Chapter 46: Example Text of Declaration of the Transition (U.S. -Oriented Version, to Be Adapted Appropriately for Each Country and Culture at the Time of Their Transition)

Attention all citizens and residents of the United States of America:

The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America affirms that: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 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 Men, 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government."

We are now in such a situation once again in the United States. At this time in history, however, the threat to and negation of our rights, freedoms, peace of mind and security does not come from a foreign king or occupying force, but from an internal economic power structure that largely and increasingly influences, manipulates and controls the government, laws and courts of our country to the escalating detriment of the vast majority of the People. This power structure, and those who control it, are not accountable and do not answer to the People. This situation constitutes no less of a despotic abuse of the People than did the British monarchy at the time of the inception of our country.

Under the banner of "Free Enterprise," gigantic corporations and an ultra-wealthy elite are increasingly establishing themselves as new feudal lords of the modern era, at the expense of the life, liberty, pursuit of happiness and other rights of the vast majority of the People. The current economic paradigm is consistently and increasingly establishing itself as a legal pyramid scheme, functionally no different from illegal pyramid schemes. Those at the top of the pyramid overwhelmingly profit and gain power at the expense of everybody farther down the pyramid. These new ruling powers influence government through lobbyists, disinformation and control of resources, increasingly eclipsing and drowning out the voices and will of the overwhelming majority of the People.

Now we are seeing our country in thrall to an emerging culture and legal system that grants companies and corporations dictatorial power over their employees in matters of their personal lives, such that a person may be deprived of livelihood, medical care, and basic necessities because their employer does not like their personal lifestyle, political or religious beliefs. Without livelihood, and with negative references from a former employer, all Persons are effectively blocked from exercising all of their rights as a Person. There can be no government of, by, and for The People without a socio-economic paradigm of, by and for The People.

Under this current economic paradigm, all Persons are by default denied the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness unless they pay for it. It is largely and increasingly the same ultra-wealthy ruling elite who generally determine how much persons will be paid for their work and how much they will have to pay for the necessities of life. The resulting economic disparity has widened to such extremes that the ever-increasing majority of people are unable to exercise any of their Constitutional rights. The United States of America has increasingly come to resemble a “company town” on a national scale.

Without economic empowerment and equality, without economy of, by, and for the People, there can be no democracy, no free society of free individuals, no practical expression of the spirit of the Constitution and the rights it confers upon us the People.

The current economic paradigm is a direct threat to a free and democratic society. It feeds and fosters increasing despotism through a power structure that is not answerable to the People. It weakens and damages us as a people and as individuals by bringing about the stratification and division of our national Community into opposing factions and sectors constantly at odds with each other. Any person who serves in our armed forces, law enforcement or other branches of Service who have sworn an oath "to defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic," has a duty to oppose this economic paradigm, its institutions, and those who use force and subversion of the legal system to keep this paradigm in place.

When the time soon comes to decommission this fundamentally, irreparably flawed economic paradigm and system, you who have taken this oath to defend the Constitution must legally, logically and morally join and defend those who are bringing about the transition to a new system designed to nurture and foster a truly free, democratic society made up of free, empowered, fully actualized co-operating individuals. Your duty is not to defend those who cling to the old despotic paradigm but to support those bringing the change. Your sacred oath demands it.

For the past three or more decades, more and more citizens have had to work steadily more hours for steadily less freedom, options, respect, dignity and quality of life, while a very few have gained wealth and power that effectively puts them above the law in practice. The abomination of "corporate personhood" has made a mockery of the sovereignty of the individual human being and pitted hardworking citizens against gigantic corporations that control more resources than many countries, in a manner reminiscent of a half-starved peasant going up against a large squad of the King’s best knights.

Under the current economic paradigm, every human being's right to exist is denied unless paid for. People are judged by their stature in the economic pyramid. The opportunities, level of freedom, options, quality of life and the respect they are afforded is rigidly dictated by their financial status.

