Forum Post: OWS - Keep it simple! One demand only!
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 10, 2011, 8:35 a.m. EST by AlbanUlqini
(11)
from New York, NY
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
OWS should have one demand only - one that is the root of all the evil and that is: Corrupt political system! Therefore there should be one and only one goal and demand - Campaign finance reform (separation of money and politics). Once we have that in place all other reforms are possible. The important thing - American people support it! This can not be accomplished with petitions and declarations - this can only be accomplished with massive, peaceful street protests. Only one demand please! Once we have a functioning government everything else will fall in place!
We have to stop thinking
DEMANDS that we WANT from THEM.
We must change to
GOALS THAT WE WILL ACHIEVE & WHAT WE WILL DO
Because of the Supreme Court's decision,
we cannot accomplish campaign finance reform in general, without FIRST -
Overturn Citizens United !!!
End Corporate Personhood !!!
83% of Americans already agree on it
as stated in the ABC/Washington Post poll
In the the PFAW Poll -
85% of voters say that corporations have too much influence over the political system today.
77% think Congress should support an amendment to limit the amount corporations can spend on elections.
74% say that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for Congress who pledged to support a Constitutional Amendment limiting corporate spending in elections.
YOUR ACTION ----> JOIN US TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Our only immediate goal should be to pass a constitutional amendment to counter Supreme Court decision Citizens United (2010) , that enables unlimited amounts of anonymous money to flood into our political system.
“Corporations and organizations are not a persons &
have no personhood rights”
We don’t have to explain or persuade people to accept our position – we only have to persuade them to ACT based on their own position. Pursuing this goal will prove to the world that we, at OWS, are a serious realistic Movement, with serious realistic goals. Achieving this goal will make virtually every other goal – jobs, taxes, infrastructure, Medicare – much easier to achieve –
by disarming our greatest enemy – GREED.
YOUR ACTION ----> JOIN US TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
THE SUCCESS STORY OF THE AMENDING PROCESS The Prohibition movement started as a disjointed effort by conservative teetotalers who thought the consumption of alcohol was immoral. They ransacked saloons and garnered press coverage here and there for a few years. Then they began to gain support from the liberals because many considered alcohol partially responsible for spousal and child abuse, among other social ills. This odd alliance, after many years of failing to influence change consistently across jurisdictions, decided to concentrate on one issue nationally—a constitutional amendment. They pressured all politicians on every level to sign a pledge to support the amendment. Any who did not, they defeated easily at the ballot box since they controlled a huge number of liberal, and conservative and independent swing votes in every election. By being a single-issue constituency attacking from all sides of the political spectrum, they very quickly amassed enough votes (2/3) to pass the amendment in Congress. And, within just 17 months, they were successful in getting ¾ of the state legislatures to ratify the constitutional amendment into law. (Others were ratified even faster: Eight —took less than a year. The 26th, granting 18-year-olds the right to vote, took just three months and eight days.)
If they could tie the left and right into a success -
WHY CAN'T WE ??????????
YOUR ACTION ----> JOIN US TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
I feel that we should stay with this simple text to overturn CU:
”corporations are not people”
for four simple reasons and one – not so simple:
1
83% of Americans have already opposed CU in the ABC/Washington post poll and the above
IS THEIR POSITION ALREADY.
2
We don’t have to work to convince people on the validity of our position.
3
Simple is almost always better.
4
This simple Amendment is REQUIRED to overturn CU.
And all other electoral reform can be passed through the normal legislative process.
5
OWS and these pages are chock full of ( mostly ) excellent ideas to improve our country.
All of them have strong advocates – and some have strong opposition.
None of them has been “pre-approved” by 83% of Americans !
Pursuing this goal – without additional specifics is exactly what Americans want.
What do we want? Look at that almost endless list of demands – goals - aims.
Tax the rich. End the Fed. Jobs for all, Medicare for all. So easy to state! Can you imagine how hard it would be to formulate a “sales pitch” for any of these to convince your Republican friends to vote for any of them?
83% of Americans have ALREADY “voted” against CU. And 76% of the Rs did too.
All we have to do ask Americans is to pressure their representatives – by letters - emails – petitions.
Wanna take your family on vacation?
Convince the 7 year old and the 10 year old to go to Mt Rushmore.
Then try to convince them to go to Disneyland.
Prioritizing this goal will introduce us to the world – not as a bunch of hippie radical anarchist socialist commie rabblerousers – but as a responsible, mature movement that is fighting for what America wants.
YOUR ACTION ----> JOIN US TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
I feel that using the tactics of the NRA, the AARP an the TP – who all represent a minority – who have successfully used their voting power to achieve their minority goals - plus the Prohibition Amendment tactics – bringing all sides together - is a straight path for us to success that cannot fail to enable us to create and complete one task the MAJORITY.
Join the OWS Restore Democracy Working Group at
............. <http://www.nycga.net/groups/restore-democracy>
Plan details with supporting documentation at: http://bit.ly/vK2pGI
regular meetings 6-8PM @ 60 Wall St – The Attrium @ Wednesdays
YOUR ACTION ----> JOIN US TO PASS THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
TO END CORPORATE PERSONHOOD
Whereas --
The OWS Declaration of the Occupation of New York City states that
"a democratic government derives its just power from the people,
not from corporations."
and --
the ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 83% of the entire US population
opposes the Supreme Court Citizens United decision,
which affirmed that corporations are people.
and --
by supporting the overturning of corporate personhood,
OWS clearly aligns itself with the vast majority of the American people
who support ending the fundamentally flawed and anti-democratic concept
that corporations are people.
therefore --
We support a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood.
