Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here?
Posted on 23. Nov, 2011 by Michael Moore in Business and Economy
…a proposal from Michael Moore
Dear Friends,
This past weekend I participated in a four-hour meeting of Occupy Wall Street activists whose job it is to come up with the vision and goals of the movement. It was attended by 40+ people and the discussion was both inspiring and invigorating. Here is what we ended up proposing as the movement's "vision statement" to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:
- We Envision:
- [1] a truly free, democratic, and just society;
- [2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus;
- [3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making;
- [4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others;
- [5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments;
- [6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few;
- [7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings;
- [8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible;
- [9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.
The next step will be to develop a specific list of goals and demands. As one of the millions of people who are participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement, I would like to respectfully offer my suggestions of what we can all get behind now to wrestle the control of our country out of the hands of the 1% and place it squarely with the 99% majority.
Here is what I will propose to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:
10 Things We Want
A Proposal for Occupy Wall Street
Submitted by Michael Moore
1. Eradicate the Bush tax cuts for the rich and institute new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations, including a tax on all trading on Wall Street (where they currently pay 0%).
2. Assess a penalty tax on any corporation that moves American jobs to other countries when that company is already making profits in America. Our jobs are the most important national treasure and they cannot be removed from the country simply because someone wants to make more money.
3. Require that all Americans pay the same Social Security tax on all of their earnings (normally, the middle class pays about 6% of their income to Social Security; someone making $1 million a year pays about 0.6% (or 90% less than the average person). This law would simply make the rich pay what everyone else pays.
4. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, placing serious regulations on how business is conducted by Wall Street and the banks.
5. Investigate the Crash of 2008, and bring to justice those who committed any crimes.
6. Reorder our nation's spending priorities (including the ending of all foreign wars and their cost of over $2 billion a week). This will re-open libraries, reinstate band and art and civics classes in our schools, fix our roads and bridges and infrastructure, wire the entire country for 21st century internet, and support scientific research that improves our lives.
7. Join the rest of the free world and create a single-payer, free and universal health care system that covers all Americans all of the time.
8. Immediately reduce carbon emissions that are destroying the planet and discover ways to live without the oil that will be depleted and gone by the end of this century.
9. Require corporations with more than 10,000 employees to restructure their board of directors so that 50% of its members are elected by the company’s workers. We can never have a real democracy as long as most people have no say in what happens at the place they spend most of their time: their job. (For any U.S. businesspeople freaking out at this idea because you think workers can't run a successful company: Germany has a law like this and it has helped to make Germany the world’s leading manufacturing exporter.)
10. We, the people, must pass three constitutional amendments that will go a long way toward fixing the core problems we now have. These include:
a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots.
b) A constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the constitutional rights of citizens. This amendment should also state that the interests of the general public and society must always come before the interests of corporations.
c) A constitutional amendment that will act as a "second bill of rights" as proposed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt: that every American has a human right to employment, to health care, to a free and full education, to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food, and to be cared for with dignity and respect in their old age.
Let me know what you think. Occupy Wall Street enjoys the support of millions. It is a movement that cannot be stopped. Become part of it by sharing your thoughts with me or online (at OccupyWallSt.org). Get involved in (or start!) your own local Occupy movement. Make some noise. You don't have to pitch a tent in lower Manhattan to be an Occupier. You are one just by saying you are. This movement has no singular leader or spokesperson; every participant is a leader in their neighborhood, their school, their place of work. Each of you is a spokesperson to those whom you encounter. There are no dues to pay, no permission to seek in order to create an action.
We are but ten weeks old, yet we have already changed the national conversation. This is our moment, the one we've been hoping for, waiting for. If it's going to happen it has to happen now. Don't sit this one out. This is the real deal. This is it.
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Yours,
Michael Moore
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14 Responses to “Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here?”
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paul
24. Nov, 2011
not enought emphasis on ending the wars, and not starting new ones, starting with Syria.
jo
24. Nov, 2011
Nah, this is no leader. He'll lead you right off a cliff. 1. Change the name of ows to "end the fed." Restore banking to the state where it belongs, just as Jefferson said. 2. Create a 4th branch of government to arrest corrupted politicians. Of course we want clean air, liberty, peace, and the constitution. We'll work on that after steps 1 and 2.
