An Escape Hatch From Our Past

CORPORATIONS

We all grew up with the story of the Boston Tea Party. In the late eighteenth century, a group of American Colonialists dressed up as Indians, took over a docked ship in the Boston Harbor and dumped its cargo of tea into the bay. This was one of the early acts of rebellion which contributed to the American Revolution against England. However, the back story to this incidence has very deep ramifications for us today!

In 1602, the British Parliament gave a charter to the first publicly traded corporation in the world. It was called the Dutch East India Company and as the name implies, it opened up a very lucrative trade in spices as well as incense, herbs, silk, opium and tea between Europe and India.

Because of the way it was structured, it had legal powers that rivaled those of a sovereign country. “As the first historical model of the quasi-fictional concept of the megacorporation, it possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies.”[Wikipedia]

By the time the Colonialist had begun to develop their own independent economy, about a hundred and seventy years after the Dutch East India company had received its charter, the company had become so powerful that it dominated India and many surrounding countries with its political and military power. When the Dutch East India company found that its prices for tea were not competitive in the new Colonies, it went to the British Parliament and demanded that their tea sales in America not be taxed.

Of course, when England gave the Dutch East India that blatant tax advantage, not only were the tea merchants in the Colonies upset, but so was the general public. And so, while chanting, “TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTION!” and after dumping a valuable load of tea into the Boston Harbor – the American Revolution sputtered to a start.

Now, skip ahead in your memory to a time right after the Revolution had succeeded. The wise – and highly educated – Founding Fathers gathered to attempt to set up a new democracy founded on a system of laws. Based on their cumulative knowledge of current and ancient political history, they created the powerful legal documents that, to this day, are the basis for our country’s self-governance.

It is difficult to define a fine line between government and industry. Difficult because of the infinite variations of and between their interactions. The ideal balance between the two requires an unbiased infusion of mutually respectful equality.

Excerpt From RECLAIM DEMOCRACY:

“When American colonists declared independence from England in 1776, they also freed themselves from control by English corporations that extracted their wealth and dominated trade. After fighting a revolution to end this exploitation, our country’s founders retained a healthy fear of corporate power and wisely limited corporations exclusively to a business role. Corporations were forbidden from attempting to influence elections, public policy, and other realms of civic society.

Initially, the privilege of incorporation was granted selectively to enable activities that benefited the public, such as construction of roads or canals. Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end. The states also imposed conditions (some of which remain on the books, though unused) like these:

• Corporate charters (licenses to exist) were granted for a limited time and could be revoked promptly for violating laws.

• Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.

• Corporations could not own stock in other corporations nor own any property that was not essential to fulfilling their chartered purpose.

• Corporations were often terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.

• Owners and managers were responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.

• Corporations could not make any political or charitable contributions nor spend money to influence law-making.”

And From The NATIONAL LAWYERS Guild Practitioner:

“In the United States after the American Revolution, both law and tradition defined corporations as creatures of the state, subordinate to the sovereign people. The people who came – or were forcibly brought – to these shores knew first-hand that unconstitutionalized business extensions of the state – such as the Dutch East India Company, the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Royal Africa Company, and the crown corporations which ran colonies in Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and elsewhere – were tyrannical and dictatorial by design. For example, the Royal Africa Company played a major role in the transatlantic slave trade. The directors of the crown corporations in North America exercised total authority over the colonists – conscripting them into corporate militia, instructing them on what to grow, what work to do, where to buy goods, where to market their products, what to think.

The need to be wary of corporations was expressed by pamphleteering revolutionaries such as Thomas Earle: “Chartered privileges are a burden, under which the people of Britain, and other European nations, groan in misery.” Jefferson spoke about the need “to crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” Artisans and mechanics made known their concerns as well, that absentee corporate owners would turn them into “a commodity, being as much an article of commerce as woolen, cotton or yarn.”

