flopping and the myriad of connections to the 1%. Corporate money will no longer head his way, seeing it as a lost cause and a poor investment. Money will instead go to the Dems nationwide in the hopes of maintaining coercion, but with the 99% mantra in full swing, no strings can effectively be attached to that cash.
Stage 3: Unleashing the progressive agenda
-An Obama landslide gives the president a push to the left
-With a Democratic supermajority in the House and Senate, the specter of the filibuster is laid to rest for now. Bills left in the wings for months now see daylight, and the GOP can only grumble as the K Street cash dries up.
-AG Feingold reopens the Valerie Plame case, and Dick Cheney and Karl Rove finally see that treason indictments lay ahead. Treason rumblings also rise for John Yoo, the attorney behind the torture memos. All of these things draw ecstatic praise worldwide, and Obama and the Dems get the sense that progressive changes implemented quickly will turn the economy around if fair taxation is part of the fuel. The death of the Bush-era GOP becomes a certainty as a healing nation thrives.
-New jobs (loosely based on Jeremy Rifkin's push for solar energy on all structures) are created as solar panels go up on buildings everywhere, and in-house storage of gathered electricity becomes the norm.
-All industries face new tough standards of regulation, creating new industries as these new standards have to be met. With the return of Glass-Steagall, the banking world loses its king-maker status and consumer protection mandates require that commercial banks have only one way to make money: loan some out. They do, and small businesses flourish.
-As a single-payer health care future becomes inevitable, competition returns to providers.
-Parts of the Fair America Platform are introduced to Congress. They happen in a specific order so congressmen and women know up front that they won't have to face corporate cash ever again. Here's the flow:
1) All funding for state and national elected offices becomes public
2) A constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling ends forever the concept of money being speech in the political arena.
3) All PACs must be completely transparent, and subject to a "malpractice" standard that, if breached, can result in their decertification.
With the foreboding presence of corporate domination no longer in play in politics through lobbying and back-door funding, congress no longer has to spend 30% of its time fundraising. Things can get done, and congressmen of both genders have time to be with their constituents and feel the love of this new beginning. Encouraged and unbridled, the progressive agenda goes full steam ahead.
4) The "1000 Families" new top tax tier quickly becomes law. Corporate offshore tax loopholes are closed. Oil and mega-farm subsidies are ended.
5) Tarifs on foreign goods are reintroduced. Walmart complains, but Main Street rejoices.
6) Tax benefits for bringing the manufacturing workforce home to America give us a sense of long-term hope for our future
7) New tax revenue brings a new surge of infrastructure investment
-Justice Thomas is impeached for not recusing himself in the Citizens United decision despite the fact that his wife was being paid under the table by entities that would benefit from the judgement. Justices Roberts and Alito face similar heat for their roles as "activist judges" despite promising in their confirmation hearings that they would value precedents in their decisions.
-As all these new ideas and laws show continuing success, the egalitarian side of the Democratic party realizes that they have the power to do even more. The concept of socio-capitalism begins to form, which uses the greed of CEOs to benefit society. It's done through the tax codes for the businesses and salary caps for the CEOs. The tax code is remade so that companies that have the most benevolent "social footprint" can get their tax rates down to 14%, while those that retain business as usual have their taxes max out at 38%. What determines which end of the spectrum they fall on is the SPI: Society Partner Index. Also, maximum CEO pay is capped at $8 million for those corporations that do little to benefit society, while the CEO pay for companies that are industry leaders in giving back to society can be $40 million. Companies brace themselves for a race to the top instead of the bottom in business practices.
-Global climate change is aggressively addressed, creating new businesses.
Stage 4: Reaping the rewards
-A prospering America is no longer dependent on any other nation for manufacturing and energy
-The global energy infrastructure, based locally through the model of co-creation rather than via power companies, becomes a reality. Communities share the energy they create through solar panels.
-Fossil fuels are reduced to less than 10% of the world's energy use
-Socio-capitalism is embraced throughout the world. Huge corporations become a force for good, a model to be looked up to, as they reinvent themselves and compete to be the best Society Partners. Europe, already leaning in this direction before the socio-capitalism model defined the direction of their future, becomes an even more vibrant force in the world economy.
-The third world enjoys the next wave of benevolent investment, as the last of the proto-fascist leaders fall (or are taken) from power
-Fox News dies a humbling death
-The generation coming of age now takes us to new heights as a planet, no longer held back by the giant sucking sound that was corporate America pulling all the money, and hope, towards their portfolios (thanks to Ross Perot for that line).
-The kindness, inclusion, and creativity of a remade America return our species to the proper path of our evolution. And with sober dedication to our planet's needs, and those of the human race under the weight of its numbers, this century becomes a foundation for extending our stay on Earth well beyond the two or three decades that the GOP seemed hell bent on subjecting us to.
I like that world. Let's start making it happen. And miniprotesting, "9 for a Spine," and the Fair America Platform can start the ball rolling if given a push. Please take a moment to contemplate how this all could steer us towards the future we need and deserve.