We are students taking a one-week course on activism at EPIC Academy in Chicago. We believe strongly in power of a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens to change the world.

President Obama has made an offer to Republican John Boehner to cut Social Security benefits and leave in place some of the Bush tax cuts for the top 2%. The cuts in Social Security would amount to "a cut of more than 5 percent and more as the years go by." For many retirees this would mean critical cuts to benefits that cover medicine, food, and other daily necessities. We need to stop taking earned and promised benefits from our country's neediest in order to protect the top 2% of the wealthiest individuals from a most deserved tax increase.

I will retire in 5 years. I will need all the money I can scrape together. So will most retirees. I worked my entire adult life, often at 2 jobs and while going to law school. I earned my retirement and right to health care.

GMO's are now an almost mainstream topic, as it should be. President Obama while campaigning, stated he was for GMO labeling, and now has ducked away from this issue. The issue of GMO's is of far greater importance to every human than all the other distracting subjects debated to exhaustion, everyday by the media in the United States. What is more important than knowing; what is in our foods and what our President's opinion is on this?

Creating a peaceful culture! I am concerned because I am an Epidemiologist, and violence is a deadly social epidemic disease. I am the 1st recipient of "Peace Award," from the American Public Health association. "I have a dream that one day, we all live in a peaceful world"

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My daughter receives Social Security benefits because she is disabled and unable to work. Although she continues to seek employment she has not been successful. Social Security benefits assist her and others in similiar situations with housing, food and other essentials for day to day living.

My daughter receives Social Security benefits because she is disabled and unable to work. Although she continues to obtain employment she has not been successful. Social Security benefits assist her and others in similiar situations with housing, food and other essentials for day to day living.

The Bill Of Rights has been under attack by the last two presidential administrations. Our 1st, 4th, and now our 2nd. These rights are individual rights that are inalienable (non transferable). None is more important than the other, they must all be preserved. They are supposed to be preserved by the the very government taking them away. The United States Constitution and specifically the Bill Of Rights must be "amended" if these rights are to no longer be considered Natural Rights. It is our responsibility to help preserve these rights for future generations. What we are witnessing today is exactly what the Founders foresaw and feared.

Again and again, the Democratic Party has caved in to right-wing demands; it is hardly recognizable as The Democratic Party. It is time to support third parties that will do what they say for working people, students, the elderly and the rest of the 99%. The "Fiscal Cliff" is a fantasy created by Madison Avenue to take more of our hard-earned benefits away. Deals to cut our benefits mean that we need to walk away from the Democratic Party and register as "independents" who can not support these betrayals.

As students of Eastern High School in Louisville Kentucky we have recently been introduced to the devastating problems facing our national forests. After reading the book "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson it was drawn to our attention the little effort the US Forest Service was providing in solving the issues. In fact much of the funding was used inappropriately for things such as the timber industry and roads, hurting our beautiful woods. Though the Forest Service has recently improved with the "Roadless Law" we believe that our country can do much better!

The proposed cuts to Social Security to make up for your (OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS). NO MORE CUTS!! NO MORE BORROWING!!