Twelve Steps to End Political Dysfunction

The Twelve Steps
Corporations are not people, greed is not good, money is not speech, rights are for all, and justice is a moral imperative. We offer these Twelve Steps to Stop the Stupid Now, cleave corrupting money from politics & Rebuild the Great American Middle Class!

1. End Corporate Personhood: Pass and Ratify the 28th Amendment to end this corrosive legal fiction of Citizens United/SCOTUS decision that grants human rights to a lifeless legal entity, on the basis that money is speech, with no evidence of corrupting influence in politics.

2. Guarantee Voting Rights: Enact the VOTING RIGHTS ACT to secure the ballot box, guarantee ease of access, availability for all citizens nationwide. Remove voting from political influence and purchased allegiance.

3. Outlaw Lobbying: Close K Street and the Banking/Defense/Medical/Congressional revolving door that breeds systematic political bribery, delayed promises of employment, hiring of family members. Register for public disclosure all meetings between elected officials and their employees.

4. Restore Banks & Regulate Wall Street: Restore Glass-Steagall, Tax Financial Transactions, Breakup the Big Banks. Too big to fail and too big to prosecute means too big to allow, risk or tolerate. Outlaw commodity ownership by hedge funds.

5. Prosecute Financial Crimes as Crimes: Mandate Jail-time for big and repeat offenders, enact a Corporate Death Penalty for egregious repeat offenders, and mandate full disclosure all regulatory settlements, on public media.

6. Get the Greed Out of Politics with Political Campaign Finance Reform: Full Financial Disclosure for all PACs and NPOs, Set strict donation limits and Publicly Finance State and Federal Political Campaigns, establish equitable Non-partisan Congressional District Reform to end gerrymandering.

7. Simplify the Tax Code with incentives for First Homes and Education: Tax All Income at same progressive rates, Close Corporate Loopholes, Keep Deductions on First Homes, add Student Loan Deduction.

8. Guarantee Workplace Rights: Equitably Adjust and Index the Minimum Wage, Mandate Equal Pay for Women, guarantee Workers Right to Organize.

9. Establish Smart Grid based on Neighborhood Energy Production: Fund and Implement Home Solar Expansion, Build the Smart Grid and Mandate Peak Time Solar Buy-back Rates to promote decentralized green energy production.

10. Guarantee Human and Health Rights: Reestablish oversight of NSA and reverse the militarization of local police forces, establish basic Medicare for All with Reproductive Rights, enact Real Immigration reform with dignity and citizenship.

11. End the War on Drugs: Treat Addiction Medically, End Jail for Minor Drug Offenses, Accurately Reclassify Marijuana as Class 3 narcotic, and release all nonviolent marijuana offenders.

12. End Prisons for Profit: Don't outsource Justice. Justice is our Public Duty and cannot be responsibly assigned for money. Lack of money is not a crime and must never cause incarceration.