Community | October 22, 2009 | 17 comments

DIRECT POLITICAL ACTION 101 by Michael Moore

source: http://www.zoetrope.com/files/pri/99005/corpflgb.jpg

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WhiteNoise
FIVE THINGS WE DEMAND THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS DO IMMEDIATELY:

1. Declare a moratorium on all home evictions. Not one more family should be thrown out of their home. The banks must adjust their monthly mortgage payments to be in line with what people's homes are now truly worth -- and what they can afford. Also, it must be stated by law: If you lose your job, you cannot be tossed out of your home.

2. Congress must join the civilized world and expand Medicare For All Americans. A single, nonprofit source must run a universal health care system that covers everyone. Medical bills are now the #1 cause of bankruptcies and evictions in this country. Medicare For All will end this misery. The bill to make this happen is called H.R. 3200. You must call AND write your members of Congress and demand its passage, no compromises allowed.

3. Demand publicly-funded elections and a prohibition on elected officials leaving office and becoming lobbyists. Yes, those very members of Congress who solicit and receive millions of dollars from wealthy interests must vote to remove ALL money from our electoral and legislative process. Tell your members of Congress they must support campaign finance bill H.R.1826.

4. Each of the 50 states must create a state-owned public bank like they have in North Dakota. Then congress MUST reinstate all the strict pre-Reagan regulations on all commercial banks, investment firms, insurance companies -- and all the other industries that have been savaged by deregulation: Airlines, the food industry, pharmaceutical companies -- you name it. If a company's primary motive to exist is to make a profit, then it needs a set of stringent rules to live by -- and the first rule is "Do no harm." The second rule: The question must always be asked -- "Is this for the common good?" (Click here for some info about the state-owned Bank of North Dakota.)

5. Save this fragile planet and declare that all the energy resources above and beneath the ground are owned collectively by all of us. Just like they do it in Sarah Palin's socialist Alaska. We only have a few decades of oil left. The public must be the owners and landlords of the natural resources and energy that exists within our borders or we will descend further into corporate anarchy. And when it comes to burning fossil fuels to transport ourselves, we must cease using the internal combustion engine and instruct our auto/transportation companies to rehire our skilled workforce and build mass transit (clean buses, light rail, subways, bullet trains, etc.) and new cars that don't contribute to climate change. (For more on this, here's a proposal I wrote in December.) Demand that General Motors' de facto chairman, Barack Obama, issue a JFK man-on-the-moon-style challenge to turn our country into a nation of trains and buses and subways. For Pete's sake, people, we were the ones who invented (or perfected) these damn things in the first place!!
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17 comments // DIRECT POLITICAL ACTION 101 by Michael Moore

  • ksutherland27
  • ksutherland27
    • 0
      ksutherland27  

    • why is this not still not currents list...we should make a point of keeping this in the top 20...forever...hold on i gotta call congress again...

    • 2 years ago
  • remanns
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  

    • "...declare that all the energy resources above and beneath the ground are owned collectively by all of us. Just like they do it in Sarah Palin's socialist Alaska".----heh---

    • 2 years ago
  • spacemikey
  • Guyatthebusstation
    • 0
      Guyatthebusstation  

    • /Facepalm

      Just like MM to only have a good idea 20% of the time. #3 is legitimate. The others are dumb and create dumb incentives that will cost more then the benefits.

    • 2 years ago
  • RFIDemocracy
  • Chique
  • larrysnotes
  • CarolynGillis
  • peterzylstramoore
    • 0
      peterzylstramoore  

    • I would add one thing to the list. Our news is as biased and as in bed with corporations as our politicians are, and the reason is the same, politicians are funded through lobbyists and the rich with disposable income.

      Media is owned by the rich and funded by corporate commercialization.

      This has two affects. It turns us into unthinking consumers, and it ensures that what is presented is fairly limited in it`s criticism of it`s funders.

      The problem is funding our news and our entertainment outside of this. Funding should still come through corporatings.

      In fact we could still have it in connection with making product information available to people. Commercials should be replaced with a research body that funds durability, effectiveness, comfort, (sustainability) and other quantitative studies (relative to prices on products available). This information can be made publicly available to people via the internet, and electronic media required in commercial centers. The cost of producing this would be less then commercials. Importantly, advertising would be at the point of consumption rather than creating desires to consume. In fact I would argue it would be protecting our personal freedom of space from being bombarded by garbage that we don`t want to see.

