Toward a Second Revolution: Establishing Local Democracy

(A program on how to defeat centralized political power & concentrated economic wealth)

Background

For the past 50+ years fascist [1] billionaires and trillionaires have implemented a plan designed to enrich themselves using the powers of government, banking & money creation, taxation, and monopoly corporations as their means of achieving it. They have corrupted our national government -- the executive, legislative, and judiciary -- so much so that it is no exaggeration to assert that the national government is a 'captured' institution, resistant to reform, principally serving the interests of the banking, fossil fuel, military industries, and the other monopoly corporations.

Central Banks & Big Banks devouring the people

While it is imperative that we resist this fascist takeover, it is equally important to rethink our strategy and organize locally to take our country back one city, county, and state at a time...in that order.

Meanwhile, life on planet earth is in grave peril. [2] We are in the midst of the largest mass extinction of species since the age of the dinosaurs,[3] some 66 million years ago. Due almost exclusively to mindless corporate exploitation of natural resources and the consumer culture they propagate, the planet has lost 2/3rds of all animals in the last 50 years. And yet, our captured national government continues the destruction of life with a 'business as usual' attitude, fueling and feeding the very corporations responsible for the decimation of the matrix of life on this planet.

We the people must get organized, we should come together around our founding principles and several key initiatives built upon these principles. We must build a better political system and economy that empowers local government first and liberates us from debt peonage to a privately owned centralized banking cartel.
Think Globally, Act Locally

Our Founding Principles

  1. As the sovereign, we the people can alter or abolish any form of government not conducive to our health, safety, or happiness.
  2. + From the Declaration of Independence.(full text here)
    • "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all persons are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
    • That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among the people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
    • That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
    • and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
  3. + From the Colorado Constitution Article II - Bill of Rights.
    "In order to assert our rights, acknowledge our duties, and proclaim the principles upon which our government is founded, we declare:
    • Section 1. Vestment of political power. All political power is vested in and derived from the people; all government, of right, originates from the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole.
    • Section 2. People may alter or abolish form of government. The people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign and independent state; and to alter and abolish their constitution and form of government whenever they may deem it necessary to their safety and happiness, provided, such change be not repugnant to the constitution of the United States."
  4. + Notes on Sovereignty & Sovereign Rights. (full text here)
  1. Through 250+ years of American history, we have painfully witnessed the emergence of a national government that consumes the largest portion of the taxes we pay to all governments, sometimes as high as 70% of all our tax payments. And this bloated national government is using our money to build and maintain a global military-enforced empire that benefits a small group of corporate rulers in the banking, fossil fuel, military, and other monopoly industries. Common sense tells us that our national government, being the furthest away from the people they should serve, is the most corrupt in large measure because they are not subject to the immediate and powerful presence of the people they are required legally to represent.
  2. From this fact we can derive the next principle:
  1. In other words, local government should be empowered more than the county, the county more than the state, and the state more than the national government.
  2. The current system is configured in exactly the opposite manner, the national government possessing the greatest power, then the state, then the county, and least of all the municipality. Common sense should also inform us that the existing 'pyramid of power' is essentially undemocratic as it makes the national government a virtual aristocracy, far removed from the people, and receiving all the benefits of ultimate power with little accountability to the people they govern.
    And if you look deeply enough, you'll find that there is a root cause to this system, namely, the current Tax Allocation System (city, county, state, & national taxes -- the ratios of distribution to each government, & most significantly, where our taxes are 'deposited' aka 'loaned'). After much searching, I have found that the present Tax Allocation System is in reality a Pyramid Scheme funneling the wealth of many into the coffers of a few.
  3. By contrast, examples of taxation serving the local tax jurisdiction can be found in Germany, whose economy has proven resilient though devastated by 2 World Wars. The Sparkassen Banks of Germany are a model of local self-governance established through locally owned banks constrained in their investments to the local jurisdiction, public banks governed by the so-called Regional Principle.
    If the people are the sovereign, then they are sovereign over their taxes most of all, to assure our tax-wealth is used for the protection of the land, water, health, and well being of the community.
    No government has the right to usurp these essential human rights, or to force a community to accept a grave harm to themselves. Sovereign government begins locally...within the constraints of human rights & the rights of nature.
  1. Clearly, whoever controls the money supply controls the political system. As Anselm Rothschild once said, "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws." And he and his ilk have been controlling the money supply of much of the western world for generations.
    The time is now for the people to reclaim this power of credit creation (aka 'banking') as a public utility for themselves and their posterity, beginning with the reestablishment of City Public Banks! Carpe diem!
  2. Unfortunately, the image that follows illustrates the origin of our current economic divide: namely, the taxes you pay - national, state, county, local - all being 'deposited' in (aka 'loaned to') a privately owned mega-bank that often masquerades as a public institution.