We The People of the United States of America Help Wanted NEEDED! We The People need elected representatives! • Must be a leader! • No followers allowed or needed! (have enough in House & Senate Now) • Must be able to ignore special interest! (big money) • No Religious Agendas / or affiliations! • Must be able to ignore political party agendas! • Must be honest! • Must be truthful! • Must be innovative! • Must be able, to be held accountable! • Must be able to think and make decisions! • Must be logical / rational! • Must be reasonable to all! • Must be impartial! • Must be coherent! • Must be able to work with-out supervision! Please understand we encourage personal opinions. But We the People need a representative that makes decisions based on our needs as a Nation, not your ideas of our needs! HINT: When submitting resume (running for office). Don’t tell us where you stand on issues! Ask us where you should stand on issues!!!!! Thank You for your interest in the open positions! (House 435 / Senate 100) Wethepeople
Yes precisely I think we are all in agreement, we have been out protesting this for a few months now. Lets keep this message on top, I think most are doing just that, don't believe the media hype that there is no message, we have been pretty clear from day one that we are more interested in getting corporate influence out of our government than anything else.
Concordo!!!
one demand? THIS LAND IS OUR LAND! apart from modest homes SEIZE THE LAND destroy their corrupt property rights! they have authorised the military to arrest us as terrorists and put us in indefinite detention in FEMA camps. the end of cannabis prohibition is the RAPTURE!
Forget about FEMA and cannabis! You can't fix everything at the same time! You have to lay the ground for the changes and that you do by taking the money out of politics. Money in Politics is the greatest evil and the greatest threat this country faces!
money is built on PROPERTY RIGHTS. alcohol is a chemical lobotomy and the communion of the deluded. cannabis is brain food and the communion of the awakening! taking the money out of politics is leaving the thieves with the money, our money. politics is a "reality" tv show, a charade and a farce. this is a revolution to reclaim the land and our lives. politics and religion are BS to brutalise us. you are proposing a trivial issue to distract us from facing the ENEMY! take back your land in your community in your state to rebuild a truly democratic country. cleaning up the politicians "act" is sweeping the circus, we need to take down the BIG TOP.
ou fou baba. ale pwòp kay ou
I would love to take money out of politics, but some people here think the GOP is gonna do that? I'm sorry, I gotta say something when I hear that crap...
Yes they will ... when you gather a million people at the Mall
Sounds a little encouraging, but it is practically like asking someone to change their religion...
christians and muslims need to change their religion. christianity and islam both suppress women and abuse children's minds. both are fictions.
Not really, bear in mind that you are not dealing with people with strong convictions.....if they feel just a little bit politically threatened they'll do anything just to stay in power....
we cannot politically threaten the fascist elite. they produce the politics reality tv show. murdoch is not elected. fox news, cnn, cbs all above the voters choice. who voted for FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS? its all BS
CAP sales profit.
What a fripping joke.
All these azzoles don't even know what they are protesting about. And when they do try to state a concept it is ridiculous.
"We support elimination of corruption fromn business practice" is not an enforceable concept, nor do such sweeping generalizations (We support campaign finance reform) in any way suggest how this might be accomplished.
Childish.
Tantrums.
Illegal behavior.
The hallmarks of OWS.
To: LardbuttsReincarnation - I wouldn't call anyone who is voicing their frustration with corruption an a**hole regardless how inarticulate it may be. But I do agree that OWS is doomed and does indeed look ridiculous if very soon they don't come up with a very precise and powerful demand! There is a silver lining in all this - frustration is there and if OWS does not find a way to effectively package it someone else will ( although we'll lose years in that case and sink even more in this disgusting greed and corruption)!
One concept - Ethical behavior and business practices.
Where is the moral compass of business and government today?
You could paint it with a much wider brush and say:
The OWS movement's goal is the elimination of corruption from Wall St. to K Street to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, as well as the complete dismantling of the military industrial complex.
Too wide! You loose focus like that! Saying "to get rid of corruption" is just a statement without any details on how you are going to do it. When you say "Campaign finance reform" you are proposing a very defined tool to fight corruption in our political system.
I know, it is the purpose. The statement begs the question: "How?". Which in turn, continues the conversation.
I would propose the same system for elections as Great Britain has been using for a number of years. Tax payer funded elections. No candidate would be allowed to accept any donations from anyone. They wouldn't even be allowed to use their own money. In this way the 99% would own every office seeker and office holder in the land, instead of the corporations, special interests, and other corrupt actors.
We would call for ALL legislators to be audited by the IRS every year.
It should be clear you will not want to run for the congress or senate if your goal is to get rich.
I would recommend the presidential cycle remain the same, but congressional terms are for 5 years and remain unlimited. The Senate would be a single 10 year term. The reason for this would be that many legislative races would not coincide with a Presidential race. People might have to pay a little more attention, in other words, participate in their democracy a bit more.
I would also advocate for an 'Election/Politics Channel'. It would be available to any cable, Satellite customer, and of course, on the internet. In England campaign ads are banned from the airways.
Just,...more democracy,...less corruption.
Any ideas?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-3hZsXrxaI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mkRFCtl2MI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SQqjTxI3vc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EewGMBOB4Gg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w
http://thezeitgeistmovement.com/
http://blog.thezeitgeistmovement.com/
http://www.thevenusproject.com/