A Declaration, Petition for the Redress of Grievances and Action Plan
WHEREAS THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION PROVIDES:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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.
I. Election of Delegates:
The People, consisting of all United States citizens who have reached the age of 18, regardless of party affiliation and voter registration status, shall elect Two Delegates, one male and one female, by direct vote, from each of the existing 435 Congressional Districts to represent the People at the NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY in Philadelphia convening on July 4, 2012. The office of Delegate shall be open to all United States citizens who have reached the age of 18. Executive Committees, elected by local General Assemblies from all over the United States, shall organize, coordinate and fund this national election by direct democratic voting. The Executive Committees shall operate similarly to the original Committees of Correspondence during the first American Revolution.
II. Meeting of the National General Assembly and Deliberation:
At the NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY, the 870 Delegates shall set forth, consider and vote upon a PETITION OF GRIEVANCES to be submitted to all members of Congress, The Supreme Court and President and each of the political candidates running in the nationwide Congressional and Presidential election in November 2012.
III. Proposed Petition for the Redress of Grievances:
This PETITION OF GRIEVANCES shall be non-partisan and address the critical issues now confronting the People of the United States and will be deliberated and voted upon by the 870 Delegates in consultation with the 99%.
The final version of the PETITION OF GRIEVANCES voted upon by the Delegates of the National General Assembly MAY or MAY NOT include the following issues:
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 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 of the outrageous and anti-democratic holding in the “Citizens United” case by the Supreme Court, which equates the payment of money by corporations to politicians with free speech.
3. Prohibiting all public officials and their immediate family members, whether elected or appointed from EVER being employed by any corporation they regulate while in office 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 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 who 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.
6. Medicare for all American citizens adjusted by a means test (i.e. citizens who can afford it will opt-out of Medicare and pay their own health insurance or opt-in and pay a means tested Medicare 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 Medicare-for-all.
7. New comprehensive regulations to give the Environmental Protection Agency the power to shut down corporations, businesses or another entity that intentionally damages the environment and/or criminally prosecute individuals who intentionally damage the environment. Immediate adoption of the most recent international protocols to cap carbon emissions and new goals to transition away from fossil fuels to reusable or carbon neutral sources of power as soon as possible.
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.
9. Passage of a comprehensive job and job-training bill to employ our citizens in jobs that are available with specialized training and by putting People to work tomorrow by repairing America’s crumbling infrastructure. 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 reduced using a corporate tax surcharge and by extending the age to collect social security from 65 to 70.
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 come and work in our industries and schools.
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, 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.
14. Subject to the elimination of corporate tax loopholes and exploited exemptions and deductions stated above, offering tax incentives to businesses to reconstruct the manufacturing capacity of the United States and reinstitution of the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps and other emergency governmental agencies required to create new public works projects to provide jobs to the 46 million People living in poverty, the 9.1% unemployed and 10% underemployed.
15. Implementing immediate legislation to encourage China and our other trading partners to end currency manipulation or impose a consumption tax on goods that those countries export to the United States calculated by comparing the fair market value of the currency to the manipulated valuation.
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 President Clinton’s plan 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 the these debt at 1% or less to be managed by the newly established Consumer Protection Agency 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 determine, on a case by case basis, whether foreclosure proceedings should continue based on the circumstances of each homeowner.
19. Subject to the above ban on money and gifts in politics, 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, shortening the campaign season and allow voting on weekends and holidays. Voting must be accessible to all citizens for democracy to work.
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.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that IF the PETITION OF GRIEVANCES approved by the 870 Delegates of the NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY in consultation with the PEOPLE, are not acted upon and implemented to the satisfaction of the Delegates of the NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY after presentment of the PETITION OF GRIEVANCES to the government, said Delegates shall begin to organize a THIRD, COMPLETELY NON-PARTISAN INDEPENDENT POLITICAL PARTY to run candidates for every seat in the mid-term election of 2014.
