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DECLARATION OF ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE
THOMAS NAST
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
economic bonds which have tied them to another, a decent respect for the opinions of humankind
requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty & the
pursuit of Happiness - that to secure these rights, economic institutions are instituted among the
people, deriving their just power from the consent of the citizens; that whenever any economic
system becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and
to institute a new economic system, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that economic systems long established should not be
changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown that people
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 economic institutions and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been
the patient suffering of the American People; and such is now the necessity which compels us
to alter our former economic system. The history of the present giant corporations is a history
of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute
tyranny over these States. To prove this, let the facts be submitted to a candid World
America's Giant Corporations have seized control over the great land and resources of
our country.
They have systematically destroyed thousands of small businesses and forced millions
of Americans to become wage serfs for the wealthy owners.
They have formed shared monopolies in virtually every major retail & wholesale industry,
forcing millions of consumers to pay higher and higher prices for goods & services they cannot
do without — these monopoly practices being the primary cause of runaway inflation.
They have forced millions of Americans into unemployment by systematically closing
down their American plants and moving their business operations abroad so they can hire
cheaper labor and reap still greater profits for their owners.
In the name of profit, they have expropriated billions of dollars of wealth produced by
the working men and women of this country
The Giant Corporations have —
Pursued a policy of industrial negligence which kills 14,000 workers and permanently
disables 900,000 more every year.
They have manufactured unsafe products that kill 30,000 and permanently disable
110,000 Americans each year
They, have used the energy crisis in order to double the price of fuel and make record
gains in profit.
They have turned our Nation into a weapons factory, wasting valuable labor and
resources that could be utilized for basic human needs.
They have fostered tensions & conflicts between races, sexes and ethnic groups in their
arbitrary and discriminatory employment practices.
They have pillaged the resources, exploited the peoples, and systematically intervened
in the domestic affairs of other nations in order to profit their corporate treasures.
The Giant Corporations have subverted the Constitution of the United States and the
principle of Government of, by & for the People —
By illegally financing their own candidates for Local, State & National office.
By placing their own supporters in key Government commissions and regulatory
agencies.
By using massive lobbying operations to virtually dictate the legislative direction of the
State & Federal Governments, including the decisions on how our tax money is to be allocated
It is these same Corporate Giants —
That profess the strongest attachments to self-reliance, while pocketing billions of dollars
of our tax money in the form of Government subsidies and special favors.
That profess their commitment to preserving their country's future while systematically
destroying our natural environment.
That herald the virtues of personal responsibility and accountability while engaging
in wholesale crime under the protection of their corporate charters.
America's Giant Corporations have issued a death sentence against the Individual
Human Spirit —
By forcing millions of Americans to perform mindless functions 8 hours per day inside
the corporate machine.
By rewarding obedience, conformity & dependency — and penalizing creative thinking,
criticism & independent judgment.
The Corporate Giants have violated our sacred rights to Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of
Happiness —
By denying us adequate access to the means to sustain Life.
By severely limiting our opportunities to choose the kind of Work Life we wauld like
to lead.
By denying Americans a range of work choices that are potentially self-fulfilling &
rewarding.
The Corporations have created and perpetuated a small hereditary aristocracy, with
wealth and power unrivaled in the annals of recorded history.
The Corporate System has proved itself to be grossly inefficient and wasteful, while the
Corporate owners and managers have proven themselves to be incompetent to make prudent
decisions that affect the economic well-being of the American People.
In their obsession with profits, their lust for the absolute dominion over the life of this
Nation, and their total disregard for the American People, Corporate owners and managers have
plunged our country into a state of economic chaos, destroyed the lives of millions of families,
and threatened the very survival of the Republic.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble
terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. An economic system
whose character is thus marked by every act which may define an absolute tyranny, is unfit to
claim the loyalty and allegiance of a Free & Democratic people.
