A General Strike in support of a new Constitution:
I tried to initiate a General Strike in the US back in 2007 as a response to those who think the average US
The only thing I would change are the goals, since the original goals were too narrow in scope. Now I am pushing for the convening of a Constitutional Convention with the power to replace – not merely amend – the US Constitution. This replacement would take effect when ratified by two-thirds of all eligible US
Since the current Constitution is silent on how to enact a replacement, I argue that two-thirds of We-the-People favoring replacement should suffice. After all, a two-thirds vote by both houses of Congress can overrule a presidential veto. That should serve as a reasonable standard in this case. What isn’t reasonable is to insist on a three-fourths vote, especially three-fourths of the states. If our 13 least populous states (in which live less than 4.4% of the total US population) voted against the new Constitution, that would serve to thwart the will of supporters living in the other 37 states.
To put a finer point on the matter – if the 2.2% of voters living in those 13 states opposed, it wouldn’t matter if everybody else in the remaining 37 states wanted this change. That 2.2% would be enough to thwart Real Change You Can Believe In.
What we have to ask ourselves is simply this: Should consideration of how the states feel, as if a state could feel, override how We-the-People feel? These two facts should weigh against the states vs. the People:
· The 25 least populous states contain less than one-sixth of the total population. Should one-sixth be allowed to impose its will on the other five-sixths?
· For a state to successfully oppose a Constitutional amendment, under the current rules, only 50% plus one of its participating voters would have to vote “No.” If a state can oppose or support with 50% plus one, how is it unreasonable to require for passage the support of two-thirds of all registered voters who vote on this issue?
As I’d written four years ago
Opening salvo:
I hereby declare that a General-yet-Incremental Strike against the top seven U.S.
Simple Statement of Strike’s Action Plan
If you have a personal checking or savings account in one of the banks listed below, close your account. Then put that money in a bank not listed below, ideally a much smaller bank.
Targeted banks:
· Bank of America
· J.P. Morgan Chase Bank
· Citibank
· Wachovia Bank
· Wells Fargo Bank
· U.S.
· Suntrust Banks
Goals of the strike:
This strike shall be considered successful when:
· Bush and Cheney resign from office (or are impeached and convicted);
· The United States withdraws all forces from Iraq
Evaluation of Strike Goals:
The removal of Bush and Cheney is the primary goal and the strike may be considered sufficiently successful for that reason alone. However, individual strikers might decide to keep their deposits in their new banks until the second goal is also fulfilled.
Detailed Statement of Strike’s Action Plan
This strike is not meant to deal a crippling blow to the US
On November 1, 2007, all depositors in the Top Seven whose last names begin with the letter A will abandon the Top Seven. On November 2, those with surnames beginning with B will follow suit; on Nov. 3 those with letter C will join in, etc. After November 26, there shall commence a waiting period until December 1, when the cycle will re-commence. The first day of each following month will re-start this cycle.
The Top Seven’s depositors should follow this strategy until we win. Establishing this schedule will make it easy to remember when we are supposed to act. For example, if it’s the 10th day of the month, that’s the trigger date for those with last names beginning with J, which is the 10th letter of the alphabet.
By the way, if your trigger date happens to fall on a Sunday, or if you can’t make it to the bank on that day to close out your account, it would be perfectly fine to act shortly thereafter.
Scheduling a waiting period after the 26th of each month will give the Powers-That-Be, as well as We-the-People, a chance to gauge the effectiveness of this strategy and reconsider how much pressure we’d care to continue applying (or any adjustments we’d care to make). Those decisions, of course, would be up to each individual.
By the way, I invite all Top Seven depositors to participate in this Strike – including foreigners. Some of you bitterly complain that you can’t vote in US elections to influence our policies. But this you can do: Vote with your deposits. Which is what I say to each American who believes his vote for president wasn’t properly counted in 2000 or 2004.
Immediate Actions
The most important single action you can take right now is to spread the word. We are, in effect, declaring war against the banks by targeting the banking system’s most successful members. And why not? Don’t they wage war against us on a daily basis?
Some strikers might want to act above and beyond the strategy I’ve declared. For instance, during the month of November 2007, Mr. Z might not want to wait until November 26 to act; he might want to jump in right away. In that first month, Mr. Z’s haste won’t unduly upset the applecart – obviously. The strike will be relatively unknown at that point, with few participants.
