Good Morning.
Well, have you seen Michael Moore’s movie yet? You know the flick, ’Capitalism: A Love Story’. I was so jazzed for its release and yet I still haven’t seen the movie yet. I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t have the leisure of going sitting in a theater for a few hours….but I will. However, not seeing the movie doesn’t mean that I can’t take more action. For those of you who have seen it (or not), for those of you who want to know what’s next, for those of you who want to do more, here’s what Michael suggests. I have included some of my thoughts in red.
“Michael Moore‘s Action Plan: 15 Things Every American Can Do Right Now”
You’ve Seen the Movie — Now It’s Time to ACT!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Friends,
It’s the #1 question I’m constantly asked after people see my movie: “OK — so NOW what can I DO?!”
You want something to do? Well, you’ve come to the right place! ‘Cause I got 15 things you and I can do right now to fight back and try to fix this very broken system.
Here they are:
FIVE THINGS WE DEMAND THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS DO IMMEDIATELY:
1. Declare a moratorium on all home evictions. Not one more family should be thrown out of their home. The banks must adjust their monthly mortgage payments to be in line with what people’s homes are now truly worth — and what they can afford. Also, it must be stated by law: If you lose your job, you cannot be tossed out of your home.
Although California alone has reported unemployment at around 12%, so many people are no longer collecting unemployment, or reporting that they are unemployed. Basically many have given up looking. I have heard the true unemployment is hovering around 20%. I don’t have anything to substantiate that but knowing how many of my friends are not working, that percentage wouldn’t surprise me. Rhonda: You commented that quite a few of your friends have been laid off. Thanks for posting your article. It is a sensitive time for many, and the last thing that needs to happen after you lose your job is losing your house. I think a moratorium is a good idea.
2. Congress must join the civilized world and expand Medicare For All Americans. A single, nonprofit source must run auniversal health care system that covers everyone. Medical bills are now the #1 cause of bankruptcies and evictions in this country. Medicare For All will end this misery. The bill to make this happen is called H.R. 3200. You must call AND write your members of Congress and demand its passage, no compromises allowed.
Nothing more for me to say here. I am for the Public Option and Single Payer.
3. Demand publicly-funded elections and a prohibition on elected officials leaving office and becoming lobbyists. Yes, those very members of Congress who solicit and receive millions of dollars from wealthy interests must vote to remove ALL money from our electoral and legislative process. Tell your members of Congress they must support campaign finance bill H.R.1826.
Again, I’m all for this. I’m going to check out this bill H.R. 1826.
4. Each of the 50 states must create a state-owned public bank like they have in North Dakota. Then congress MUST reinstate all the strict pre-Reagan regulations on all commercial banks, investment firms, insurance companies — and all the other industries that have been savaged by deregulation: Airlines, the food industry, pharmaceutical companies — you name it. If a company’s primary motive to exist is to make a profit, then it needs a set of stringent rules to live by — and the first rule is “Do no harm.” The second rule: The question must always be asked — “Is this for the common good?” (Click here for some info about the state-owned Bank of North Dakota.)
I don’t know anything about state-owned banks, but this has peaked my interest.
5. Save this fragile planet and declare that all the energy resources above and beneath the ground are owned collectively by all of us. Just like they do it in Sarah Palin‘s socialist Alaska. We only have a few decades of oil left. The public must be the owners and landlords of the natural resources and energy that exists within our borders or we will descend further into corporate anarchy. And when it comes to burning fossil fuels to transport ourselves, we must cease using the internal combustion engine and instruct our auto/transportation companies to rehire our skilled workforce and build mass transit (clean buses, light rail, subways, bullet trains, etc.) and new cars that don’t contribute to climate change. (For more on this, here’s a proposal I wrote in December.) Demand thatGeneral Motors‘ de facto chairman, Barack Obama, issue a JFK man-on-the-moon-style challenge to turn our country into a nation of trains and buses and subways. For Pete’s sake, people, we were the ones who invented (or perfected) these damn things in the first place!!