We, therefore, the Citizens of the United States of America, hereby call for the abolition
of these giant institutions of tyranny and the establishment of new economic enterprises with new
laws and safeguards to provide for the Equal & Demo-cratic participation of all American Citizens
in the economic decisions that affect the well-being of our Families, our Communities, and our
Nation. In furtherance of our joint hopes and aspirations, and mindful of the lesson of History,
we steadfastly adhere to the general principle that a democratic Republic can only exist to the
extent that economic decision making power is broadly exercised by the People and not
delegated to a few. Such is the necessity which compels us to act in support of decentralized
economic enterprises, with ownership and control shared jointly by the Workers and by the local
Communities in v\4iich they operate — with similar patterns of shared representative control being
exercised on a regional and National level to insure the smooth and efficient coordination
of all economic operations. For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the
protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge our Lives, our Fortunes & our sacred Honor.
-THE PEOPLE'S BICENTENNIAL COMMISSION (1976)
THE ECOLOGICAL DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE
When in the course of Evolution it becomes necessary
for one Species to denounce the notion of independence from
all the rest, and to assume among the powers of the Earth, the
Interdependent station to vtfiich the Natural Laws of the Cosmos
have placed them, a decent respect for the opinions of Human
kind, requires that they declare the conditions which impel them
to assert their Interdependence.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Species
have evolved with equal & unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty & the pursuit of Happiness — That to insure
these rights. Nature has instituted certain principles for the
sustenance of all Species, deriving these principles from the
capabilities of the Planet's life support system — That whenever
any behavior by members of one Species becomes destructive
of these principles, it is the function of other members of that
Species to alter or abolish such behavior and to reestablish the
theme of Interdependence with all life in such a form and in
accordance with these natural principles, that will affect their
Safety & Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that cultural
values long established should not be altered for light or
transient causes, that Humankind is more disposed to suffer
from asserting a vain notion of Interdependence than to right
themselves by abolishing that culture to which they are now
accustomed — But vtfien a long train of abuses and usurpations
of these principles of Interdependence, evinces a subtle design
to reduce them, through absolute despoliation of the Planet's
fertility to the state of ill will, bad health and great anxiety, it is
their right, it is their duty, to throw off such notions of independ
ence from other Species and from the life support system, and
to provide new guards for the reestablishment of the security &
maintenance of these principles. Such has been the quiet and
patient suffering of all Species, and such is now the necessity
which constrains the Species Homo Sapiens to reassert the
pnnciples of Interdependence — The History of the present
notion of independence is a History of repeated injuries and
usurpations all having in direct effect the establishment of an
absolute tyranny over Life — To provide this, let facts be
submitted to a candid World — 1 People have refused to
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recognize the roles of other Species and the importance of
Natural principles for growth of the food they require. — 2.
People have refused to recognize that they are interacting with
other Species in an evolutionary process. — 3. People have
fouled the waters that all Life partakes of. — 4. People have
transformed the face of the Earth to enhance their notion of
independence from it and in so doing have interrupted many
natural processes that they are dependent upon. — 5. People
have contaminated the common household with substances that
are foreign to the life processes which are causing many organ
isms great difficulties. — 6. People have massacred and made
extinct fellow Species for their feathers & furs, for their skins &
tusks. — 7. People have persecuted most persistently those
known as Coyote, Lion, Wolf & Fox because of their dramatic
roles in the expression of Interdependence. — 8 People are
proliferating in such an irresponsible manner as to threaten
the survival of all Species. — 9. People have warred upon one
another which has brought great sorrow to themselves and vast
destruction to the homes and food supplies of many living
things — 10 People have denied others the right to live to
completion of their Interdependencies to the full extent of their
capabilities
We, therefore, among the moral representatives of
the eternal process of Life & Evolutionary Principles, in mutual
humbleness, explicitly stated, appealing to the Ecological
Consciousness of the World for the rectitude of our intentions,
do solemnly publish & declare that all Species are Interdepen
dent; that they are all Free to realize these relationships to the
full extent of their capabilities; that each Species is subservient
to the requirements of the Natural processes that sustain all
Life — And for the support of this Declaration with a firm
reliance on all other members of our Species who understand
their Consciousness as a capability, to assist all of us and
our brothers to interact in order to realize a Life Process that
manifests its maximum potential of Diversity,Vitality & Planetary
Fertility to insure the continuity of Life on Earth
-ECOLOGY ACTION