In the case of Mr. Z and others like him, I bow down to the wisdom of We-the-People. I say, “You’re a loyal American who wouldn’t do anything to harm this country, so I leave it to your good judgment as to exactly when and how you’d choose to act. My proposal is simply meant to serve as a guideline.”
If you, dear reader, decide to participate in this strike, you might make an additional impact by telling your bank (for instance, Bank of America) why you’re doing this. Merely withdrawing your money won’t make as big a statement as, say, giving BoA’s Customer Service agent a copy of this blog post. And, even better, sending a copy to your local lapdog mainstream media outlet and your lapdog Dem/Pub Congressman.
Additional Actions
Until this strike action becomes widely supported, early supporters might decide to supplement my basic strategy. These additional actions could even be undertaken by people who don’t have deposits in any of the Top Seven Banks.
For instance:
· Buy silver or gold coins, keeping those in storage (and out of the banks) instead of holding paper currency.
· Exchange (on a temporary basis) your excess dollars for foreign currency.
· Resolve to take an affordable amount of currency out of circulation for “a while” – by storing it in a safe deposit box.
· Decide to severely limit your traditional Christmas purchases (except for the very young children in your life who wouldn’t understand).
· Avoid purchasing heavily advertised, brand name products.
Who am I to declare a General Strike?
Who am I to initiate this great undertaking?
To which I answer: If not me, then who? If not now, then when?
I am doing this, simply because nobody else is, and I believe this is an action long overdue.
However, my biggest reason is: I hope this action demonstrates that I have enough leadership to become the next US
If the U.S. Congress won’t impeach Bush because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declares such an option “off the table”…
If the U.S. Congress won’t impeach Bush because it knows that the Senate absolutely will not convict….
or because it “knows” it can’t also bring down Cheney and, therefore, fears a Cheney regime or (for that matter) a Pelosi regime…
then it’s up to We-the-People to impeach Bush/Cheney.
You didn’t know We could do that, did you? Well, the outcome of this General Strike should put that question to rest by (hopefully) carving out more power for the little guy than he ever dreamed possible. Of course, my simple declaration of a General Strike means nothing without your support. So I offer this as encouragement: If you want to fight the power of concentrated wealth, you must concentrate your efforts by joining them with those of millions of others.
Thanks, of sorts, to Garret Keizer
I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Garret Keizer who wrote this article in Harper’s Magazine’s October 2007 issue: “Specific Suggestion: General Strike.”
I thank Mr. Keizer for inspiring me to take action against Bush/Cheney. However, I fault him for being rather circuitous and passive in his voice. For instance, he writes:
“If someone were to suggest [a General Strike]…” [My God, man, take a bold stand, why don’t you?] and
“No one person…has the prerogative to call or set the date for a general strike.”
I emphatically disagree with that last. “No one person?” Indeed! If the Ship of State is sinking, each of us has that prerogative. The profound difference here is: I’ve decided to exercise it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
UPDATE: Words of encouragement:
The only way a General Strike can work is for us to convince people there’s no other way – and that sticking by our current set of rules and rulers will lead us to ruin. Of course, a lot of people will fear the unknown, saying in effect: “It’s better to stick with our flawed system because it’s a known quantity. Why risk holding a Constitutional Convention the results of which would be unknown until after the fact as well as perhaps downright bad?”
The only way to counter such passive, sit-on-our-hands, and do nothing thinking is to educate people. Democracy can’t work anyway without education and participation – which might explain our current dysfunctionality. So it is up to us to point out what’s bad and how we might fix it.
I will close with a few questions meant to stimulate those who have been on autopilot for so long:
· Why cling to the Second Amendment, when its original and practical purpose was to oppose slave revolts? Protecting our liberty these days can’t boil down to armed minutemen taking to the streets – only to be crushed by tanks. If we remember to use the device of the General Strike, it won’t be necessary to fire a shot.
· Why should federal judges be given appointments for life?
· Why not consider banning political parties as currently structured – that is, in their role of massive fundraisers and pressure groups? Why not at least make them pay for services they currently get free of charge – like primaries run at state expense?
· Why not attempt to streamline a legal system which is prohibitively expensive for the little guy?
· Why continue to allow churches to avoid paying taxes?
· Why allow for a Senate filibuster which thwarts the will of the majority?
· Why allow a large number of relatively underpopulated states to wield disproportionate power?
· Why continue to allow corporations to have the same rights as human beings, with little or no accountability for the largest and most powerful of them?
Steven Searle for US President in 2012
Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party
“By the way, don’t let anybody tell you we don’t have the right to replace the Constitution.”
Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
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