To be sure, great gaps always existed between the ideals and achievements of the American Revolution. The Constitution and laws have served as tools for legalized oppression as well as for inspiration and liberation. But for several generations, incorporation was regarded both by law and by custom as a privilege, and all corporations were obligated to serve the public trust. Charters were issued sparingly, and expired after twenty or thirty years. State legislators spelled out rules for each corporation in its charter, and then in state corporation codes. Among the detailed requirements, directors and managers were held liable for corporate harms, capitalization and land holdings were restricted, and the rights of minority shareholders were carefully protected. (For example, unanimous shareholder approval for major corporate decisions was common.)

And legislatures reserved the right to amend and revoke corporate charters at will. Faced with the onslaught of corporate power, they eventually retreated from exercising that right. But the powers, though latent, are still there waiting to be used.” [highlights by T.S.]

From our country’s inception in 1776 until 1886, the tension between government and commerce was pretty much kept in balance, largely due to the lack of undue influence by corporations. However, in 1886 there was a relatively obscure court case in California which began a slow motion, decades long, cascade of laws which have radically changed the relationship between corporations and the vital basis for our democracy – our right to self-governance.

Again, from RECLAIM DEMOCRACY:

“One of the most severe blows to citizen authority arose out of the 1886 Supreme Court case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad. Though the court did not make a ruling on the question of “corporate personhood,” thanks to misleading notes of a clerk, the decision subsequently was used as precedent to hold that a corporation was a “natural person.” This story was detailed in “The Theft of Human Rights,” a chapter in Thom Hartmann’s recommended book Unequal Protection.

From that point on, the 14th Amendment, enacted to protect rights of freed slaves, was used routinely to grant corporations constitutional “personhood.” Justices have since struck down hundreds of local, state and federal laws enacted to protect people from corporate harm based on this illegitimate premise. Armed with these “rights,” corporations increased control over resources, jobs, commerce, politicians, even judges and the law.

A United States Congressional committee concluded in 1941, “The principal instrument of the concentration of economic power and wealth has been the corporate charter with unlimited power….”

So, here we are more than a century later, a nation – and much of the world – fully and completely dominated by unbridled corporate rule. A corporate rule that is more powerful than any human and legally mandated to make a profit, based on short-range planning which is exclusively focused on quarterly and annual financial gains – REGARDLESS of the costs.

We now find ourselves hard pressed to find ANY major aspect of our lives that is not either totally or significantly controlled by corporations – our politics, military, banks, media, healthcare, laws, agriculture, fossil fuels, unions, environment, the Internet, research, voting systems, etc,. It is sad to note, that these overwhelmingly powerful corporations are EXACTLY what our Founding Fathers warned us against!

Now the question is, how can we human beings ever expect to survive when we are forced into cohabitation with legally created, eternally endowed, wealthy, parasitic “people”? People who are, in reality, composed of nothing more than batches of papers that “live” in file drawers in lawyer’s offices and have no moral, emotional or empathetic sense – much less concern – for any of us REAL people?

SOCIO/PSYCHOPATHS

Throughout history, mankind (a term used here in the broad asexual mode) has used his uniquely creative brain to extend his often limited control over his environment. Man wanted to carry more things faster, so he created the wheel. He wanted to extend the range of his voice, so he invented the telephone. He wanted to record his visual impressions, so he invented the camera. He wanted to fly – thus the airplane. And when it came to business, man created the ultimate partner – the corporation.

It is important that we take into consideration the fact that there are many similarities which exist between the corporation, as structured by the creative mind of man, and the mentality of a certain segment of our human population. As I mentioned above, corporations have, “… no moral, emotional or empathetic sense – much less concern – for any of us REAL people.” These are some of the same and most prominent characteristics of a group of real people who have always resided in our midst – the socio/psychopaths.

About a decade ago, I happened upon an article titled, Beware the Psychopath, My Son. It initiated my research into a rarely acknowledged aspect of human nature which has always had a profound effect on humanity.

Here is a short excerpt from that article:

“Why, no matter how much intelligent goodwill exists in the world, is there so much war, suffering and injustice? It doesn’t seem to matter what creative plan, ideology, religion, or philosophy great minds come up with, nothing seems to improve our lot. Since the dawn of civilization, this pattern repeats itself over and over again.