The concept that "anybody can make it" is a half-truth that perpetuates an illusion because this economic paradigm can only function as a pyramid. There is not room in the upper reaches of the pyramid for more than a very few. This is directly contradictory to the spirit, letter, and intention of the Constitution and subsequent Amendments which have steadfastly adapted the original Constitution to explicitly grant more and more freedom, respect, dignity and rights to human beings as new issues have arisen that were not present in the days of the Founders. Yet under the current economic paradigm, the instruments of government are increasingly seeking to curtail the rights of most individuals in favor of granting ever more powers and “rights” to businesses and the wealthy over and above non-wealthy human beings.

This is an insidious and unacceptable example of what was meant when the Founders wrote "when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Under the facade of a democratic appearance, the United States has become a Corporatocracy, a dictatorship of the ultra-wealthy and of their corporations. In the spirit of the Constitution, the time has come to end this economic Paradigm and establish a new one designed to empower all individuals to exercise their rights and make their greatest contribution to the Community in a truly free, synergistic, cooperative process.

It is therefore imperative upon us to change the paradigm by non-violent force of concerted action.

From this day henceforth, let every person, with certain exceptions detailed below, go to their job and perform it to the best of their ability but with one difference: the hierarchies of businesses are not to be observed, recognized, obeyed, nor respected. Let no person pay rent, mortgage, or bills nor pay for any goods or services, and let no person working in the production and distribution of goods and/or services charge for said goods and services.

Let all accounts be marked current and paid in full, in the software or accounting of respective enterprises and institutions. From this moment forward, let every enterprise be governed and decisions made by consensus among those producing in them, under scrutiny of the Public. When managers, directors, bosses, supervisors, boards of directors and their ilk attempt to impose their rule and authority, let all workers and producers steadfastly ignore them and inform them that their services are no longer required, then invite them to share in useful production or else escort them forcibly but respectfully and unharmed from the premises.

Let every person have their cell phone, camcorder or other recording device on their person, charged and ready to document the events as the overthrow and Transition continue. Let every person be a reporter, ready to stream unfolding events to the world. If minions of the deposed former owners, bosses, and other persons of former authority of the now obsolete business hierarchies attempt to force us to cease producing goods and services and re-establish their control, resist them peacefully but forcefully. Only use violence if it is absolutely necessary to defend ourselves or others in the face of violence on the part of our opponents, and even then only the minimum necessary to ensure safety.

If law enforcement or military personnel attempt to enforce the will of the deposed ruling class, let us resist them and refuse, respectfully but uncompromisingly, to comply. We will keep the lights on, the food coming to the tables, the hospitals and schools running, the airplanes flying, the flow of goods and services operating. Thus we will show proof that we can do so in the absence of the hierarchies and in the absence of money or the demands for money.

If the former ruling classes seek to re-establish their control, we must resist respectfully and forcefully while filming and recording to show the world who are the peaceful ones seeking to keep the normal operations of life running and who are the hooligans, bullies and barbarians seeking to bring things to a halt.

We must at all times discipline ourselves not to engage in acts of revenge or of purging our anger and resentment against our former oppressors. Our goal is a more compassionate, free, democratic, humane society. There is no room in this for vengeance and vigilantism. The current economic despotism is the result of a deeply flawed and corrupt paradigm. When the game is oppressive, we need not punish the players for playing it, but simply abolish the game and replace it with something that better serves the freedom, empowerment, unity in diversity, quality of life and well-being of individuals and the Community.

Let all who have worked in banks, insurance companies, financial institutions, stock exchanges, loan and credit organizations, billing departments, collections and similar functions, lock, physically block with vehicles or other impediments, cut power to and cut or jam communication lines to, and otherwise prevent these institutions from opening or functioning. The only functions that will be performed in these facilities, if any, will be to process data to ensure that all people are shown in every system as paid in full, account current. Let software developers of production and billing software immediately set to work to redesign the software to eliminate billing, collections, and all similar functionality.

