Organized Psychopathy -- Tom Sullivan

[snot]

3. WE too must organize in order to fight back successfully.

We must work harder to build bridges with other members of the 90%, regardless of their party preferences.

And we must deliberately and thoughtfully create the blueprints for the world we want, including the laws, procedures, and institutions that will be needed in order to prevent oligarchs and other sociopaths from looting and bullying the rest of us, as well as identifying and training the individuals that will be needed to implement our plans.

I agree that this requires restoring a great many laws to their state pre-Reagan, plus a few other measures. For starters:

Restore the Fairness Doctrine;

Repeal the Telecom Act of 1996, which legalized consolidation of 95% of media outlets into the hands of the current 6 conglomerates;

Restore Glass-Steagall;

Restore a host of other regulations that used to rein in Wall St., and outlaw credit derivatives for any purpose other than hedging against a legit risk intrinsic to a productive, "real economy" business;

Amend the law to make it easier to pierce the corporate shield protecting senior offices and directors from personal liability for their and their corporations' crimes and mistakes.

Restore labor law to make it easier for workers to organize and strike;

Restore interpretations of the Bill of Rights (including free speech, due process, and privacy) ito their pre-Reagan state and clarify that the government may not do through private contractors or other non-governmental agencies what it is prohibited from doing more directly itself (e.g., the gov. should not be allowed to evade Constitutional bars against government censorship, surveillance, etc. by simply purchasing such services from private contractors, social media platforms, etc.);

Repeal the Patriot Act and its ilk;

Amend the Espionage Act to permit a "public interest" defense;

Institute penalties for abuse by the government of its power to classify as "secret" materials or info pertaining to their own corruption or mistakes or that might otherwise reasonably be thought to be of general public interest;

Restore the protections put in place by Civil Rights Act of 1964 to their status before conservatives took over the Supreme Court;

Pass the ERA;

Repeal Citizens United;

Make clear that Congress cannot delegate its Constitutionally-prescribed duties, such as initiating US military action on foreign soil, to the Executive;

Require the Pentagon to pass audits as a condition to further funding;

Get the dollar back onto the gold standard;

Raise income taxes on the 1%;

Etc.!

(And I personally would appreciate a law prohibiting Presidents from plastering their names and likenesses all over public edifices, the currency, etc.!)