Integrative Activism
asks You to join the mission to
save the gains of civilization and nature
The People's Plan to Reform America
The vast majority of Americans understand that our political system is dangerously corrupt and will require profound reforms to restore the general welfare, the fair administration of real justice as well as the integrity of the nation and our standing on the world stage and more. We know that it's the money in politics that is the primary vector of corruption. We know what we need to do, get the money out of politics, but how to get the job done is proving more difficult. Hopefully, the following will help to clarify what we need to do and contribute to how we get it done.
Before we attempt to implement solutions, it is imperative to understand how we got into this mess and the roles that corporate powers and the Supreme Court have played. There are some good videos on the subject(s). There are also some great books. Unequal Protection is the seminal source on the doctrine of corporate personhood and The Hidden History of the Supreme Court is a great read about the betrayals from the Supreme Court.
We also have problems with our electoral systems. Fair Vote and The National Popular Vote are the best organizations fighting these good and just fights. Fair Fight is also fighting a good fight and Greg Palast is the consummate investigative reporter on election shenanigans.
After you've done your homework, it should be clear that we need to amend the US Constitution. Move To Amend has been the long time champion in that fight. Amending the Constitution is a damn heavy lift, but the best remedy. Another champion in the fight to reform our political system is Represent.us. That organization promotes an alternative method, The American Anti-Corruption Act, which addresses a variety of problems in bipartisan fashion and attempts to solve them all in one well aimed blow is another good effort. Unfortunately only about half of the states allow referendum or ballot initiatives, but that doesn't mean that it is a flawed effort.
There are now as many or more unaffiliated voters than Democrats and Republicans combined. Approval ratings for government are at historic lows. There is an effort to create a viable third party, A People's Party, but that will most likely be thwarted by Duverger's Law, here's a video explaining it. Perhaps it would be wiser to attempt to create a bipartisan Reform Caucus, but before we get into that, we need to address the Republican and Democratic parties. Those two political parties are not only a consequence of electoral system and Duverger's Law, but two different worldview. The conviction here at Integrative Activism is that these two different worldview are complimentary forces and must be properly balanced for the general welfare of the nation and global society as well. You can and should read about that by clicking here and by watching the video linked within.
After you have read and viewed those things it is time to address the recent and current condition of the Democratic and Republican parties. They are not simply two faces of one party controlled by powerful forces behind the scenes. Yes, there are powerful forces (rich people and their henchmen) exerting powerful influence on the two parties, but one party has been far more corrupted that the other. Thom Hartmann has issued a challenge to his audience for many years, it goes something like this... Name one piece of legislation that the Republicans have authored, sponsored and passed that benefited the majority of the US citizenry since the Nixon era. So far, no one has been able to win the bet/challenge. One the other hand, the Democrats have legislated many things that primarily benefit The People. Democrats created Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Minimum Wage Laws, Child Labor laws and more. The Republicans have been trying to end those programs ever since.
That is not to say that the Democrats are without fault. The Clinton Administration did significant harm to The People. Why that happened is important to understand, but that is a topic that will be addressed at a later time.
So now that we have covered that, let'd get down to the brass tacks and specifics about what we need to do, how to do it and the resources that will help to get it done.
- passage of The American Anti-Corruption Act (or something similar) that will:
1. remove corruptive money from our campaign and electoral processes
2. prohibit the legalized bribery practice known as lobbying
3. close the revolving doors between industries and state
Those measures will undoubtedly be contested in the courts. Considering the series of rulings from the Supreme Court that favor legalized bribery of our legislators by the plutocratically inclined, and the present composition of the judiciary, the aforementioned actions will be struck down. During the time that these cases are being litigated would be an auspicious time to build public support to amend the US Constitution.
- amend The Constitution to;
1. create a constitutional right to vote
2. ensure that spending money to buy political favor can never again be construed as free speech
3. ensure that protections established through the Bill of Rights only apply to humans, never again to be usurped by corporations.
4. abolish the electoral college
After these primary matters of business are concluded and the world's first modern democracy is restored to a government Of, By and For The People, we can create the policies and legislate law that serves justice for all in place of laws serve the interests of the few and create injustice for too many.
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Supplements to The Peoples Plan to Renew America
1. a) The government of the USA is not controlled by The People - Considering that Congressional approval ratings are at historic lows and we now have a President with unprecedentedly low approval ratings and more people protested the establishment of the new administration than attended the inauguration...one would think that the government not being controlled by the people is self evident.
