Forum Post: Coherent demands, a proposed set, item 4

A lot of people complain that OWS isn't focused enough and lacks a set of coherent demands.

I offer these for your consideration:

4.We demand a right to A life.

The most fundamental freedom, the one freedom without which all others lose their meaning, is the freedom to choose how we spend our time. But time and choice is what we are deprived of when every moment is driven and absorbed by the need to survive economically and to comply with government demands. The freedom to participate in a democracy means nothing if the time necessary to consider the options before us is lacking. The social contract that has evolved in this nation has done so on an ad hoc basis driven primarily by and for business interests without much regard for the rights of the other citizens expressed in and implied by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Businesses are really just people, ordinary citizens once removed. Business interests, therefore, are people's interests. Stated another way, generations of citizens who own businesses have used the apparatus of government to create an economic and legal framework that is primarily arranged to meet their families' personal economic and time-based needs and desires at the expense of those of all others.

A. We demand that the 40-hr work week standard be re-examined in the light of modern life demands and stresses. We demand a right to time for adequate sleep, time to properly fulfill our responsibilities to our families, time to fulfill our social obligations, and time to recover physically and spiritually.

B. We demand that the minimum wage be set at that level that allows a person to meet the local minimum costs of adequate food, shelter, communications, clothing, health maintenance, and government-mandated expenses working a full-time work week as defined by A above.

I strongly believe that implementing these will stave off the violent revolution we all feel building in the wings.