The answer is that civilization, as we know it, is largely the creation of psychopaths. All civilizations, our own included, have been built on slavery and mass murder. Psychopaths have played a disproportionate role in the development of civilization, because they are hard-wired to lie, kill, cheat, steal, torture, manipulate, and generally inflict great suffering on other humans without feeling any remorse, in order to establish their own sense of security through domination. The inventor of civilization — the first tribal chieftain who successfully brainwashed an army of controlled mass murderers — was almost certainly a genetic psychopath. Since that momentous discovery, psychopaths have enjoyed a significant advantage over non-psychopaths in the struggle for power in civilizational hierarchies — especially military hierarchies.”

I’ve come to the conclusion that the contemporary corporation “mindset” is a mirror image of the mentality of the socio/psychopathic humans who created the current and evolving corporate configuration. It has become obvious that this pervasive corporate oppression is, by design, being used as a legally sanctioned “attack dog” against ANY entity that attempts to thwart the unleashed right wing motivated quest for money/power.

POLITICAL PARTIES

Another unheeded warning from our learned and wise Founding Fathers – who were raised studying the ancient and classical forms of government – was to avoid political parties. Here are a few direct quotes of sage advice on this subject from these democracy loving men:

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
~ George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796.

“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
~ John Adams, Letter to Jonathan Jackson (October 2, 1780).

“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.”
~ Thomas Jefferson, in a Letter to Francis Hopkinson (March 13, 1789).

“Nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties.”
~ Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #1, October 27, 1787.

“So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts.”
~ James Madison, The Federalist #10, November 22, 1787

“We shall be divided by our little partial local interests, our projects will be confounded and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future Ages. And what is worse, Mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war and conquest.”

~ Benjamin Franklin, Motion for Prayers in the Constitutional Convention (28 June 1787).

Even moderate students of US history, from our country’s inception until today, are aware of how badly we have failed to follow all of the sage advice urgently bestowed upon us by the wise men who initially defined our country’s political systems. Through the centuries, various political parties have come and gone and today we are saddled with basically two very overbearing political structures which are at the core of our national divisiveness.

The primary damage done by political parties is the destruction of trust! They have caused a breakdown in trust among ourselves, trust in our elected representatives and trust in our democratic systems.

Rather than evolving as a thriving democracy with an expanding moral culture firmly intent on obtaining wholesome mutual objectives, we have become factionalized and polarized. We are all now forced to exist in a dread-filled realm composed of two multi-faceted and monetarily dominated political parties which are locked in a desperate downward struggle for more power and control over the other.

ELECTIONS

The dissipation of trust and promotion of divisiveness are not the only forms of destruction that the political party system has thrust upon us. They have, through various covert and overt means, taken over the very heart of our democracy – our voting systems. In lieu of a fair and reconcilable national voting system, we now have one that is riddled with manipulated corruption.

To go into detail regarding all of the flaws that currently exist in our current voting systems, is way beyond the scope of this paper. However, I would like to provide a link to a detailed report created by Election Justice USA regarding the election irregularities that occurred just in the 2016 primary election season. Their report also provides conclusions as well as recommendations for general improvements in our current voting systems.

Before we leave the subject of political party interference with our elections, I would like to provide some relatively contemporary historical perspective regarding our elections.

The Twelfth Amendment established the Electoral College as a means of making sure that the uneducated/illiterate, majority of voters didn’t take over the whole voting process and remove the “Elites” from economic and thus political power.

Almost immediately, the political parties moved in to install additional controls. Their most egregious technique has to do with how the Electors are selected. Whenever a voter indicates a party preference on their ballot, they are also (usually unwittingly) also voting for a previously selected party member to be a voting member of the Electoral College – an Elector. This candidate channelling procedure completely ignores the preferences of the Independent or undeclared voters – who are cumulatively most often a larger voting block that the Democrats and Republicans COMBINED. It’s as if the Independent voters don’t even exist in the Electoral College!

As mandated by the Constitution, the US Government must take a census every ten years. Data extracted from this census is used to determine voting districts. Almost as soon as the new Union was formed, political parties began a process which has been labeled, Gerrymandering of the districts, or designing the boundaries of the voting districts to benefit one party over the other. All this means is that once again the political parties manipulate the election process in order to tilt the vote in their favor. And once again, the often times largest voting block – the Independent voters – are just randomly distributed at the will of the party in power.