---references include; https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mgilens/files/gilens_and_page_2014_-testing_theories_of_american_politics.doc.pdf
1.b) The government no longer has legitimate authority - Going back to the 2000 Bush v Gore presidential contest, it was proven the Gore had more votes than Bush in Florida despite the Catherine Harris administered purge of eligible voters leading to the Supreme Court's decision to thwart the will of The People and grant the office of Presidency to GW Bush. Since that time the Supreme Court then continued to subvert democracy through the Citizen's United Ruling and by invalidating portions of The Voting Rights Act. Meanwhile the Republicans successfully implemented a series of voter suppression tactics in states they controlled. In addition to those injustices are unverifiable, easily hackable voting machines some of which had their security systems deactivated and the Interstate Crosscheck voter purging system uncovered by investigative journalist Greg Palast. It should also be noted that corporate media seems complicit in electoral fraud for it's refusal to air the scandal of the Interstate Crosscheck voter purge and for giving candidate Trump an effective inordinate amount coverage while marginalizing important issues and other candidate, most notably Bernie Sanders.
---references include;
Alternative story on the Stanford Paper
The Harvard report showing Bernie was probably cheated from the nomination
2. Creating the Reform Party;
Rather than starting a new political party from scratch is our hope that the Green Party (http://www.gp.org/) should volunteer it’s organizational infrastructure to be utilized and reformed into the Reform Party with support from Our Revolution (https://ourrevolution.com/), The Congressional Progressive Caucus (https://cpc-grijalva.house.gov/ and others. Supporters of The People’s Plan should contact these organization and ask them to participate in our efforts.
The Party Platform is a combination of existing efforts promoted by the following organizations;
The American Anti-Corruption Act - http://anticorruptionact.org/
Represent Us - https://represent.us/
Move To Amend - https://movetoamend.org/ does not yet include a right to vote
National Popular Vote - http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/
Addition reference regarding revolving doors between industries and government visit
Open Secrets - https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/
Additional notes:
Supporters of The People’s Plan should be prepared for a media blackout. Corporate media will refuse any mention of this movement. It is possible that the government will censor attempts to disseminate information concerning these efforts. Before leaving office on Christmas Eve, President Obama signed into law the Anti-Propaganda Act that was slipped into the National Defense Authorization Act and could easily be used to shut down websites and media sources that the present administration deems subversive to national interests. Ten states have proposed legislation that attempts to ban our Constitutional rights to peacefully protest.
Supporters of The People’s Plan should therefore print copies of the plan, associated petitions and related materials. Share these materials at your discretion.
More protests of the Trump administration and Congressional actions are sure to ensure. These events are excellent opportunities to share The Plan with massive numbers of people. Integrative Activism has developed Deep Demonstration Dates to facilitate protest/demonstration planning. Some suggested dates and themes include
Jan 21 was the infamous Citizens United Ruling and the Women's March on Washington. Let's have a repeat in 2018 and include public educational materials about election fraud that is the cause of so many nefarious policies that plague our electorate.
March 25 and 26, 2017 ; Voting Rights and Electoral Integrity;
These dates help to educate the public about the long struggle for voting rights and electoral reforms in our country. This would be an opportune time to spread the word about the massive electoral fraud and stolen elections that occurred in 2016. Purchase dvd's of Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and resell them at the rally.
On March 26, 1790 the Naturalization Act legislated that Blacks, Asians and Native Americans were denied the right to vote. Black Lives Matter should take significant responsibility for organizing because way too many black votes are suppressed and never counted. 18 Million Rising should also be at the forefront on this day because that organization was created explicitly to rebel against Asian voter suppression. Email Black Lives Matter and 18 Million Rising and urge them to make this or these dates massive protests against voter suppression and electoral fraud and for electoral reform and make sure that there are plenty of petitions available to sign for common sense reforms that include; The American Anti Corruption Act and National Popular Vote. We can win these fights! It was 80 years later on March 30, 1870 that black men finally won back their right to vote.
April 9, 1886 was the passage of the Civil Rights Bill granting blacks the rights of citizens
April 11, 1968 President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act - let's work together to ensure the civil rights of all people!
May 10 was the passage of the Tea Act of 1773 that gave a hefty tax break to the worlds first multi-national-corporation, the East India Trading Company, that lead to the Boston Tea Party two and a half years later.
Therefore May 10 could be a tax the corporations or fair tax day.
June 4 in 1919 is the date that the 19th Amendment was passed giving women the right to vote. Let us all celebrate this day and remind one another that not all of our votes really do get counted and we must continue the fight for democratic representation!