Let engineers, designers, and developers in all companies in all industries reach out to each other and grant each other direct access to all of your data and systems and begin sharing all data and expertise as the first step towards completely integrating your knowledge into unified databases. Your former corporate employers are hereby decommissioned. You and all who work to produce your goods and services are now co-owners, co-decision-makers, and co-stakeholders. Immediately lock out your former mangers and other superiors from all data and take measures to prevent them from deleting, sabotaging or sequestering data, schematics, processes, research, etc. If they attempt to interfere, use the minimum level of force necessary to prevent them and maintain a respectful attitude at all times.

Let marketing and advertising agencies re-purpose themselves into instruments of education, information dissemination, and public service.

As of this appointed day, the United States of America is abandoning the reigning economic paradigm and establishing a new one that is in keeping with the spirit and intention of the Constitution in establishing a truly free, democratic and empowered society of free, empowered individuals.

All debts are hereby canceled and currency is abolished.

From this day forward, all processes of production and distribution of goods and services will be administered and driven by democratic or consensus-based decision-making involving all persons participating in the process. Hierarchical social and economic structures are to be eliminated and, where these are temporarily functionally necessary, reduced, minimized, de-emphasized, strongly regulated and transparent to public view.

This is not an overthrow of the government. It is an overthrow of the economic power structure and paradigm that have undermined the intention of the Constitution and deprived ever-increasing numbers of The People from exercising their Constitutional rights. Government personnel have nothing to fear and are encouraged to monitor the Transition and continue with their work. However, let those in government take notice that the Corporate lobbies that have long manipulated, influenced and determined governmental decisions, behaviors and policies, are hereby abolished by will and action of the People. Let our elected officials be conscious that this Transition means that they are now responsible directly to The People and only The People. Let them act accordingly.

We the People call upon our government to freeze and seize the accounts, records, offices and other assets of all Corporations and large businesses and make all of their records easily accessible to The People and the world. Let full impartial investigations be launched into the policies and business practices of all such businesses and of all persons of decision-making and policy-setting power within such businesses. Where there is evidence of practices injurious to employees or the People of this or any other country, or damaging to the environment upon which all life depends to survive, and that such policies were carried out in full knowledge of such damaging effects, then let those responsible be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law through due process as appropriate for fraud, extortion, crimes against the People or against Humanity, locally or via The Hague international court depending on the nature of their crimes. Let those found innocent of any crimes or offenses be allowed to go about their lives with no harassment or impediment.

Let all citizens and residents of the United States treat each other with respect, courtesy and civility. If any formerly wealthy persons, landlords, bosses, owners, CEO's or any other persons insist upon being treated with exceptional deference and that their will be imposed, let their demands be ignored and unheeded. Neither obey nor dispute with persons displaying such behaviors but rather calmly ignore them. Do not reinforce these behaviors by engaging them in any way. If they or any other persons become violent, let us respond to them firmly but compassionately according to the law and with due process.

Since there may be confusion, conflict, panic, looting, rioting and/or lawlessness to varying degrees during the time of the Transition, due to predictable human responses to the unknown and due also to pre-existing tensions and resentments, let all peacekeeping personnel be on high alert and prepared to contain and de-escalate these reactions. Let them do so firmly and with an attitude of respect for all people, regardless of whether the violence be enacted by the formerly poor, racial or religious nationalists or fanatics, formerly elite persons seeking to re-establish and enforce their status and control, or any other persons. Brutality on anybody’s part, including law enforcement officers, is not to be tolerated. It is to be neutralized with the minimum level of violence possible in a manner and with intention to go to the greatest lengths to preserve the safety, dignity and well-being of all persons. The purpose and emphasis of response will be to ensure peace and safety, not to punish or recriminate.

Since our nation and our people also have real enemies among the nations of the world, let all Defense Forces place themselves on high alert and be ready to prevent, repel, and combat any attempts to attack or invade our borders. Once the Transition is complete, let all citizens be trained in the art and skill of guerrilla warfare and civil defense, so that in the unlikely event of foreign invasion or local takeover by fanatical groups or cults, the people will be prepared to defend themselves with or without the protection of the military, in the manner of the defense of Stalingrad and of the U.S. Revolution itself. At all times let the principles of the Geneva Convention and of fundamental respect for life and humanity be kept in strong focus.

