2. Equal percentage contribution to social security for 100% of income -- The present system that exempts higher incomes from contribution has been unjust from the day it was implemented. Requiring full contribution refutes the notion of trickle-down economics and fully funds social security so that those who were unable to achieve high income still have a safety net after retirement. The idea of "privatizing" social security is, of course, just a means of making taxed money intended as a pool for support of those in need after they are no longer able to work available to Wall Street investors and so is completely unacceptable. Instead, the movement should act to ensure that those funds are retained in government hands and not available as funds for any other purpose.
This writer also believes that means testing for eligibility is an acceptable strategy if necessary to ensure availability of funds for citizens in need, so would be open to that stipulation provided it is made based on a reasonable level of income, which would, again, be well above the present poverty level. Another method would be to reduce the amount of payments to eligible recipients based on a scale dependent on annual income.
3. Reduction of the military budget from its current $733 billion, which is more than the rest of the world combined (Source: Inter-Faith Peacemakers of Edina, 5320 Windsor Avenue, Edina, MN 55436 (952) 922-3401 http://www.mapm.org), to 1/3 of the rest of the world's expenditure in the prior year. (Not to 1/3 of present spending, but to 1/3 of the rest of the world's spending as a starting point.) These expenditure reductions should be combined with a call for world-wide arms reduction including a moratorium on international arms sales, nuclear weapons, and robotic weapons.
The Obama administration recently approached the UN with the statement that that body would need to find a way to increase its defense capabilities because US budget cuts will necessitate reduced military capabilities. Part and parcel to our military budget reduction, we should call for new world-wide arms control measures as a means of ensuring our own national security as well as that of the world. That is why my recommendation includes moratoria on arms sales, nuclear weaponry and robotic weaponry. This would, of course, be hard fought in the US because so much of our economy is based on arms production and sales. This, combined, perhaps with some tax exemptions or other incentives, should give us leverage to argue for re-investment in alternative energy production, infra-structure improvement, etc.
A special note on robotic weaponry: This author believes that the development of automated warfare holds horrendous potential because it further removes public and even military awareness from the horror of war, and reduces it to something like a video game. Since the Vietnam war protests, our government has learned that it can keep wars going longer if the public is not subject to the draft and does not see daily body counts or photographic accounts of daily battles. Posting soldiers in Nevada to operate drone bombers in Afghanistan isolates even the military from the front lines. That isolation from the realities of war will make it much easier for governments to wage wars.
Robotic warfare can be waged with tools as simple and cheap as remote controlled model airplanes. The fact that the other side can also use these tactics puts our own security at greater risk. The evolution of military tactics into the use of robotics should be outlawed before it develops further.
4. Campaign finance reform - Repeal of the Citizens United decision through a constitutional amendment stating that corporations do not and cannot have the rights of citizens, but exist at the will of the state -- for the betterment of 'society not just to generate a profit. This would be -- and should be touted as -- a return to the original Congressional stance on corporations which, when first established in this country, were chartered as being created for the interests of society and were not allowed to operate strictly for profit generation. Incorporated into this position should be the expectation that companies operating in the US are obligated to these terms and to taxation regardless of where they are headquartered.
Existence for the betterment of society could be defined as job creation with appropriate wages and benefits, development of product lines designed to improve the personal and cultural well-being of the citizenry, and development of products and production methods designed to enhance the health and well-being of the planet.
The upshot of this change would be to greatly reduce the gambling aspect of the Wall Street investment wheel and increase the level of investment in bricks and mortar businesses engaged in culturally appropriate enterprise.
A further step would be to restrict national political campaigns to public airwaves in government sponsored programs that restrict the length and content of campaigns. While this is akin to the goal of repealing Citizens United, it goes further in that it seeks to stop the blitz of expensive, mud-slinging campaign ads that glut our network and cable airwaves during extended campaigns. Restricting all national campaigning to public airwaves would force candidates to discuss issues in debate formats devised by non-partisan panels.
5. Establish a single-payer health care system with participation based on means testing. The present system of private health insurance has long been an obscenity in that only the very rich can afford full coverage, pre-existing conditions are denied any coverage, and insurance companies with an average administrative overhead of 34% make huge profits while shielding themselves from having to pay out benefits. The Obama administration's health care program is widely recognized as a compromise program that extends the insurance companies' control of the health care system. The Medicare program operates with a 2% overhead expense even while offering Advantage Care options that provide nearly 100% coverage at reasonable cost. (For instance, my current Advantage Care plan costs me $100/ year for Part B coverage, drug coverage at $7.00 per prescription, primary care visits for $10 co-pay, specialist visits for $50 co-pay and hospitalization with a $2,500 maximum co-pay.) A single payer system modeled after this kind of Medicare plan but implementing a fair means test to determine premiums is, to me, an acceptable method of containing health care costs while ensuring coverage for all citizens.
While I see the last goal as important in making our movement more meaningful, it would be the first of these goals that I would agree to drop. There are a great many other issues that will demand resolution as well, but as I said at the outset, it is essential for us to limit the scope of our protests if we want to accomplish needed change. The health care initiative is a largely unattainable demand at this time, and others might be, too. Still, I sure would love to force politicians to endorse these ideas if they want my vote!
My challenge to the Occupy Movement is to generate enough clout in the American political system to force these proposals or something like them into the debate for the 2012 presidential election.
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