We now have two political parties who control other aspects of our election process, as well. They jointly determine who will even be allowed on the ballots – for the national general elections and at the state primary levels, as well. Not only do they dictate which candidates we can vote for, but who will be allowed to participate in the nationally televised and party dominated “debates”.

While on the subject of the debates, here is a relevant quote from the stridently honest, non-partisan organization called the League of Women Voters:

“The LWV sponsored the United States presidential election debates in 1976, 1980 and 1984. On October 2, 1988, the LWV’s 14 trustees voted unanimously to pull out of the debates, and on October 3 they issued a press release condemning the demands of the major candidates’ campaigns. LWV President Nancy Neuman said that the debate format would “perpetrate a fraud on the American voter” and that the organization did not intend to “become an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.” [Wikipedia]

In the early 70’s, in an attempt to control the corrupting influence of money in politics, Congress passed a bill which was called the Federal Election Campaign Act. However, the moderate success of the act was completely nullified with the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Ruling by the Supreme Court, which basically removed ANY monetary restrictions on individuals, corporations, organizations or countries – which previously existed in our election systems. Today, our public representatives are, for the most part, bought and paid for by the highest bidders.

BANKING

In the mid 1760’s, a man named Mayer Amschel Rothschild of Frankfurt Germany established a banking business that today has become the largest and most powerful banking system in the world. Before he died, Mayer dispatched his five sons to five major cities in countries throughout Europe, which was the beginning of international banking. They have been known to finance entire governments – like Britain – as well as all sides of numerous major wars.

The US was a target for the Rothschild’s banking coterie from the new country’s inception. However, research conducted by GreatGameIndia Magazine has revealed that the Rothschild family was one of the controller families of the East India Company.[Wikipedia] And since the recent memory of the Boston Party and its aftermath hung heavy in the memories of the new citizens of the US, the Rothschild’s banks were summarily rejected from the start.

In the early 1800’s, the ruthless Rothschilds again found their way into the American banking systems and when President Andrew Jackson found out about it, he rapidly had them dispatched, again. Their most recent and successful attempt came about in 1910 on the strangely named Jeykell Island. Among the millionaires who set up the current Federal Reserve Banking System for the US, was a Rothschild representative named Paul Warburg. They, representatives for the Rothschilds cabal, have had a powerful controlling interest in our Federal Reserve Banking System, ever since.

It needs to be noted here, that controlling the US Fed is not the only national bank that the Rothschilds dominate. As of this writing, they have nationalized banks in over 137 banks all around the world and maintain a controlling interest in the Bank of Internationa Settlements, in Switzerland.

Instead of allowing the US Treasury Department to print our money, the privately owned and controlled (but never audited) Federal Reserve not only prints the money, but “rents” the cash back to the US Government and charges interest. This arrangement has facilitated the US to become mired in unfathomable debt. Additionally, since the US is, so far, the only country in the world that has been declared the World Reserve Currency we, unlike other countries, have no restraints on our debt limit. However, China is slowly maneuvering into a position that could challenge that title – which, should we lose that status, be economic Armageddon for the US economy!

The original and primary mission of banks it to provide/loan capital (money) to businesses and individuals in order to facilitate their need to acquire large purchases. However, over the last few decades the banking/financial sector of our economy has experienced tremendous growth, due to a variety of relatively new financial “tools” which they have developed to increase their bottom line without actually producing anything. Many of these new tools have no relationship to the banking industry’s primary mission. Additionally, as of 2015, the financial industry is the second most profitable industry in America and has banks so large that they are, frighteningly recognized as, “too big to fail.”

THE MEDIA

When our country was founded, printing was rather like the Internet of today. Movable type was making it easier for newspapers, pamphlets, posters, books, etc. to spring up in our new democracy, which in turn facilitated the spread of information and education among a new voting populace. So important was this medium of exchange that it was the only industry to be recognized and protected in our Constitution.