From this day forward, each person, family, or other cohesive social unit is the owner and rightful possessor of the place where they live and mutual co-possessor of where they work. No person or entity may make claims upon land, buildings, facilities, or other resources that they do not directly and personally use. No person or entity shall charge or hinder another in any way for the right to live or carry out production and/or distribution of goods and/or services in any place. From this day forward, all dwellings belong to those living in them and all production facilities, fields, factories, plants, etc. belong in common to those who work and produce in them. All aspects of the operation all production facilities shall be made readily open or the public to see, in order to maintain public accountability.

Any unoccupied land that is not currently being used by someone or designated legitimately as a national park or monument, is legally available for occupation by persons needing a place to live, who may build on, park tents or residential vehicles upon, or otherwise dwell upon such lands. Let Constitutional Amendments be enacted that specify this right for all citizens, as well as the right to unrestricted healthcare at the state of the art, transportation, education at all levels, food, communication, clothing, and all devices and resources needed to maintain a reasonable quality of life according to the technology and context of the times in which they live.

Special note to Billionaires, CEO’s, senior managers, stockbrokers, landlords, and others who are ultra-wealthy and constitute the neo-feudal privileged ruling elite under Capitalism: You are likely worried or afraid that you will be in danger as a result of this Transition which is being forced upon you, albeit peacefully, by the Us the People who have long been disenfranchised under Capitalism. You worry that you will be vilified, attacked, imprisoned, or subject to abuse by an angry population with whom you have long had no close contact. You have seen this happen in many Revolutions around the planet. We who are bringing this Transition assure and promise you, in front of the Nation and the World, that this will not happen. We are instituting a socio-economic paradigm designed to empower all to thrive, and in so doing, uplift and empower one another. This includes you. Violence and vigilantism is contrary to the spirit and core values of the new Paradigms that we are ushering in, and will not be permitted or tolerated. The safety and sanctity of every human being and living thing is a right and is guaranteed. Any person or persons attacking, harassing, denigrating or violating the dignity of a former neo-Feudal lord or lady or others loyal to the old paradigm, whether for purpose of perceived justice or emotional purging or other reason, shall be arrested, detained, and charged with crimes appropriate to their actions. Similarly, any former manager, wealthy or powerful member or neo-Feudal Lord of the former ruling class who uses or attempts to use violence, force, intimidation, subterfuge, sabotage or other means in an attempt to reassert your dominance and control shall likewise be arrested, detained and charged with crimes appropriate to their actions.

You of the former elite ruling wealthy classes will live in peace, prosperity and well-being along with all others. You may feel treated unfairly, since you are now stripped of all power over others, over enterprises which you have ruled, over lands and resources that you are not personally using, of privilege or deference above that granted to others not of the ruling elite, of opulence, of exclusivity, of control over what you may consider to be empires that you built by your hard work. We remind you that whatever you have built was done so with not just your own work but by the work of many – hundreds or thousands or more – other people. In fact, what you of the former ruling elite are experiencing is withdrawals. You are addicts to wealth, power, and status as surely as others are addicted to drugs, alcohol, gambling, video games, or shopping. For far too long we as a people have enabled your destructive addiction, to the harm of all including yourselves. As with any addicts, you may feel desperate, victimized, panicked or depressed over the loss of your elevated status over others. Yet in the new Paradigms, all healthcare is free and you are encouraged to avail yourselves of counseling and treatment. This is not compulsory but it is available to you at any time.

In the new Paradigms, you will find a very different reality than what you fear. You will enjoy a sense of safety and security that you most likely never really knew when wealth and power made you the object of cons, sycophants, manipulators, competitors seeking to undo you, all manner of people demanding and expecting things of you, and always the subconscious fear that those at the bottom of the economic pyramid which you controlled may rise up and avenge themselves upon you. None of this will occur. You will find yourselves living in a world in which most of your fellow human beings are potential friends, allies, and support systems. You will find that money and power are not necessary in order to be safe, happy, and enjoy a vigorous and fulfilling life.