  3. The current PRIVATE Banking Model
  4. Money must therefore become a public utility. And Public Banks should be the only depositories of the people's tax payments, not private banks who profit handsomely off your and my labor.
  5. Private central banks have a long sordid history of making trouble for entire nations, increasing debt, funding monopolies, instigating and financing wars, market crashes, housing crashes, savings and loan failures, and many more.
  6. Wherever and whenever there is a super-concentration of money in private hands, there is a clear and present danger to democracy.
    Justice Brandise - concentrated wealth or democracy not both
  7. There is a better way: Local Public Banks Instead

    The PUBLIC Banking Model

Initiatives Derived from Our Principles & Established in Evidence

    By ballot initiative in each city, county, and state establish a Community Bill of Rights declaring the people's rights of self-governance, to protect themselves, their air, water, land, and other resources from the exploits of corporations and external governments that do their bidding. (See Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and Colorado Community Rights Network ). We must include in this Community Bill of Rights certain precepts that ensure the following:
  1. Corporations are not people and are not entitled to human rights. (Move To Amend) They are property. We do not recognize the rights of corporations, only the rights of people and the rights of nature.
  2. Money is not free speech which can and must be regulated. (Move To Amend)
  3. Money is a public utility to be used for the common good. (Colordo Public Banking)
  4. The people alone are sovereign and can create any form of government suitable to their happiness and well being, and abolish any government that carelessly destroys human and natural life for private gain. (see The Declaration of Independence and the Colorado Bill of Rights Article II)
  5. Nature and its many life forms have an intrinsic right to exist and flourish. Human communities must accommodate other life forms, adjusting its behavior for the benefit of all life.(CELDF on the Rights of Nature)

  1. A key ingredient to our collective liberation from centralized political control and concentrated wealth is the establishment of city, county, and state public banks.
    The image below illustrates why we need public banks now!

    Dynamic Economic Engine Created by Local Public Banks
  2. Currently, almost without exception, each city, county, and state government are depositing your tax wealth in "too big to fail banks" : JPMorganChase, Bank of America, Citi Group, Wells Fargo, and a handful of others. It's our money, so why do our governments deposit our public wealth in privately owned banks?
    I call the current system the PRIVATE Banking Model of Taxation.
    The current PRIVATE Banking Model
    (For the PUBLIC BANKING SOLUTION to the current system see Public Banking Institute
    and the Rocky Mountain Public Banking Institute)
  3. In sharp contrast, publicly owned city, county, and state public banks will divest our tax wealth from Wall Street while investing and multiplying our tax wealth for Main Street, keeping the taxes we pay to city in the city and multiplied many times for the public good, keeping the taxes paid to our counties in the county, again multiplied for the good of the county, and the taxes paid to the state in the state with a Colorado or California State Public Bank as sole depository of all taxes and fees collected by the state. Every city, county, and state should obtain a charter for a Public Bank as sole depository of taxpayer taxes, and to allocate the proceeds for the local community's health and well being, and for a sustainable future. We have no time to waste.

  4. The Future PUBLIC Banking Model
  5. What is a Deposit Anyway? When you or your government (city, county, state) 'deposit' your money or your taxes in a bank, what is going on legally? According to international banking expert, Richard A. Werner, whenever a 'deposit' is made to a bank, a transfer of ownership occurs. When you make a deposit you are loaning money to the bank. The bank becomes the new owner of the money, and the depositor becomes a 'creditor' of the bank. The loan then counts as an asset of the bank. As the new owner, the bank can legally do whatever it wants with that money.
  6. Banks Create the Money Supply Whenever they Issue a Loan
  1. As stated, when communities, cities, counties, and states embrace the inverted pyramid of power, and see the wisdom of empowering local government most -- within a framework of human rights and the rights of nature -- they will accept their enlarged roles and embrace the benefits.
  2. [Your input, strategies, and ideas here (and wherever else you think you can improve this document).]
  1. The national government has demonstrated that they are terrible stewards of the nation's tax wealth. This chart illustrates how the current Tax Allocation System has become a pyramid scheme, funneling the tax wealth of the nation to fewer and fewer people to a national government far removed and out of touch with the American people. They are largely owned by the private banks and the monopolies they finance in the oil industry and military industrial complex. It would be foolish of us to think that the national government will fix the problems that the national government has created. Lord Acton said it best, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely". The national government is far, far, far too powerful. This chart shows why
    . All Taxes Fed State Local
  2. The national government is consuming more than 64% of all the taxes we pay to all governments, and with this vast wealth they have built a global armaments-banking-corporate-stateless empire with over 1000 military bases. Out of control, they are overthrowing popular governments that oppose US designs to steal resources or refuse our currency. 2020 Discretionary Budget - with Exposure of Military and Related