MarlaA
24. Nov, 2011
"…including a tax on all trading on Wall Street (where they currently pay 0%)."
Oh so this would also tax old people and those day trading or have their pensions tied up in stocks. At least ad a minimum income amount before the tax kicks in.
PAUL LEO FASO
24. Nov, 2011
Time to get this thing off the streets and into the courts with civil and criminal charges utilizing the R.I.C.O. Act. + a class action lawsuit againt the Federal Reserve Bank and the hedge fund conspirators. Banging on drums in the park is useless, file the actions and attach their assets - get on with the show.
GOOGLE: CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT AGAINST THE FEDERAL RESERVE
OR GO HERE;
http://www.zerohedge.com/print/365866
John
24. Nov, 2011
Really how about safe, secure, decent housing, healthcare for all and does their "toleration" include religious fanatics including islamists? Consesus will never work and can't work becuase all peopleare NOT equal. There are the mentally defective and the super intelligient and able and most people are inbetween but closer to mental defects. FAIL! FAIL!
Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here? | Opinion Maker | Occupy Wall Street Info
24. Nov, 2011
[...] is the original post: Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here? | Opinion Maker This entry was posted in News and tagged four-hour-meeting, friends, meeting, michael, [...]
Steve
24. Nov, 2011
Type your comment here…Here is my list. Zero tolerance for war. Zero tax. 100% property rights. When you own property, you own it 100%. Enshrine only individual rights. No federal reserve. Use natural resources for the whelfare of the citizens of the country.
Miguel Grande
26. Nov, 2011
Eradicate Michael Moore who is a Zionist spy,
Steve is right, zero taxes, no war, no property taxes or fees.
99%
TOO BIG TO FAIL!!
Jennifer
24. Nov, 2011
They should go further and change the entire financial system. Abolish the Federal Reserve and restore the right to create money to US Congress. Separate banks into commercial and investment banks. Impose a small tax on financial transactions with the seller paying a tax on any profits made from the sale. All states to have a central bank whose function is to finance necessary infrastructure and maintenance projects, invest savings and tax receipts in such projects and pay wages and salaries of state public employees.
HABIB
24. Nov, 2011
A movement of this kind must be supplemented by sprituality for durable impact and substantial success. Let religious leaders from all major religions join hands and drive home the importance of civility, goodness of character, justice for all and equality of man. The best set of rules for a total societal reform are available in religion and these must be enforced by man-made laws to achieve the desired results. Shariah ( the right path of justice) as espoused by Islam has come to be a much maligned and misunderstood concept. I recommed we look at the true meaning of Sharia and we may discover that the best course for redemption of any society lies therein. In a nutshel, it makes us much better humans than we are. Mr. Moore, please study Shriah, and then you will realise you have discovered a gold mine of goodness that can be generously distributed among the entire human race. The malice of today's way of life will disapear.
HB
Uec
24. Nov, 2011
Do not want a democracy, restore your republic!
joe
24. Nov, 2011
Fuck you Michael Moore, you are the 1%.
And you are trying to coopt the movement.
I hear nothing about ending all wars, or stop giving money to Israel.
Hemlock
24. Nov, 2011
Glarringly absent are:
End the privately owned Federal Reserve
Abolish federal income taxes
Since when is Moore a spokes person for the 99%?!?! Or is he a shill for the City of London?
zendeviant
24. Nov, 2011
How about restoring checks and balances? Rule of law? No more secret laws, secret governments…
A GREAT place to start would be the unsolved murders of 9/11/01, we could try treating that mass murder like a CRIME. Then, INVESTIGATE, PROSECUTE, and SENTENCE those responsible…
ALSO, when did we become a nation of assasins? HOW can we cheer the assasination of anyone without due process? I don't pledge allegiance to a flag of a nation that embraces murder…(and I am a decorated veteran.)
The revolution is a spiritual one; as long as we continue to worship a false god: "The Economy" we have chosen death.
As long as we're making "lists of demands" to give to the "oppressors" (1%?), we continue to allow them the authority. Let's pop the money bubble once and for all, move beyond that consumptive paradigm.
Amerika is a zombie-nation: already dead but still making a mess…
"the people have the right to alter or abolish the government as they see fit…" ~Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of…oh I forget, let's watch TV.
Shine Bright.