The concept of an educated and informed public is the bedrock of a democracy. For without it, the voting public will not be able to maintain their freedom. In return for the protection by the government, it is the obligation of the press, or media in today’s vernacular, to fulfill its mission of keeping the public informed in as forthright, timely, and unbiased manner as possible.

Because of the very critical mission of the media to inform the public, the elites have always attempted to control it. Their paranoia of being overwhelmed by the “masses of unwashed” may have a kernel of justifiable truth, especially when taking note of numerous historical accounts of the demise of various tyrants. However, in a true democratic republic, this paranoia should be assuaged by the very principle of democracy itself.

Of course, today’s media consists of a plethora of methods of communications. Over time, as the various media options and techniques evolved, President Lyndon Johnson determined that the US needed a non-commercial, government sponsored, unbiased, national media network to fulfill the promise to protect the Press, as stated in the Constitution. As a result, in 1967 he signed into law the creation of the non-profit Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).

At this point, I feel compelled to insert my personal historic perspective of this period. I was a young man in my early 20s who was rapidly becoming politically aware due to the enormous political upheavals and social shifts and that were taking place in the 60’s and early 70’s. The Vietnam War, the Draft, Civil Rights, Women’s movements, assassinations, etc., were all suddenly being openly addressed using these new, national, non-commercial media formats. With the advent of the CPB, it was truly refreshing to NOT be bombarded with commercial messages while having open, live on-air, public involved, discussions regarding all of these critical issues. It was a valuable, exciting and vibrant addition to the development of our involvement in our democratically induced freedom!

The evolution of the media did not go unnoticed by the power elites. They had been heeding the teachings of experts in the psychology of mass manipulation since the days of Hitler. Most of the techniques they developed were for commercial uses. However, those same techniques were quite readily adapted to the manipulation of the political processes, as well. However, with the advent of commercial free media, a different controlling process had to be deployed. The corporatocracy used their influence in the political systems to simply begin the gradual process of defunding The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Initially, when the CPB began to need additional funding, they turned to the general public for financial support, while still not allowing commercial influence. But today, this highly regarded multi-faceted media system has become mostly another corporate infused commercial enterprise – which actually makes it a bargain “High Class” advertising “buy” for business enterprises, since the operating costs are now substantially subsidized by the general public.

Today, the wide assortment of methods to access information has created a financial strain on the traditional methods of gathering and reporting news. Additionally, the difference between information and news should be noted. While information can be accessed without context, news must be pursued, assembled, edited and presented by recognized professional teams. Because of the consolidation of media and the monetizing of news, valuable and legitimate investigative news sources are dwindling, to the delight of the socio/psychopaths who control the corporatocracy.
 

PRESCRIPTION

As I have pointed out, so far, from a time even before our country’s inception to the present, we have had powerful forces continually attempting to thwart the principles of our democratic attempt at self-governance. One has to only slightly pay attention to what is currently going on in our country to realize how effective those countervailing forces have been.

The list of critical issues that are not only confronting the US, but the world, is indeed very long. I don’t intend to even begin to address problems like – Climate Change, nuclear weapons, perpetual wars, over-population, terrorism, income inequality, refugees, mass starvation, etc., and the reason has to do with their complexity and/or the amount of time/resources/co-operation it will take to properly resolve these threats. Additionally, as I have just pointed out, we, the voting public of the US, have lost control of our democracy – and thus our ability to self-govern!

So, what are we to do? Are we destined to be just a dominated mass of humanity who are to be manually and psychologically manipulated in order to serve ourselves up for the monetary and mentally bent benefit of a very small percentage of our population?

Perhaps those wise men who not only provided us with the basic design of our democracy – with unheeded warnings – also provided a solution, an “escape clause,” should things get out of control. Let’s go back to the very first major document that they proffered for just such an emergency. Let’s once again re-examine the Declaration of Independence and in particular, the first two paragraphs (emphasis mine):

“In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”[National Archives]

High and principled ideas, but how do “we the people” – who have lost control of all of our legal means of self-governance – regain our democracy, especially when violence is NOT an option?