    "Business is business, and its a murder most foul." (Bob Dylan)

    There is a much better way.

  3. The 10-20-30-40 Tax Allocation Restructuring Plan
    We can invert this power pyramid by pooling all our taxes -- income, property, sales, etc.
    Have our local city government or designated entity allocate our taxes accordingly: 40% local, 30% County, 20% State, and receiving the least amount at 10%, the national government. Since the national government cannot discipline itself, it is up to the American people to do so. Our country was founded on a revolution whose clarion call was "No Taxation Without Representation". We have come full circle once again and need a second revolution. This Tax Allocation Restructuring will fulfill Thomas Jefferson's aspiration of locally empowered democracies, providing the greatest portion of our tax wealth to the governments closest to us. 10-20-30-40 Tax Allocation Restructuring
  4. The 10-20-30-40 Tax Allocation Restructuring is built on the principles that governments govern best which are closest to the people they serve; and governments should be empowered inversely proportional to the distance they reside from those they represent; and that money is political power.
  5. #LocalPublicBanksInstead : turning the tax wealth of taxed community (city, county, state) away from the TBTF mega-banks, into locally owned public banks chartered to exclusively serve the taxed community (city, county, state), following the principle of #LocalSelfGovernanceFirst
  6. Learn about the primary importance of Local Public Banks ... banks owned by the people of the jurisdiction the bank is chartered to serve: city, county, state, and national governments, as sole depositories of taxpayer taxes, restricted by the Regional Principle to invest ONLY in the local jurisdiction (city, county, state, nation) ... in 2 website:
  7. The Rocky Mountain Public Banking Institute and
  8. The Public Banking Institute

Footnotes:

1. "Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism, for it is the merger of the state with corporate power." -- Benito Mussolini (Father of Fascism) [Back]

2. "The global population has [more than] tripled since 1930 to more than [seven] billion and will continue to grow for several decades, and the global economy has increased more than 15-fold since 1950. This progress has had a wide-ranging impact on the environment. Our activities have begun to significantly affect the planet and how it functions. Atmospheric composition, land cover, marine ecosystems, coastal zones, freshwater systems and global biological diversity have all been substantially affected." -- A global crisis : The Earth's life-support system is in peril [Back]

3. " The world is hurtling towards the first mass extinction of animal life since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago, according to the most comprehensive survey of wildlife ever carried out. By 2020, the populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and other vertebrate species are on course to have fallen by more than two-thirds over a period of just 50 years, the Living Planet report found. " -- World facing first mass extinction since the dinosaurs as wildlife populations plunge by 67 per cent in 50 years   [Back]

Community Rights
Community Rights include environmental rights, such as the right to clean air, pure water, and healthy soil; worker rights, such as the right to living wages and equal pay for equal work; rights of nature, such as the right of ecosystems to flourish and evolve; and democratic rights, such as the right of local community self-government, and the right to free and fair elections.
Rights of Nature
Environmental degradation is advancing around the world. The United Nations has warned that we are heading toward “major planetary catastrophe.” There is a growing recognition that we must fundamentally change the relationship between humankind and nature. Making this fundamental shift means recognizing our dependence on nature and respecting our need to live in harmony with the natural world. This means securing the highest legal protection and the highest societal value on nature through the recognition of rights.
Overthrow the Speculators
Money, as Karl Marx lamented, plays the largest part in determining the course of history. Once speculators are able to concentrate wealth into their hands they have, throughout history, emasculated government, turned the press into lap dogs and courtiers, corrupted the courts and hollowed out public institutions, including universities, to justify their looting and greed. Today’s speculators have created grotesque financial mechanisms, from usurious interest rates on loans to legalized accounting fraud, to plunge the masses into crippling forms of debt peonage.