For those among you former ruling neo-Feudal lords who are not able or willing to make the transition, who are committed and married to the concept of being wealthy and having power and privilege over others, we regret the distress that the Transition causes you but we make no apology. For generations, we have enabled your money and power addictions. As a result, untold billions of people around the world have suffered, starved, been abused, oppressed, victimized, disenfranchised, marginalized, imprisoned, killed, enslaved, and worse. Horrible wars have been fought. The very long-term survival of life on earth itself has been put in grave jeopardy as a side-effect of your addiction and our enabling of it. We bear you no malice as you have only excelled at behaviors strongly reinforced by your socio-economic environment, and we all share responsibility as we have enabled your addictions. In the same way as we would not allow a drunk, drugged, delusional or disoriented person to drive a vehicle or fly a plane, we will not allow your addictions to control the way the country or the world functions or to establish its norms. You will not be allowed to enforce your will or control over others. As a subculture, you former Feudal Lords of Capitalism never considered nor showed true compassion, care, or concern for the well-being of those outside of your circles. Often your choices and modes of operation devastated countless people at home and abroad. It is time for this dysfunctional Capitalistic paradigm to be retired and relegated to the annals of failed human experiments on the learning curve of human social evolution, alongside medieval Feudalism, monarchy, Soviet Communism, company towns, slavery, and theocracies. You will find that you will be treated with far more compassion and respect in the new Paradigm than you as a subculture ever showed to those whom you perceived as beneath you. However, you need fear no retribution. Our guiding principle is to create a community in which all are empowered to thrive, in which neighbor supports neighbor, in which one person’s gain is another person’s gain as well. You will be treated as equals, as individuals, and as sovereign human beings whose true dignity is sacrosanct, as will all others. We are instituting both government and economics of, by and for The People, which includes all people. All will be treated with the respect and compassion. This includes those who were once rich, poor, and middle class.

If you have in the course of ruling your Capitalistic empires committed crimes against Humanity or the nation, such as knowingly destroying the natural environment, polluting, using coercion or bribery to bend government at home or abroad to your will, engaged in the use of or knowingly done business with businesses or regimes that practice torture, oppressive/repressive policies towards their people, sweatshop or slave labor, human trafficking, displacing persons or populations who were unable to defend themselves, engaged in price gouging, monopolistic practices, compromised the public good or safety or that of employees or consumers in the pursuit of profit and market share, suppressed technologies or other information in ways that compromise individual and collective good, or committed other offenses against other human beings or the environment, then yes, you will be held accountable for your crimes via due process in a court of law in which you will find yourself in an impartial and level playing field. If you did not engage in such practices, then you have nothing to fear.

Henceforth all advertising shall cease and be replaced with an information network designed to inform the People of where to obtain goods, services, information and other necessities and resources.

All designers, developers, and producers of goods, services, and other resources, who have heretofore worked in competing companies constrained from sharing information and expertise by antiquated intellectual property laws, shall combine into teams tasked with integrating the best features of their former competing products into the best versions currently reasonably attainable on a scale sufficient to provide all citizens with access and availability of these goods, services and resources. Upon attainment of that goal, production shall be scaled back to only what is necessary to replace losses due to wear & tear, breakage, population growth, and replacement due to advances in technology. All products, services, and resources shall be designed to be as durable, reparable, interoperable and upgradeable as simply as possible. Products shall be distributed freely via former retail and wholesale facilities that shall become distribution centers.

Let other nations be on notice that the United States of America, from this day forward, shall honor its treaties, alliances, and agreements, except where doing so would perpetuate or support genocide, human trafficking or enslavement, abuse of human beings and/or animals, destruction of the environment, despotism of political, economic, ethnic, religious or any other kind, corruption, abuse of power or wealth, or colonial/military incursion into other countries.

Our country will respect the sovereignty of other countries and nations, including Native American nations currently existing within the boundaries of the United States. We will not attempt to invade, annex, take or control by force, subterfuge, manipulation, or military, political, economic or any other kind of coercion, any other country or their territories.

Any country or entity that seeks to invade, annex, or take any territory away from the United States shall be met with the necessary force to be repelled.