Well, this time let’s pay heed to those learned men who provided us with a guideline – indeed an “escape clause” — to regain our freedom from tyranny and despotism. Let’s actually, alter/abolish/institute a new government!

Rather than continually trying to “patch up” or repair our current government, let’s just ignore it and create a new one! We have attempted all forms of resistance – demonstrations, marching, mass complaints to our politicians, strikes, etc., and none of them have done much to change the basic core of our current stagnated political system. So, let’s just ignore this government and replace it with one that we want/need, as our very survival depends on it!

The immediate reaction is – IMPOSSIBLE! However, consider that the most powerful and effective agents of change we have ever used have been – movements. If we start considering movements that created change, we must start with our Boston Tea Party and then look at a partial list which includes – The Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Suffrage, Antiwar, Gay Rights, The Labor Movement, Black Power, Antiglobalization, The Tea Party (2009 version), Occupy Wall Street, etc.

Now, I’m not talking about a movement that is structured to run inside our current political systems, but instead one that operates primarily independent and parallel to them. This will be a movement that will be composed of citizens and hopefully other movements that are supportive of this one.

This movement will be initially formed around the concept that there are a few key issues which, when addressed and resolved, will allow a political structure to successfully form and exist and that can then address and resolve the other critical issues (Climate Change, nuclear weapons, perpetual wars, over-population, etc.) that I began to list, above.

By creating a transformative movement which has as it’s primary objective the installation of a political system which will resolve the six issues I began this essay with, we will be able to open the doors on a new people driven democracy, unfettered by the current and relatively small number of individuals and organizations that are ruining our lives and the world.

Instead of falling into the trap of being fractured by a multitude of various deflecting factions, we the members of our new movement will be unified in our purpose. Regardless of the various differences that have been used to keep us from becoming a unified force, we will embrace ALL peace seeking and caring people.

UNBLOCKING

1. Corporations

Regaining control over the current corporate structures that exist throughout the world will be a very involved process. As a result, it will be one of those issues that must be at the top of our lists of pressing issues, once we have regained our political power.

However, as we are developing our movement, we must not allow ANY unregulated corporate influence. In time, and once we have regained control of our government, we may decide to limit the use of corporations that are successfully regulated and operated, like the Mondragon co-op in Spain. This organization is a good example of how the political principles of Democratic Socialism can be applied to the business environment.

2. Socio/psychopaths

My years of research in this area have concluded that mankind is now, and always has been, primarily and continually under the control of a toxic 1% among us who are socio/psychopaths.

Take into consideration that we test drivers, pilots, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc., but NOT those with the most control over our lives/world – our politicians, CEOs, religious leaders, military, media, etc.!

Why do we not at least test these destructive human parasites before we allow them such power? How can we even begin to consider being constructive, when they are destroying faster than we can build?

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_clinton__080508_beware_the_psychopat.htm

http://www.alternet.org/labor/new-study-says-1-out-every-5-bosses-psychopath

http://www.ponerology.com

http://hare.org

The last link, in this rather short list of links (I have many more.), is to the website of the acknowledged worldwide expert in this field, Dr. Robert Hare, of Canada. Certainly, before we allow any individual who aspires to inhabit some of the most powerful positions in our government, they should be tested to confirm their mental fitness for such positions. Need I state the obvious current example?

3. Political Parties

Of course, as we have now learned from the unheeded advice of our forefathers – DON’T ALLOW THEM! However, we certainly will have to confront them as the power of our movement becomes more of a threat and we contest their authority in parallel political races. At some point, as our ascendency becomes more obvious, there will probably be a legal contest regarding which elected individuals should be recognized as the true representatives of the people’s wishes. Since this issue could very well end up in the Supreme Court, it will be a true test of the integrity of that high court and its view on the very heart of our democracy.

4. Elections

There is no reason that we can’t conduct elections within our movement. We still have control of enough communication systems to setup and establish elections throughout the nation. At all levels, municipal, district, state and nationally we can nominate and elect our own representatives. Within the states, the voting districts that are now in place should work for our movement, since we are not party affiliated and there are certainly citizens within those districts who would prefer our form of Movement Politics.

