Draft Declaration of #OccupySacramento

Looks like Jefferson had something of a rough time drafting that Other Declaration, too... hm.

WORKING DRAFT – Declaration of the Occupation of Sacramento
Posted on October 8, 2011 by junio.april

What We (“Occupiers”) Are For and Against

We believe: America and America’s system of government is rightly founded upon a simple ideal: that the purpose of government ought to be maintaining both liberty and justice for all.

We also believe there is a single practical means for accomplishing that ideal: our government must, in actual practice, be – as Lincoln said – one that is “of, for and by the People.”

And we believe that the idea of “the People,” as it has rightly developed and expanded over the course of American history, is, in its very essence, inclusive and egalitarian.

No American is to be excluded from full and equal participation regardless of their origin, race, gender, gender identity, economic status, social status, religion, or sexual orientation. But banning discrimination based on these categorical biases is is not sufficient to ensure liberty and justice for all Americans.

When the Majority of Americans can no longer effectively control the government because they can’t afford enough lobbyists, we no longer have a functioning democracy. The primary intent of this movement is to dismantle the current structure of the United States of America’s corrupt financial system in order to rescue the American economy from its inevitable total collapse. In order to Accomplish this the nation must:

Eliminate corporate “personhood”. Discontinue allowing the private corporation the “Federal” Reserve to manipulate interest rates and cash flow, consistently destabilizing and undermining the American economy for the benefit of speculators. Dismantle “too big to fail” banks so they can no longer jeopardize the American economy. Overturn the Supreme Court’s outrageous “Citizens United” ruling. No longer tolerate corporate campaign contributions of ANY KIND WHATSOEVER-corporate interests are incompatible with human interests.

What we oppose is: the corporate effort to transform our nation into a system in which the government is of, for, and by the wealthy elite, excluding the interests of the great majority of the American People.

We have “taken to the streets” precisely to create an effective, sustainable political movement to save our nation from this corporate effort to subvert our democracy and turn it into an empire ruled by the wealthy elite.

Nothing could be more American than assembling in the streets to speak to our fellow citizens about our government and our rights. Why should we be arrested for this? What are the dangers we pose? And to whom?

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What's really something? It's a revolutionary act for the People to make this kind of statement in modern-day America.

The very act of speaking -- rather than being spoken to or spoken about by the 1% who hold the power -- has become a subversive act of revolt and rebellion.

And in Sacramento, to assert your rights to do so after "closing time" is an act of rebellion so severe that you will be subject to arrest and detention.

This is what a soft police state looks like.

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I've noticed, too, that the language of the Occupation has changed. The participants are no longer being referred to as "protesters" internally and for public consumption. They are now called "Occupiers."

Yay!