Again, this is going to take a little research on my part.
FIVE THINGS WE CAN DO TO MAKE CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT LISTEN TO US:
1. Each of us must get into the daily habit of taking 5 minutes to make four brief calls: One to the President (202-456-1414), one to your Congressperson (202-224-3121) and one to each of your two Senators (202-224-3121). To find out who represents you, click here. Take just one minute on each of these calls to let them know how you expect them to vote on a particular issue. Let them know you will have no hesitation voting for a primary opponent — or even a candidate from another party — if they don’t do our bidding. Trust me, they will listen. If you have another five minutes, click here to send them each an email. And if you really want to drop an anvil on them, send them a snail mail letter!
Doing this is a piece of cake. Make, making phone calls a daily habit. Everyone can do this. Maybe start off with a goal of calling once a week for a month, and then go from there. Increase your goal. Make it something that is doable for you, so that you set yourself up to succeed, not fail. I’ve been calling lately but not enough. I’m going to try it: Once a week for a month. Wanna join me?
2. Take over your local Democratic Party. Remember how much fun you had with all those friends and neighbors working together to get Barack Obama elected? YOU DID THE IMPOSSIBLE. It’s time to re-up! Get everyone back together and go to the monthly meeting of your town or county Democratic Party — and become the majority that runs it! There will not be many in attendance and they will either be happy or in shock that you and the Obama Revolution have entered the room looking like you mean business. President Obama’s agenda will never happen without mass grass roots action — and he won’t feel encouraged to do the right thing if no one has his back, whether it’s to stand with him, or push him in the right direction. When you all become the local Democratic Party, send me a photo of the group and I’ll post it on my website.
I had a great time the other night. If you’re not one to pull people together, then get on Obama’s website and find people who already have a group going and join. It’s really that simple.
3. Recruit someone to run for office who can win in your local elections next year — or, better yet, consider running for office yourself! You don’t have to settle for the incumbent who always expects to win. You can be our next representative! Don’t believe it can happen? Check out these examples of regular citizens who got elected: State Senator Deb Simpson, California State Assemblyman Isadore Hall, Tempe, Arizona City Councilman Corey Woods, Wisconsin State Assemblyman Chris Danou, andWashington State Representative Larry Seaquist. The list goes on and on — and you should be on it!
I’m not one to run for office but maybe one of you are – go for it!
4. Show up. Picket the local branch of a big bank that took the bailout money. Hold vigils and marches. Consider civil disobedience. Those town hall meetings are open to you, too (and there’s more of us than there are of them!). Make some noise, have some fun, get on the local news. Place “Capitalism Did This” signs on empty foreclosed homes, closed down businesses, crumbling schools and infrastructure. (You can download them from my website.)
There’s a hidden activist in all of us: Find the activist in you and let him or her emerge!
5. Start your own media. You. Just you (or you and a couple friends). The mainstream media is owned by corporate America and, with few exceptions, it will never tell the whole truth — so you have to do it! Start a blog! Start a website of real local news (here’s an example: The Michigan Messenger). Tweet your friends and use Facebook to let them know what they need to do politically. The daily papers are dying. If you don’t fill that void, who will?
Hmm…I think I’m doing this already – how about you?
FIVE THINGS WE SHOULD DO TO PROTECT OURSELVES AND OUR LOVED ONES UNTIL WE GET THROUGH THIS MESS:
1. Take your money out of your bank if it took bailout money and place it in a locally-owned bank or, preferably, a credit union.
2. Get rid of all your credit cards but one — the kind where you have to pay up at the end of the month or you lose your card.
3. Do not invest in the stock market. If you have any extra cash, put it away in a savings account or, if you can, pay down on your mortgage so you can own your home as soon as possible. You can also buy very safe government savings bonds or T-bills. Or just buy your mother some flowers.
