excerpts from "The Middle and Working Class Manifesto", part 2
Highlights of “The People's Manifesto”
Taking up where I left off at last week's posting, this week I will continue my commentary on the newly published “The Middle and Working Class Manifesto”, specifically with the short version of this 39-page document which is the centerpiece of my book. In last week's posting I published about a third of what I call “the new American declaration of independence”. Having published the part of the book that declares the independence of the American people from the US government, its unfair, discriminatory and illegal income tax for individuals and businesses, and its worldwide war machine that is being conducted against the wishes of a majority of the American people, this week I will focus on what “we the people” would like to replace our broken government with.
The “general preamble” in the Manifesto amounts to a mission statement for the political movement that this book represents. The first paragraph is as follows:
WE THE PEOPLE of the United States of America (hereafter defined throughout this document as WE), declaring continuing empowerment of and by our existing Constitution of the United States, reclaim our collective ownership and control over our land, its resources and particularly its leadership. WE resolve to streamline and therefore update this same Constitution in order to modernize and upgrade the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of our American government..... WE contend that a state of gross social and economic inequality now exists and has existed within our United States that is so unfair that a Second American Revolution is now consequently erupting. We therefore state our intention to carry out mass civil disobedience through protests and demonstrations nationwide up to and possibly including organizing a general strike, public demonstrations and protests, consumer boycotts, the surrounding and siege of government buildings, blockades of wealthy neighborhoods, and the boycotting and withdrawal of funds from all financial institutions large and small in order to close out our accounts, in order to force major changes in how our country is led and governed. We vow that, in the spirit of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. our protests will be peaceful and orderly as far as it is possible, and WE will so honor the memory and revitalize the dream of Rev. Dr. King. We vow that we shall take back the US economy and its leadership and direction from those wealthy, powerful and well-connected persons, corporations public and private, and their legions of lobbyists and who have stolen it.
As you can clearly see, what has been happening in the Middle East with all the civil unrest in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Israel and also Britain, has now arrived in the United States in the form of the Occupy and 99% Movements. The purpose of my book is to try and ensure that the storm of protests that are sure to continue will be peaceful.
Because I am very concerned that if the civil unrest that is about to unfold becomes violent like it did in Libya, and to a lesser extent England, that it could turn into a bloodbath that will make the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago look like child's play. To make a stand against this and all forms of violence, I invoke the memory and legacy of Rev. Dr. King and I pledge to take up where he left off with regards to civil rights. I believe in so doing I will be hopefully turning violent mobs into organized demonstrations of peaceful protest and passive resistance to abusive and corrupt authority, giving the movement a positive focus instead of a negative one.
The next 2 parts of the Manifesto are what I call the “formal declaration of a second American revolution”, and the “11 Demands of the People”. Edited versions of both can be found at the Second American Revolution website. Following the revolutionary declaration is what I call the 8 Fundamental Rights of Mankind. They are:
[1] Worker's rights including the right to a livelihood, to a $10.00 hourly minimum wage, repeal of the federal income tax and worker's withholding tax, right to vocational retraining for life, right to sick and family leave, right to organize, and a doubling of the maximum amount of unemployment insurance under the law from 26 to 52 weeks.
[2] The right to affordable housing and the fundamental right to shelter regardless of economic status. We have a responsibility as a civilized society to end homelessness.
[3] The right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a clean and peaceful environment”, states that every human being on the face of the earth, starting from here within the USA and later branching out to the world, has the basic right to a life free from hunger, violence, crime, poverty and pollution. It then lays the groundwork for providing an ongoing public works project that is intended to perpetuate that very thing.
[4] The right to “lifetime universal healthcare” is the unconditional right of every person regardless of medical or financial status, and it intended to replace and supersede the health care law passed by president Obama. It will be funded by a 7% payroll deduction (which will be affordable due to the repeal of the hated federal income tax) and it will cover any illness or injury unconditionally. Also, passing this into law will eliminate the need for businesses to provide health insurance for their employees, which will create jobs and boost wages by a healthy margin.
[5] The basic right to a good education from childhood to old age can never be denied to anyone. With the dynamic nature of the job market today, the average worker will need to change careers (not just jobs, but entire vocations) an average of 8 to 10 times over their professional lives. The cost of higher education has become prohibitive and unsustainable, and is largely based on raw greed. It will be impossible for workers to keep up with the changes all around them unless the economic barriers are taken away.
[6] The right to basic economic equality will be had by all. This means a redistribution of wealth in the form of a 25% increase in the minimum wage in the 1st fundamental right, the repeal of mandatory health insurance on the job in the 4th fundamental right above, a repeal of the federal income tax for individuals and business, and the implementation of an “excess wealth tax”. This “excess wealth tax” has a minimum threshold of $30 million for individuals and families, and $300 million for businesses. To explain it another way, the first $30 million for individuals and families would be tax-free, but everything above that is taxed at a 50% rate. For businesses public and private, the first $300 million would be tax free, with a tax rate of one-third on anything and everything above that amount. Finally, the federal income tax would be replaced with a national sales tax set at 9%. How did I arrive at this number, you ask? According to the Internal Revenue Service, the average tax rate for working Americans in 2010 dollars is 18% not including Social Security. (Furthermore, there is no Social Security being deducted from annual earnings in excess of $108,000.00 because everything above that is exempt by law. If this one single loophole in America's tax code were to be closed, any further question regarding the solvency of Social Security would disappear). So if I set the national sales tax at 9% – which businesses and individuals alike would have to pay – everybody's effective tax rate literally gets cut in half. How do you like your new tax system now?
[7] The seventh fundamental right has to do with updated rights to privacy, and it outlaws domestic spying by the federal government. It also outlaws employers' access to the credit reports and medical histories of job applicants.
[8] The eighth and final fundamental human right is the rights of children. This includes the right to live in safety, the right to be free from hunger and sickness, and the right to paid daycare so their parents can work.
There is also mentioned in this part of the Manifesto a proposal for an all-new voting system, but I will hold back on that for now and save that topic for later because I wish to treat it separately.
The one additional right for working Americans to have, in my view, would be the right to be free from the so-called “war on drugs”, which is really a war waged by the top 1% against the remaining 99%. I will also treat this topic separately at a later date. But for right now, it's time to get ready for the spring, when the demonstrations, occupations and protests will intensify all across our land. I can't wait!
To get a copy of this book, please go to www.2ndar.org/book_sales_and_speeches.