Email us with your ideas for this declaration and petition at: The99Declaration@gmail.com
Elizabeth Woodworth
betsylangert
bobkoehler
CasaZaza
coto2admin
cz85b
Denis Rancourt
geobear7
HeartThinks
jerseyg
laudyms
Mr. M
Michael Collins
ozspeaksup
Puddy Dunne
Rady
slindauer2010
Megan 'Verb' Kargher
tomdegan
volaar
COTO Report 
Pingback: Declaration of the Occupation of New York City | COTO Report
They really haven’t done anything yet other than put their gestapo on the demonstrators. This isn’t the end of the beginning, this is only the start, the battles haven’t even begun. This reminds me of the first battle of the Civil War at Fort Summter where everyone came out in all their regalia to watch the battle unfold like it was some carny show only in their sheer horror to be overrun by the Southerners. Not everyone is with us as the first posting points out by example. Some of us have listened to slams from MSM on our front runners like Chris Hedges and others by who should be unbiased in their reporting. These people are far from powerless and ready for this, they won’t give it up easy. This could go many ways, there’s nothing that can predict the outcome. It’s time to choose where you stand. I know for a fact, I’d rather not live in the world they’re preparing for us. Living a life in abject fear and servitude to a heartless master that views you as no more than a beast of burden is not a life worth living.
More nonsense. If you don’t act before Selction Day 2011 your movement is superceded by history. The issue is that you simply cannot expect criminals to negotiate the crime. There is no peaceful redress possible. In fine, 600 trillion in derivatives are outstanding and held by 4 large banks. The economic collapse will come and the activists will face a choice that is stark and real: fight for freedom starve as the 1% laugh. You do not have the luxury of waiting until July. Nor do you have the luxury of forming a 3d party. In fact if you form a political party it is superceded by voting machines that count the vote. The system can absorb your dissent with a combination of calculated repression and media hype. The system could not survive your refusal to participate. Join the bank run, create community currency.
All of the above will happen anyway, But the meme is evolving.
“Versatile means I can change with ease from one thing to another”
To see the most recent updates to the working group’s work product, please go to https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/
Unfortunately, The Ferrengi are running the starship Enterprise and the Federation. They’re scabs on the manifestation of the creation as we live it. We’re the antibodies, here’s to hoping this isn’t the beginning of a fatal cytokine storm.
These are NOT the list of demands from OWS. There is NO official list of demands. The movement is leaderless and the message is that it is time for the people to stand up and demand an end to the criminality, corruption and crony capitalism found in our present system of government to the detriment and destruction of the American people.
They support no political party nor will they be co-opted by any political party or ideology. Please be aware that this OWS Working Group is separate and connected in no way to Occupy Wall Street. This is the offical website for OWS… .occupywallstreet.org.
Please be aware that there are many political and corporate entities ready to co-opt this people’s movement. Let’s not allow that to happen.
I am with Bruce Stegiel “In fact if you form a political party it is superceded by voting machines that count the vote. The system can absorb your dissent with a combination of calculated repression and media hype. The system could not survive your refusal to participate. Join the bank run, create community currency.”
The system, as it is configured, thrives because we give it legitimacy whenever we go out to vote… Never mind the Stalinist voting machines which, evidence states, have been rigged to count in a certain way. We all need to stop participating. Frankly, I am leaving as soon as I am able, and I will be living off grid eating foot that I grow myself, and I will be bartering for those things I do not make myself, and trading in silver and copper.
This country is not coming back from this, and until the power implodes, the best place to be is as far away from the self destruction as one can take him/herself.
“In fact if you form a political party it is superceded by voting machines that count the vote. The system can absorb your dissent with a combination of calculated repression and media hype. The system could not survive your refusal to participate. Join the bank run, create community currency.”
I agree. But I think doing both.. raising our voices in protest as we slowly withdraw ourselves, as OWS is encouraging people to do, is the key to deflating the power of the global fascist corporate state.
This Working Group with their declaration is just more of the same and is not what the rebellion is about.