      We should charge corporations enough through this process to also fund our news and even entertainment. This could be done similar to current, where viewers vote on newscasters, shows etc, while ensuring programs that support minority viewpoints, etc. The cost of this would come out of the corporate tax (and it would be no more expensive to corporations then commercials, bill boards, etc)

      We do need to respond to political funding, but equally we need to respond to the media.

      For those who have not read `Manufacturing Consent`by Noam Chomsky please inform yourself on the real problem of corporate and media complicity.

    • 2 years ago
  • twohawks
    • 0
      twohawks  

    • Voted up. Apreciate your posting, WN.

      One comment... per Mr. Moore;s #5...
      I think it is misgiven to consider that we "own" the earth or her energy resources.
      I see such as a gift for facilitating life shared by all here, hence, I feel that "stewards" may possibly serve a more befitting understanding of who beings such as human beings are, or may be..., beings with the gifts for sharing so much advantage of the inherent gifts that are here to reap.
      (Not exactly representing my meaning, but close....)

      I see "Ownership of land" (the Earth or her resources) as an unnatural idea. Seems to me that "capitalism" works (is based) somewhat on the idea of exploitation of whatever 'resources of strength' (so-to-speak) we discover here, ...whether it is earth's resources, other people, or whatever. (Since it is all here for the taking, take as much as you can "have" while you can, damn the torpedos and full speed ahead!)
      This sensability, this notion of "having through taking" seems to me to be a notion based in fear... fear of scarcity, as if ..if we do not cling to or covet the gifts we find we will lose (or never have) them... as if the truths of this earth, sewn into the very fabric of our bodies, and who knows what else, is something separate from (the gift of) 'us'.

      We largely behave as if we have no living connecton with this earth.

      I feel that a more sound truth may live in an understanding (realization) of...We are the gift (for how could we not be?). And the earth reflects this back to us. We thus do not need to covet it. We do not need to exploit it at the sacrifice of others, or of the earth (-->> of ourselves ;^). We only need to care for and nurture that that we hold in the highest esteem (inwardly and/or outwardly)... the gifts as and when we perceive them presented to us.

      The earth responds powerfully to nurture... as does all life.

      I feel that when human beings (more collectively) discover what it may really be, and mean, to stop living in fear, i.e., living from the perspective of fear (the fallacy of notions of strength gained through various dispositions of covetousness), we may begin to see and understand how things really (can) work, and let go of this notion of exploitation as having any real power for us, and begin "allowing" prosperity and all these potential gifts to truly embrace us (our lives).

      I realize it is oftentimes foolish to think that most any sort of so-called "idealistic thinking" may be applied outright to a situation; however, the manifestation of our dreams begins, well, with our dreams... which is something internal... Something internal that we focus outwardly on to coelesce our reality. In those teerms it would seem change begins within. So in a sense, changing our reality begins with changing our minds.

      ANYWAY... Sorry, I really do not mean to come across as 'preaching' anything... only to possibly illicit more careful consideration of our (collective as well as individual) deeply ingrained notions of ourselves as "owners", of ownership..., where that may really come from, how huge a force we have made that out to be in our societal structures on this planet, and what value our fierce concern over ownership of things of this planet, and each other, may really have, or serve.

    • 2 years ago
  • dv627univ
  • artemis6
  • HowdyDo
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • FIVE THINGS WE SHOULD DO TO PROTECT OURSELVES AND OUR LOVED ONES UNTIL WE GET THROUGH THIS MESS:

      1. Take your money out of your bank if it took bailout money and place it in a locally-owned bank or, preferably, a credit union.

      2. Get rid of all your credit cards but one -- the kind where you have to pay up at the end of the month or you lose your card.

      3. Do not invest in the stock market. If you have any extra cash, put it away in a savings account or, if you can, pay down on your mortgage so you can own your home as soon as possible. You can also buy very safe government savings bonds or T-bills. Or just buy your mother some flowers.

      4. Unionize your workplace so that you and your coworkers have a say in how your business is run. Here's how to do it (more info here). Nothing is more American than democracy, and democracy shouldn't be checked at the door when you enter your workplace. Another way to Americanize your workplace is to turn your business into a worker-owned cooperative. You are not a wage slave. You are a free person, and you giving up eight hours of your life every day to someone else is to be properly compensated and respected.

