A New Era of American Responsibility
We the People of the United States of America decree the rights of old offer scant protection and clarity in regards to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the modern age. Governments and businesses have grown indifferent to human voice, suffering and need. The United States economy has changed focus from manufacturing and labor to science and service base employment. While there is nothing inherently wrong with either field, our government ignores middle class needs, placating businesses by providing new profit streams, allowing the outsourcing of decent paying jobs overseas to offer greater shareholder benefit. We the People are here to say, We are still here, We still matter, We will not be ignored.
Our grievances will be stated plainly:
Doling out money to any foreign sovereign nation while under a deficit budget does nothing to further the cause of Americans. Our infrastructure crumbles and we give billions of tax dollars away. According to National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP, 2013), we have 16 million children living in poverty, hungry, lacking resources, yet we continue to fund expensive defense projects utilized to destroy those less fortunate than us.
We make it near impossible for hard working people seeking a better life to come to the United States and stake claim to a new future. To make better the lives for them and their families accordingly, as our ancestors previously accomplished. To what aim? Protecting a white majority scared for its future? Businesses have gained too much power, and created a strong voice using money to defend their arguments. Americans are working longer, and making less money than ever before. With only twenty states allowing for lunch break laws it is left to corporate discretion whether or not to provide breaks of any sort. I have personally fallen victim to this lack of humanity, finding myself working a twelve hour shift with no meal break, no way to take one, while earning a discernibly low wage to manage a store. There are many others who suffer in this capacity, and this is morally incomprehensible. If twenty states agree the right to eat a meal at work is too important to be ignored, then a federal law should be enacted. Starving while working is not productive for any party.
War. It is too expensive, and not used at the right times. We should stand ready with the strongest National defense possible, and attack when attacked. The world’s conflicts are not our responsibility, which is why our solutions yield terrible results.
We guarantee a free press, yet we are the 46th freest press in the world. We have corrupted the Bill of Rights into hollow sentiment, and become criminals beholden to our citizens for failing to uphold, protect, and make stronger the freest country born to this earth. While our focus on technology has kept us a leader in the world economy, it has left people under served here, and everywhere. Our educational system, once highly regarded, is now antiquated, suitable for workforce of 70 years ago. We have not adapted our curriculums to make our American children successful in this modern world of computers, science, and engineering. We have allowed college costs to spiral out of control, making success even harder. We have failed our children by not acting or taking responsibility for the world and life around us.
We the People are using our voice, so our actions need not regress to the levels of our government leadership. We demand all rights previously bestowed restored to the letter of the law, never allowing our rights to ring hollow again.
We the People decree:
1. All laws deemed to discriminate against any lawful citizen of the United States of America shall be struck as Unconstitutional. The People agree we are created equal.
2. The right to bear arms has kept America safe from attack while our list of enemies grows. This right cannot be infringed as it guarantees a level of safety not enjoyed in the rest of the world.
3. We must have the freest press, dedicated to bringing We the People real and truthful information, not to entertain, but inform and educate. The Attorney General of the United States shall prosecute any government official found to deceive American's purposely through media response. The people acknowledge that knowledge is power and that is why you keep it from us.
4. All federal politicians' salaries will be forever tied to the per capita GDP of the United States of America, as their high salaries and earning potential have caused them weaken laws protecting the middle class.
5. Wages have been stagnant or decreasing for years. A federal minimum wage of twenty dollars an hour shall be established, with a yearly cost of living adjustment. There will be no exceptions for this, including tipped employees, farm workers, interns, and prisoners. Half of all profit from publicly traded companies will be paid in equal amounts to employees below the executive level, and the other half will disperse to investors. We the People agree the dollar has been devalued along with our efforts in the workforce, and we demand equal treatment, equal pay, and real equitable distribution of resources. Employees are the first fired when a company suffers, and the last rewarded for hard work.
6. All workers will guaranteed a half hour meal break per six hours worked.
7. No member of the government shall vest better benefits for themselves than the lowest paid full time employee in any publicly traded company.
9. All monopolies in business will be required to pay eighty percent tax on all profits, decreasing the tax burden for individual Americans.
10. No tax shall be levied in manner higher than seven percent of the total value for individuals not including business or corporations. Any tax higher shall be reduced accordingly. We the People agree taxes are important to the functioning of society, but over taxing allows for overspending while needlessly burdening the population.
11. We the People disband the electoral college in favor of the popular vote. We the People declare our vote competent and representative of our nature, and we declare the leader of the free world should not be won on technicalities, but by the will and favor of the majority of Americans.
12. Companies found to be corrupt, and guilty of infractions damaging American perception at home, our position in the world, and the economy shall be closed, with the executive and board members being prosecuted by the Attorney General.
13. We the People decree this document is incomplete, any and all additions shall come from a majority vote of Americans, and obligatory for the betterment of society.
The United States of America is the preeminent country on earth, yet there is substantial room for improvement. This document aims to end the oppression and digression away from the human rights and dignities famously claimed to be found here in the United States.
References
National Center for Children in Poverty. (2013, January). NCCP | Child Poverty. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html
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