Of course, we would not allow any of our votes to be compromised or manipulated by computerized voting systems. Instead, we can use local printers to create standardized boilerplate ballots. Voters could be identified and registered the same way that they used to be – by presenting a couple of forms of identification like a drivers license, recent utility bill, student ID, military ID, etc. Vote processing could be done by volunteers and hopefully, the League of Women Voters could be enticed to oversee and verify the whole process. Once we have regained control of our political processes, we should develop computer algorithms that will more equitably and efficiently allocate voting districts.

I believe that each election process will require a multi-step election process, spread over several weekends. For example, primary, secondary and possibly final or runoff elections. Voters will rank their top preferences and by the final/runoff ballots determine their majority choices.

5. Banking

This one is fairly easy to correct – just don’t use them; allow them to, over time, just “dry up” through lack of participation. Instead, use local credit unions and/or state controlled banks who are not part of the national/international banking cartels. Once our movement has taken back the reigns of control over our nation, we can re-install a law like the Glass-Steagall Act which won’t allow banks to use Federally insured bank client funds to gamble. Some of this legislation is partially in place and just needs to be updated and fully instigated.

6. The Media

Because we consumers of information are, by design, losing track of which sources of media are just information and which sources of media are providing unbiased, investigative and edited news, we need to fully fund and modernize The Corporation For Public Broadcasting.

Since we now have highly consolidated, corporate controlled media that makes enormous profits off our overly long election cycles, our movement must initially ignore them and instead, for now, rely on what integrity is still left in our current national systems. Any and all debates will hopefully be held on CPB networks and moderated, again, by The League of Women Voters. Barring that option, we will have to hold our discussions and debates online using the variety of Social Media available to us.

A CALL TO ACTION

I’m 73 years old and became an activist when “they” shot down President John Kennedy in the streets of Dallas, in 1963. My anger and disappointment has been growing ever since. What has been the most astounding feature of the progression of the dissolution of our country, has been the almost military like, consolidated and methodical dismantling of the critical features of our democracy. Issue after issue has been tossed in the path of any and all who attempted to reroute us on our road to collapse and despair.

Most of my life, I was raised, and believed, that the world was evolving for the better and that the youth of the world would have a better life than their parents. I’m not sure when that belief fell away, but I know for certain that it is not the case, today. In spite of all of the effort that was expended during the 2016 Election, the slide into corporatocracy was actually accelerated. The national disappointment was, and still is, palatable.

Ever since the 2000 Election, when the Supreme Court took control of our election process and turned our nation over to the unelected fascist, I have been actively trying to find a way to reverse this downward spiral. What you have just read is the best I could come up with. I sincerely believe that by being aware of the six major issues which I have listed in this paper and working inside a culture of solidarity, our movement can take control of the Congress in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020 … after all, look at what the Tea Party accomplished!

I’m now too old to get “down in the trenches” and take this concept very much further than this – besides, it is NOT about me but all of us together. That’s not to say that I’ll abandon or refuse to do what I can, but I am mostly only able to provide a concept and push, pull and poke it into a reality, to a semi-limited degree. The point I’m making, is that I’m offering this as a possible method of hopefully long-term survival to those who are younger than me and have much more at stake that I do.

Maintaining a focused structure based on the six issues will, should this movement “get some traction,” invite a LOT of opposition and internal stress on individuals and well as the movement itself. Being dedicated and resolute will ensure survival and victory. I know that the talent, will and energy already exists in this country, it is primarily a matter of organizing and staying focused, because – what you focus on, expands!

To jump start this movement, I’m providing a website. I would hope that it can become a national “campfire” which we can all use as a base for our identity as well as a springboard for the development of other aspects of social media. I am not only completely open to questions, suggestions, comments, ideas and complaints, but encourage them.

I’m going to post this article on several websites that have accepted my articles in the past. Additionally, I’m going to post it to our website in anticipation of a lot of traffic and the ensuing responses. Speaking of responses, you can initially contact me using this email address:

knowthat (at) weoccupythe (dot) us

OR

weoccupythe.us

Terry Sneller

July 4, 2017