With its rows of razor-sharp teeth and predatory instinct, the Wall Street financial pike rarely meets its match in the water world. They are adept at pouncing on fellow billionaire fish and have been known to eat corporate voles and even entire nations as ducklings.
But whether it was over-confidence, desperation or just sheer greed, the Moby Dick sized Wall Street GMO pike decided to gulp down a huge carp – planet Earth-and died trying. The carp, despite vehement protest, was slashed and sent down towards the fish gullet by the razor sharp teeth where it stuck in the throat of the predator.
OK — here is the true story of the 99 Percent Declaration.
The 99 Percent Declaration is a fraud. In fact, it has nothing to do with Occupy Wall Street.
Two guys from the Zuccotti Park occupation’s Demands Working Group went rogue after this very document, of their own design, failed to reach nine-tenths consensus, required for approval, during two successive working group meetings. On their own, these two men contacted, or were contacted by, Meredith Hoffman from the New York Times. Hoffman later wrote this story about them:
The headline describes the Zuccotti occupation as “trying to settle on demands”, and the story would have you believe that the 99 Percent Declaration’s writers, David Haack and Sean Redden, are leading participants in the Demands Working Group. Unfortunately, this document has nothing to do with the Zuccotti occupation, and the Times, knowing this, went to press with the story anyway. The Times’ story didn’t mention the document itself, but Haack and Redden hoped that Hoffman would represent it as the work of Occupy Wall Street.
The Demands Working Group WAS empowered by the Zuccotti General Assembly (the open, nine-tenths-consensus-based forum in which participants make decisions every night of the week) to work towards creating a list of demands. Haack and Redden introduced the above document, entitled “The 99 Percent Declaration”, to this working group. The first meeting at which it was brought for consideration ended without the working group reaching consensus on the document. The second meeting ended with 4 blocks to consensus, which means that 4 members of the working group blocked its approval by the Working Group (that is an overwhelming number, though I don’t know the number of people attending the meetings). A New York Times photographer attended this meeting, and despite the other members of the Demands Working Group reaching consensus on asking him to leave, Haack and Redden insisted that he could take photographs of them, telling him the group ran on 2/3rds majority rule and that the measure had passed.
All of this is besides the fact that even had the Demands Working Group reached consensus on Haack and Redden’s document, its next and non-negotiable step towards approval by Occupy Wall Street would have been to propose its adoption by the Zuccotti Park General Assembly. There, it would have had to been approved by nine-tenths consensus.
It is further impossible to imagine that, had the 99 Percent Declaration not been blocked by the Demands Working Group, and had it been presented to the Zuccotti GA, it would have reached nine-tenths consensus the first time it was proposed. It would have undoubtedly gone back to the Demands Working Group for further revision and — based on its language and proposals — probably would first have been workshopped by a wider group of people than the Demands Working Group itself.
All of this is information gathered during attendance at Zuccotti Park during the past week, including and particularly the 7pm General Assemblies. I’m not sure the minutes for the relevant day are on Occupy’s website just yet, but you can check my livetweets of the General Assembly for documentation. The point is: the odds are quite low that this document, given its creators’ relationship to Occupy Wall Street, will or would ever be approved by the Demands Working Group or the Zuccotti Park General Assembly.
The irony is, the Constitutional Convention that Haack and Redden’s document proposes would involve many occupations around the country. The wording of the document speaks for all of these occupations and for other participants in Occupy Wall Street all over the United States, and notably ignoring those in other countries. As such, the only conceivable Occupy Wall Street decision-making body that could ever be empowered to approve and enact the document as worded is the very Constitutional Convention the document proposes. Sorry, guys.
@diceytroop
Oh, and I forgot to mention: On October 16th, immediately before the article was published, the Zuccotti Park General Assembly was made aware of these events and consensed, with no blocks, upon composing a statement emphasizing that anything that hasn’t been “presented to and consensed upon” by the Zuccotti Park GA does not represent the Occupation of Wall Street in Zuccotti Park.