4. Unionize your workplace so that you and your coworkers have a say in how your business is run. Here’s how to do it (more info here). Nothing is more American than democracy, and democracy shouldn’t be checked at the door when you enter your workplace. Another way to Americanize your workplace is to turn your business into a worker-owned cooperative. You are not a wage slave. You are a free person, and you giving up eight hours of your life every day to someone else is to be properly compensated and respected.
5. Take care of yourself and your family. Sorry to go all Oprah on you, but she’s right: Find a place of peace in your life and make the choice to be around people who are not full of negativity and cynicism. Look for those who nurture and love. Turn off the TV and the Blackberry and go for a 30-minute walk every day. Eat fruits and vegetables and cut down on anything that has sugar, high fructose corn syrup, white flour or too much sodium (salt) in it (and, as Michael Pollan says, “Eat (real) food, not too much, mostly plants”). Get seven hours of sleep each night and take the time to read a book a month. I know this sounds like I’ve turned into your grandma, but, dammit, take a good hard look at Granny — she’s fit, she’s rested and she knows the names of both of her U.S. Senators without having to Google them. We might do well to listen to her. If we don’t put our own “oxygen mask” on first (as they say on the airplane), we will be of no use to the rest of the nation in enacting any of this action plan!
I’m working on quite a few of the above already. And you?
I’m sure there are many other ideas you can come up with on how we can build this movement. Get creative. Think outside the politics-as-usual box. BE SUBVERSIVE! Think of that local action no one else has tried. Behave as if your life depended on it. Be bold! Try doing something with reckless abandon. It may just liberate you and your community and your nation.
And when you act, send me your stories, your photos and your video — and be sure to post your ideas in the comments beneath this letter on my site so they can be shared with millions.
C’mon people — we can do this! I expect nothing less of all of you, my true and trusted fellow travelers!
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
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Tk: Your son’s delight over his taxes being raised is rare. Obviously he sees the big picture beyond his own personal bank account. I hope that his attitude is contagious amongst his circle of influence and beyond.
Janet: Yep, I’m showing ads. And I love your idea. Thanks for jumping in to support my blog in creating revenue for moi. Readers: How about doing what Janet suggested? – it only takes a click, and I would be greatly appreciative of you and your finger helping me out :) Thank you!
Jonell: Congrats to you too!
Hi David: I have not seen that movie so I can’t comment but I do appreciate your feedback about my blog. I never thought that my blog was divided between whites and otw’s, or that people felt that they needed to take sides. I never meant for any sides to be taken, and I certainly don’t take sides. Not all whites are bad and not all otw’s are good. I just want equality for all, including women. I don’t care what color is racist, I just want racism to die, to cease to exist.
As far as your life story, thanks for opening up on my blog and sharing. What I like about this blog is that has turned into a venue where people feel they can open up. I’m happy that you feel the same. Hearing people’s stories, helps people relate to one another, it helps people to realize that we’re really not that different from each other. Enjoy being back home with your mother. I bet she is delighted to have you there.
In regards to your brother, I too have a brother and I can’t tell you how much I love and respect him. He is a bright solid light in my life. I am just as close to him as when we were were kids. And I would be miserable if something came in between us. I encourage you to send your brother to my blog – show him your entry. If he is a decent man, which I am sure he is, he will come around. Don’t let this thing come between you any longer. Life is too short.
Readers: Sorry my peeps, I needed to sleep in late this morning, hence the late post. I still have a few things I want to say in response to the comments but I will catch you tomorrow. Have a beautiful day!
PS: 10:49 am: Readers: I needed to come back and clarify something. In my rush this morning, I was not very thorough in my comment to Janet. Let me be clear that I do not want you clicking the ads just to give me revenue. That was not my point. If you see an ad that you are interested in, then I would appreciate you taking the time to let your fingers do the walking and click on it. That’s it – hope that I am clear now. Thanks!
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: Your Bad Ass Bitch Editor
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