      5. Take care of yourself and your family. Sorry to go all Oprah on you, but she's right: Find a place of peace in your life and make the choice to be around people who are not full of negativity and cynicism. Look for those who nurture and love. Turn off the TV and the Blackberry and go for a 30-minute walk every day. Eat fruits and vegetables and cut down on anything that has sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white flour or too much sodium (salt) in it (and, as Michael Pollan says, "Eat (real) food, not too much, mostly plants"). Get seven hours of sleep each night and take the time to read a book a month. I know this sounds like I've turned into your grandma, but, dammit, take a good hard look at Granny -- she's fit, she's rested and she knows the names of both of her U.S. Senators without having to Google them. We might do well to listen to her. If we don't put our own "oxygen mask" on first (as they say on the airplane), we will be of no use to the rest of the nation in enacting any of this action plan!

      I'm sure there are many other ideas you can come up with on how we can build this movement. Get creative. Think outside the politics-as-usual box. BE SUBVERSIVE! Think of that local action no one else has tried. Behave as if your life depended on it. Be bold! Try doing something with reckless abandon. It may just liberate you and your community and your nation.

      And when you act, send me your stories, your photos and your video -- and be sure to post your ideas in the comments beneath this letter on my site so they can be shared with millions.

      C'mon people -- we can do this! I expect nothing less of all of you, my true and trusted fellow travelers!

      Yours,
      Michael Moore
      MMFlint@aol.com
      http://MichaelMoore.com

    • 2 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • FIVE THINGS WE CAN DO TO MAKE CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT LISTEN TO US:

      1. Each of us must get into the daily habit of taking 5 minutes to make four brief calls: One to the President (202-456-1414), one to your Congressperson (202-224-3121) and one to each of your two Senators (202-224-3121). To find out who represents you, click here. Take just one minute on each of these calls to let them know how you expect them to vote on a particular issue. Let them know you will have no hesitation voting for a primary opponent -- or even a candidate from another party -- if they don't do our bidding. Trust me, they will listen. If you have another five minutes, click here to send them each an email. And if you really want to drop an anvil on them, send them a snail mail letter!

      2. Take over your local Democratic Party. Remember how much fun you had with all those friends and neighbors working together to get Barack Obama elected? YOU DID THE IMPOSSIBLE. It's time to re-up! Get everyone back together and go to the monthly meeting of your town or county Democratic Party -- and become the majority that runs it! There will not be many in attendance and they will either be happy or in shock that you and the Obama Revolution have entered the room looking like you mean business. President Obama's agenda will never happen without mass grass roots action -- and he won't feel encouraged to do the right thing if no one has his back, whether it's to stand with him, or push him in the right direction. When you all become the local Democratic Party, send me a photo of the group and I'll post it on my website.

      3. Recruit someone to run for office who can win in your local elections next year -- or, better yet, consider running for office yourself! You don't have to settle for the incumbent who always expects to win. You can be our next representative! Don't believe it can happen? Check out these examples of regular citizens who got elected: State Senator Deb Simpson, California State Assemblyman Isadore Hall, Tempe, Arizona City Councilman Corey Woods, Wisconsin State Assemblyman Chris Danou, and Washington State Representative Larry Seaquist. The list goes on and on -- and you should be on it!

      4. Show up. Picket the local branch of a big bank that took the bailout money. Hold vigils and marches. Consider civil disobedience. Those town hall meetings are open to you, too (and there's more of us than there are of them!). Make some noise, have some fun, get on the local news. Place "Capitalism Did This" signs on empty foreclosed homes, closed down businesses, crumbling schools and infrastructure. (You can download them from my website.)

      5. Start your own media. You. Just you (or you and a couple friends). The mainstream media is owned by corporate America and, with few exceptions, it will never tell the whole truth -- so you have to do it! Start a blog! Start a website of real local news (here's an example: The Michigan Messenger). Tweet your friends and use Facebook to let them know what they need to do politically. The daily papers are dying. If you don't fill that void, who will?

      *******************************************************************
      My two cents ;)
      1 ) http://www.youtube.com/user/jfwilliam
      2) http://whitenoiserants.webnode.com//
      3) http://whitenoise.webnode.com/
      4) http://current.com/users/WhiteNoise/submit/0.htm

    • 2 years ago
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