Any treaties, alliances, or agreements that are found to be unacceptable in the above categories shall be renegotiated with the other involved parties in good faith to arrive at a new treaty, alliance, or agreement that is acceptable to all parties. Any that must be canceled shall be withdrawn with clear explanations of why, and only if the other parties fail to agree to cease the unacceptable behaviors after all attempts are made to resolve the issues.

All facilities, properties, and resources within the borders of the United States heretofore belonging to or controlled by international or foreign businesses or corporations are henceforth the property and under the control all of the people working in them. The United States defense forces will defend this reality if necessary. All such facilities are hereby severed from their former owners/masters and made independent from them, neither owing nor owed any payment nor compensation in either direction. All attempts will be made to create interfaces and arrangements that allow production to continue, and coordination/cooperation to occur, between the liberated facilities in the U.S. and their counterparts abroad. The former parent companies will find strong advantages to working in concert with the liberated U.S. facilities to continue production under the new ground rules. We invite you to the table to discuss arrangements.

Facilities outside the U.S. that formerly belonged to U.S. businesses and corporations now decommissioned and re-cast under democratic member governance, shall be treated with respect and encouraged to continue operation as normal. Employees in those facilities shall experience no loss of livelihood and will be treated according to the improved standards instituted in the liberated headquarters in the U.S. Interfaces will be developed in cooperation between U.S. headquarters and overseas facilities to ensure the continued smooth functioning of both sets of facilities. U.S. headquarters will continue to direct operations. We will require employees in overseas facilities to be treated with the same respect as their counterparts in the liberated U.S. Any managers in such facilities who do not adapt accordingly will be fired and replaced from the rank-and-file. Any manufacturing, distributing or business practices in overseas facilities that conflict with our standards of treatment of humans and the environment, will cease immediately. The U.S. will provide every practicable form of aid and assistance in facilitating such changes. This is non-negotiable and not open for compromise. Such overseas facilities are encouraged to adopt the democratic consensus-based paradigm as their U.S. counterparts.

All foreign nationals currently legally within the borders of the United States are guaranteed safety, dignity, free passage within the United States as well as to and from the United States and access to all goods, services and resources necessary to live in the same quality of life as is currently enjoyed by citizens.

Any persons illegally in the United States are invited to come forth to apply for legal status, which shall be evaluated on an individual basis and granted, except in cases where individuals are found to be criminals, are harming others or attempting to profit from abuse of our new Paradigm by selling freely accessible goods from the United States abroad.

All countries and foreign businesses will find the new United States of America an honest, reasonable, respectful, creative, and trustworthy good-faith partner in negotiation and in any partnership, treaty, alliance or agreement. We invite all nations, ethnicities, businesses and other entities to open dialog seeking mutual benefit and better understanding.

We will support, advise and mentor any movements in other countries toward their own implementations of similar Transitions. We will not, however, supply arms, nor engage in interference in the internal affairs by covert or overt military or black ops involvement, manipulation or incursion. We do seek to propagate this paradigm across the world. We seek to do so by example and proof in practice, in everyday living, that this paradigm is superior to other existing socio-economic paradigms in terms of the quality and sustainability of human life, both individually and in communities at large, and of the ecosystem upon which we all depend for our survival. We are confident that growing numbers of people worldwide will aspire to and bring about similar Transitions in their respective countries and communities, by force if necessary but never by violence, never perpetrating revenge, purges or oppression of other groups or peoples and never at the expense of human freedom, dignity, well-being or rights.

From this day forward, the United States of America shall embody a social and economic paradigm that fulfills, reinforces, and guarantees the ability of every human being within its borders to fulfill their Constitutional rights completely and make their maximum contribution to a free, empowered, empowering, synergistic democratic Community. Our strength is in the dynamics of our diversity, in being one people united in our diverse talents, abilities, tastes, personalities, perspectives, and efforts. Let us be vigilant to make sure that no idea, law, concept, belief, custom, tradition or assumption compromises or is adhered to at the expense or detriment of the rights, dignity, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, well-being, quality of life of the human beings who comprise our national Community, the World Community, and the ecosystem that sustains our existence.