This is a little “putting the horse before the cart” like you said, as while I agree with most points mentioned in the “Declaration”, it would and should be the delegates at the convention that determine whether or not to accept this as written or write their own. As I truly don’t believe either party will ever accept these terms, they have too much to lose, I would like to see a third party or maybe push our own independent canidates to run as “independents” or infiltrate one of the existing parties. This movement is still in it’s fledgling stages and has a long way to go before any of this will be determined. Love the idea of meeting in Philadelphia for a convention though. I’m in Northern CA and this movement is gaining momentum by the moment. I’d definately make the trip there and I know many other’s here would as well.
DRAFTING A NEW CONSTITUTION: Calling all Americans, YOUR INPUT REQUIRED!
I am planning to launch what I consider to be A MASSIVE undertaking- which absolutely MUST be done.
WE THE PEOPLE,
Must take it upon ourselves to re-write the Constitution of the United States.
I (personally) feel that the original should serve as a sort of framework, and it will certainly be referenced and criticized where it is appropriate.
The Goal: is to have EVERY American citizen both take part in drafting the document, and have the responsibility for approving of the document ONLY when it satisfies their expectations.
We shall then submit the new Constitution of the United States to our state legislatures for ratification- under the condition that ratification automatically be put to a popular vote, should the legislature fail or refuse to ratify it.
We will of course have to determine what the conditions are for ratification of the states to be considered successful- whether it require all 50 states to become law, or if some percentage (like 38/50 or something) be enough representation to declare success.
Should the states decide to ratify a new constitution, the existing federal government shall be immediately dissolved, and the processes by which new representatives are elected shall begin. Should any members of the former government NOT comply peacefully with the demands of the states, and the people- then the people must forcibly remove them. Any act of violence committed against the people shall be considered an act of treason….
TO BE CONTINUED…
the very thing that you seek, should can and will come to be… just not the way you are seeing it. this will not be done in months or even years… possibly several decades.
by the time this happens there will be nothing left worth fighting for. the elite will see to this. they do not care if we all suffer and die. they can always get more workers elsewhere. i wish you all the very best . goodluck and godspeed. peace
Interesting to see the debate here. I think the ideas in this declaration are brilliant and right on. As for whether or not we can make this happen with two criminal parties in our legislature, remains an open, and somewhat irrelevant question, in my humble opinion. The movement needs a framework and solutions — that’s what I appreciate about this document.
How to get there? build a huge, peaceful, non-violent movement. There is no other way to win. But we also have to build the infrastructure, so our movement is not co-opted. This means, building trust, leadership, leadership-appreciation and accountability into the movement.
Thank you everyone for your hard work!!!
You are already controlled and co-opted. While you Occupy Wall Street-In an ominous sign for the economy, Bank of America, in an attempt to protect itself from its toxic assets, recently moved $75 trillion (with a “t”) in derivatives from its non-federally-protected Merrill Lynch securities unit to a subsidiary insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC). By doing so, BofA has positioned the FDIC to be the fall guy if the derivatives shift causes the subsidiary to fail, which would then require the federal agency to step in and save the day. The situation is disturbingly similar to that the one that led to the financial crisis just three years ago.
Tell me children who listen to the piper, what can you do? How can you alter the course of history-which is to implode the economies of the world to seize total power for a Global Order we can only see hints regarding? You are not revolutionary, you are liberal protestors drunk on HOPIUM and made for TV movies.
Gotta start somewhere. It took Vietnam 70 years to throw the bums out ending with the U.S. That was the first fall from pseudo grace. This could culminate quickly or drag for generations where none of us will see it in our lifetime and get gory. Time will tell, don’t throw the baby in the fire because you think it’s hokey.
We are walking upon a hero’s journey. Every one of us will walk this path, sometimes with others but in the deepest sense, we walk it alone. It requires a heart that is in equal parts courage and love. It requires facing insurmountable obstacles with undaunted purpose. It requires a willingness to sacrifice all for those we love. And it requires that we are fully present in our own free will, in our own sovereign identity, for that is the difference between being a hero and a manipulated pawn.
