I am so happy to see people beginning to stand up and reclaim their government! I was online for several hours on Sunday with the people chatting on the Occupy Los Angeles livestreaming chat and sharing ideas regarding the protests and demands that are being formulated. My own thinking on this is in view of the urgency with regard to the exercising of our civil rights, that repealing the Patriot Act should be at the top of the list along with preserving our ability to communicate with one another via the Internet. There is currently a “resolution of disapproval” that has been ramrodded through the House of Representatives by big Telecom that undermines the Net Neutrality regulations that currently exist as well as banning the FCC from enacting future protections. Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is pushing for a vote in the Senate and we must stop this and any other such legislation from passing the Senate as it is a serious assault on our civil liberties and the level playing field to which we are all accustomed on the Internet. So, because our right to assemble peaceably and to communicate freely are vital to the pursuit of any other goals, my two top recommendations for OWS demands are to repeal the Patriot Act and to save the Internet.
There are many other demands that we need to make in order to reclaim our democracy, and I think the one I would place third would be the reason behind occupying Wall Street, to end corporate greed by holding Wall Street and the Banks accountable by prosecuting them for wrongdoing and demanding they pay their fair share of taxes.
Another demand I think is essential is the revocation of corporate personhood, as this is a cancer that has metastasized throughout our system until the corporation runs our government while it pays few of the taxes, pays no royalties on mining and oil on public lands, pollutes our environment, and receives huge amounts of government money in subsidies and contracts.
Ending war would save lives as well as money and help us invest in rebuilding our country and democracy both at home and around the world.
These are the demands with which I would start that double as good slogans for the movement to reclaim our democracy:
- REPEAL THE SO-CALLED PATRIOT ACT! RESTORE THE BILL OF RIGHTS!
- A FREE AND OPEN INTERNET! SAVE NET NEUTRALITY!
- MAKE THE BANKS & WALL STREET PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE!
- PROSECUTE WALL STREET! PROSECUTE THE BANKS!
- END CORPORATE WELFARE! STOP SUBSIDIZING GREED!
- CLEAN UP THE ENVIRONMENT! MAKE POLLUTERS PAY!
- TAX THE RICHEST 1%! SUPPORT THE BUFFETT RULE!
- END ALL THE WARS! BRING THE TROOPS AND MONEY HOME!
- REVOKE CORPORATE PERSONHOOD! PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHTS!
WE are the change we can believe in!!