Wednesday, October 5, 2011

The OccupyWallStreet Movement's Doctrine of Beliefs and Demands

PREFACE
Until the conditions stated below are met, our movement will only intensify. It has already proven to be a lasting and powerfully uniting force that is growing constantly. We will engage in purely nonviolent protest, and we will continue to protest nonviolently until our demands are fulfilled. As our popularity grows, so does our power. With this power we will make our demands loud and clear, we will voice them with a thunderous roar that has already proven more powerful than any government or corporate power in countless Middle Eastern countries. We are the true voice of liberty, and we will not be silenced until we strip the corporate culture of its power and return it to its rightful owners, the citizens of the United States of America.

REVERSE THE EFFECTS OF THE CITIZENS UNITED SUPREME COURT DECISION
This decision stated that corporations can spend as much as they want on election campaigns and no disclosure is required whatsoever. Corporations should be highly limited in their ability to contribute to political campaigns no matter what the election and no matter what the form of media. This is to ensure that the politicians that are elected are loyal to the people and not to their corporate buyers.

RE-INSTATE THE GLASS-STEAGALL ACT
The repeal of provisions of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933 by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act effectively removed the separation that previously existed between investment banking, which issued securities, and commercial banks, which accepted deposits. The deregulation also removed conflict of interest prohibitions between investment bankers serving as officers of commercial banks. This repeal directly contributed to the severity of the Financial crisis of 2007–2011 by allowing Wall Street investment banking firms to gamble with any depositors' money that was held in commercial banks owned or created by the investment firms.

PASS THE BUFFETT RULE ON FAIR TAXATION
This act would ensure that all American citizens making over one million dollars pay a fair portion of their income to the federal government. This act does not call for a higher tax rate for the ultra-rich as one would logically assume, but rather for a tax rate equivalent to that of the middle class, an extremely reasonable request.

COMPLETELY REVAMP THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
This commission must be completely rebuilt to ensure the protection of the American people. It is currently a broken institution that merely perpetuates the corporate domination over the middle class. The new commission must be powerful, well funded, and regulated consistently.

RE-ESTABLISH THE PUBLIC AIRWAVES
There must be an established order in which presidential candidates debate and campaign on mainstream media. Currently these institutions pick and choose which candidate to give air time based on their financial interests. These interests directly conflict with the interests of the people. In order to ensure that voters are given an unbiased, equal view of each candidate, drastic mass-media reforms must be enacted.

INVESTIGATE, ARREST AND TRY THE WALL STREET CRIMINALS
These corporate moguls clearly broke the law and helped cause the 2008 financial crisis in many notable cases. There is a broad consensus that there is a clear group of people who committed financial crimes and have not been brought to justice. A vigorous and intensive investigation must be conducted to prevent future acts of rampant foul play.

INTENSE REGULATION OF THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY
The wars that our country is engaged in are not wars in the interest of the American people, or for the good of any group of people. These wars are fought for corporate profit, and until reforms are put in place, we will continue to sacrifice our beloved troops to benefit a select few war profiteers. Legislation MUST be put in place to ensure that no institution whatsoever profits from the making of war.

9 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  3. Has this "official doctrine" been voted on by the General Assembly?

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  4. The statement is very clear, brief and eminently sensible. But this post is what shows up in the page description when you share it on Facebook, and "idiological" is misspelled. Not just grammatical nitpicking--an all too easily mocked mistake. For the sake of all of us who are trying to publicize this, I know you'll want to correct it. Thanks!

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  5. I can't find an e-mail address, but if you e-mail me at either my google account or inclanti@yahoo.com, I'll read through and correct the spelling and grammar on this. There are a couple of misspelled words and missing commas. If you do, I'll try to have it to you by tomorrow morning; Charles "Buddy" Roemer is visiting my college tonight, and if there's any time for questions, he'll have some difficult ones to answer from me.

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  6. The first condition stated on this site, "REVERSE THE EFFECTS OF THE CITIZENS UNITED SUPREME COURT DECISION" can now only be achieved through a Constitutional amendment, thanks to our corporate owned Supreme Court. Passing such legislation will be deemed unconstitutional by the current Court.

    The way our political system is currently financed, such a Constitutional amendment will be impossible. I would strongly encourage adding an additional condition, to ban the offering and accepting of all political donations. This would cut the umbilical cord that runs directly from corporate America to those who make up our government, forcing us to pay for our own elections through public financing. Until this is done, we're just whistling past the graveyard. It's the current system's safety valve.

    Dylan Ratigan and Jimmy Williams, strong supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement (Dylan spoke there last Saturday) have come up with a well-worded Constitutional amendment worth considering:

    "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. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, campaign contributions to candidates for Federal office shall not constitute speech of any kind as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution or any amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Congress shall set forth a federal holiday for the purposes of voting for candidates for Federal office."

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  7. I would very much appreciate the revisions. Email them to tylerfritsch1@gmail.com

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  8. I tell you what, I just started looking into this occupy Wall Street movement and I like what you've written here. If this is really what the movement is about you should look into some of Ron Paul's positions. You're much more in-line with him than any other candidate.

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