Each one of us is being called upon to evaluate the state of our nation, maneuvered into insurmountable debt, its government corrupted and corporatized. We are awakening to the deceptions that have shaped our decisions in the past and steer us still toward a predictable peril. We are increasingly aware of the provocateurs in our midst who sensationalize the news or hurl the first rock at a protest march. We can see the ever more militarized police forming lines between our frustration and our all too predictable folly. Whether it will be the sacrificing of our constitutionally guaranteed rights at a Constitutional Convention or our imprisonment as radical extremists, we can see the writing on the FEMA facility walls. We are walking into a trap.
At risk are the people we love and our ability to care for them. At risk are our natural rights, systematically ignored by the government which was formed to protect them. At risk is our soul as a nation, already so wounded and almost beyond recognition.
For too long, we have been silent, busy with our distractions, drowning in our own dissonance. But others have been eager to speak on our behalf and make decisions that have not served anyone’s best interest.
Central banking and the Federal Reserve System serve the elites and the ruling class. Corporate corrupted Capitalism, like Fascism or Communism is by any name the power of the few over the interests of the many. The individual exists only to serve the collective good. Wealth is sparingly distributed among the people to guarantee debt and a meager existence for most while granting unlimited power and wealth to a few.
The Military Industrial Complex has made a profitable business of making war, endless war, with chemicals in warheads that have contaminated embattled lands on nearly every continent. Our soldiers’ souls are ripped apart by the inhumanity of war and their bodies bear the toxic residue of American made chemicals and depleted uranium which is the truly substantive product of nuclear power plants.
The chemical model of corporate agriculture is imposed on this nation’s farmers with unrealistic promises. GMOs, including cross-species modifications were deemed not substantially different from nature and foisted on the public with approval from the EPA. The pharmaceutical industry dictates legislation to mandate the use of their products. Even our organic farms are being sprayed with Geo-Engineering chemical which will contaminate the land and our water supply. Our well being and the health of our land have been sacrificed for the monopolization of industrial wealth.
Our relationship to the land, to our environment, and our ability to heal ourselves and the land from industrial pollution was redefined by others to global governance standards and is being strategically stolen from us as surely as our own government had stolen this land from the Indigenous Tribes. Our participation in the decision making is after the fact and facilitated by predetermined consensus manufacturing. The language of sustainability is in fact the legalese of global land control.
It is ironic that the voice of Mother Nature is as co-opted as our own. We have let her down, as well as ourselves and those we love. We have stumbled, we have made mistakes, but we see things with much more clarity now. We can only heal ourselves, our loved ones, our lands and our economy by taking back our power and living up to our responsibilities.
As we find ourselves seemingly surrounded by corruption, we have to realize that we are at an advantage. We know the trap of current events would steer our frustration into a predictable course where we would be further denied our natural rights as people and individuals. We know the historical power of the few over the many, whether religious, social, economic or political in doctrine. We recognize the eagerness of voices who would give away our sovereignty to stabilize the economy as an easy fix that would ensnare us in collective dependence. But the advantage is ours because corruption will no longer work as a model for power. We are seeing the death throes of a desperate, dying animal.
It is only the sovereignty of the individual and dynamic balance of each individual with the larger group that will keep our society in balance. It is only by looking within ourselves as individuals, that we fully comprehend our relationship to spirit and to creation, to our mortal family and to our future. Our government, our culture, our economy and our relationships all deserve the full awareness of our individual consciousness, our sovereignty and respect.
We must think and speak for ourselves. No organization or manufactured grassroots movement can speak on our behalf. We each have a voice and a conscience. We must each be the hero of our own journey. Then and only then, will we successfully be the heroes of our freedom, and the healers of our land.
