Forum Post: The Next Step

We should compose a contract, simply called THE PEOPLE'S CONTRACT. Present it as a legal document and expose it to the public. Then find an intelligent, willing and suitable candidate to run for office on that contract that will step up, sign it, campaign on it and they will probably have the backing of the masses. This contract would serve as a platform to run on as well as a legal document.

THE PEOPLE'S CONTRACT will contain a list of REPEALS the people DEMAND:

1.the Reagan income tax cut of 1981 that benefitted the rich, but made it necessary to sharply raise all other federal taxes, paid mostly by the poor and the middle class, to finance that tax cut.

2.Unenforced antitrust laws, leading to mergers among large and profitable firms, but killing high-paying jobs in numerous industries.

3.Permitting the oil industry mergers in the 1990s that are now preventing oil prices from falling in the worst slump since the 1930s.

4.Permitting relentless mergers among pharmaceuticals and health insurance companies, so that America, far more than any other nation, now spends almost 15 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care that is mediocre by European and Japanese standards.

5.Unchecked use of outsourcing that kills high-paying jobs in manufacturing and services.

6.Ignoring the growth of the trade deficit that has destroyed our manufacturing base.

7.The 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act under President Clinton that led to reckless lending by bands and an unprecedented housing bubble, which collapsed in 2007 to trigger the ongoing slump.

8.The Bush tax cuts and bailouts that further benefitted the rich while nearly doubling the government debt.

9.The decimation of the real minimum wage by President Reagan and other Republicans. (In 1981, the hourly minimum wage bought $8 worth of goods compared to $6 by the end of Reagan's presidency in 1988, and to a mere $5.15 in 2006 under Bush.)

http://www.truth-out.org/occupy-wall-street-movement-and-coming-demise-crony-capitalism/1318341474

In addition to the above repeals, new laws will be enacted with some amended to the Constitution:

1.No person, corporation or business entity of any type, domestic or foreign, shall be allowed to contribute money, directly or indirectly, to any candidate for Federal office or to contribute money on behalf of or opposed to any type of campaign for Federal office. Getmoneyout.com

2.All work conducted within our government shall be made transparent to the public.

3.All Federal laws shall be enforced and must be investigated should problems arise. There will be no exemptions. No time limits shall be set for previous conduct within the banking industry and Wall Street.

4.Personhood shall be withdrawn as a legal status for corporations.

5.Citizens United shall be abolished and unlawful

This legal contract will be enacted into law, if it can get through Congress, immediately upon election of this candidate!

This will be revised and rewritten several times, hopefully with more of your ideas, until it can be sent to a law firm for editing in legal term, that is, if consensus wants to use this idea. I put this together after reading an articulate and informative article (above) by an economist, Ravi Batra, who explains in layman's term how we got into this plummeting economic situation. He suggested presenting his list of repeals to Obama as an agenda, which gave me the idea to, instead, make it a legal contract and select an outside candidate who is not tarnished within the government establishment. The legal contract idea came from Grover Norquist; so kudos to him! I put it on the forum earlier and received more fabulous suggestions of what may be included.

Please feel free to list more WITHOUT REDUNDANCY, please.

Sasha, someone with more ideas on this forum, mentioned to me a brilliant lawyer who has exposed the corruption within the banking debacle, but cannot proceed with any investigation because the people who committed those crimes have been allowed to stay in their positions. His name is William K. Black (google him), and wouldn't it be great if he would devise this contract when it is complete.

We can have a unified cause to protest on!