Marie Oliver
Bravo Marie; Very aptly phrased. The two things that stand in our way to being connected to that which yearns to speak to us, fear and ego. Fear is the control mechanism, ego is the mechanism that has instilled it in place to keep us from rising to resonance with the great All. This is a time like no other, it’s out of hardship that we come to realization, this is rippling through our greater humanity and is connecting us all to ourselves.
One thing all here should know, the declaration that the article refers to has not, to my knowledge, been ratified by consensus by the General Assembly. It has ideas I like, but not necessarily liked by all.
For a better look at what OWS is for, follow this link: http://www.nycga.net/resources/declaration/
This declaration HAS been ratified by consensus.
Lovely. Absolutely fabulous. Let me say this: some two thousand years ago a moral teacher in a small backwater province of Rome allegedly preached and was crucified. The edifice of the modern West was raised up on these moral teachings. At one point there was even a concept that warfare ought to be limited between belligerents. In any case, despite all this, we are here today faced with a new Rome with thermonuclear weapons, nerve gas, pepper spray, and an entire arsenal ready to be used in the war of the classes. Ladies and gentlemen, do you have to hear another 2,000 years of preaching before it makes sense? William Blake observed that there is a class of men whose whole delight is in destroying. OWS created by George Soros financed foundations is set up for failure. It has a role of course in shattering a certain sort of governance structure, but alas, that which comes after the shattering is not to be better than that shattered thing. I suppose with the absence of history on the smart phones and laptops few occupiers are aware of the Boxer Rebellion. Even fewer i surmise are aware that in 1871 your Republic beame a corporation.
By insisting on your non-existent rights you set yourselves up as a crowd in the street ready for the slaughter. History is not kind to crowds, States dislike them, populations fear their disturbance of public order, and their intervention in the political process accomplishes misery. Recent history shows this in the Bolshevik revolution and the National Socialist one. If you have the power drop out of the system and boycott the system-after all, all you are doing now is playing Burning Man. The collapse of the global economy proceeds rapidly and no one cares that you dislike it. Ask the technocrats if they are concerned that your voices are raised and in between sips of champagne and gorging on cutlets of fine veal the answer will be that your voices are whispers in a howling wind. Your interests are less interesting to them than the amassing of money and power.
Heavy Bruce, that was good.
The United States Isn’t a Country — It’s a Corporation!
The Act of 1871 was passed at a vulnerable time in America. Our nation … In essence, this Act formed the corporation known as THE UNITED STATES. Note the …
http://www.serendipity.li/jsmill/us_corporation.htm
Collective narcissism is characterized by the members of a group holding an inflated view of their ingroup.[1] It is important to note that collective narcissism can be exhibited by an individual on behalf of a group or by a group as a whole.[1] Fundamentally, however, collective narcissism always has some tie to the individuals who make up a narcissistic group.[1] Collectively narcissistic groups require—just as an individual narcissist requires—external validation.[9] Organizations and groups who exhibit this behavior typically try to protect their identities through rewarding group-building behavior–positive reinforcement.[9] According to Golec de Zavala, collective is an alternative form of narcissism, not altogether connected to individual, where most characteristics of individual narcissism apply, but are manipulated to include the word “group” where “self” might be found. Golec de Zavala states some parallels between individual and collective narcissism:
Individual/Collective Narcissism Equivalencies
I wish people would recognize my authority/ I wish other people would recognize the authority of my group
I have natural talent for influencing people/ My group has all predispositions to influence others
If I ruled the world it would be a much better place /If my group ruled the world it would be a much better place
I am an extraordinary person/ My group is extraordinary
I like to be the center of attention/ I like when my group is the center of attention
I will never be satisfied until I get what I deserve/ I will never be satisfied until my group gets all that it deserves
I insist upon getting the respect that is due to me/ I insist upon my group getting the respect that is due to it
I want to amount to something in the eyes of the world/ I want my group to amount to something in the eyes of the world
People never give me enough recognition for the things I’ve done/ Not many people seem to understand the full importance of my group
I also think that this poem by Yeats helps bring forward a certain mood of our times. The poem is aptly enough The Second Coming.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert.
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
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