WHEREAS THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION PROVIDES THAT:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise

thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to

assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

WE, THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in order to

form a more perfect Union, by, for and of the PEOPLE, shall elect and convene a NATIONAL GENERAL

ASSEMBLY beginning on July 4, 2012 in the City Of Philadelphia.

I. Election of Delegates:

The People, consisting of all United States citizens who have reached the age of 18, regardless

of party affiliation and voter registration status, shall elect Two Delegates, one male and one

female, by direct vote, from each of the existing 435 Congressional Districts to represent the

People at the NATIONAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY in Philadelphia. Said Assembly shall convene on

July 4, 2012 in the city of Philadelphia. The office of Delegate shall be open to all United States

citizens who have reached the age of 18. Election Committees, elected by local General Assemblies

or Working Groups from all over the United States, shall coordinate with the 

Working Group on the 99% Declaration to organize, coordinate and fund this national election

by direct democratic voting. The Election Committees, Working Groups and local General Assemblies

shall operate like the original Committees of Correspondence.

II. Meeting of the National General Assembly and Approval of a Petition for a Redress of Grievances:

In addition to ensuring a free and fair election of the Delegates to the NATIONAL GENERAL

ASSEMBLY, the Working Group on the 99% Declaration shall be responsible for raising sufficien

t funds to secure a venue wherein the the 870 Delegatesmay convene, deliberate, consider, vote and

ratify a PETITION OF GRIEVANCES to be presented to all 535 members of Congress, The 9 members

of the Supreme Court, the President of the United States and each of the political candidates

seeking to be elected to federal public office in November 2012.  Subject to the voting procedure

for the final vote of ratification of the PETITION OF GRIEVANCES as set forth in section III,

the Delegates of the National General Assembly shall vote upon and implement their own

rules, procedures, agenda, code of conduct, elections or appointments of committee members to

efficiently an expeditiously accomplish the People's mandate to present a

PETITION OF GRIEVANCES before the 2012 elections.

III. Content of the Petition For A Redress of Grievances:

The PETITION OF GRIEVANCES shall be non-partisan and specifically address the critical

issues now confronting the People of the United States of America. The Delegates shall

deliberate and vote upon proposals for the PETITION OF GRIEVANCES and if necessary adjourn

for further consultation with the People of the United States of America as our founding fathers

conferred during the first two Continental Congresses. The final vote ratifying the

PETITION OF GRIEVANCES shall be by simple majority vote. A duly elected chairperson of

the National General Assembly shall determine the outcome of the vote on ratification in the

event of a tie.

IV. Suggested Content of the Petition For A Redress of Grievances:

In order to facilitate the timely election of the 870 Delegates to the National General Assembly

by July 4, 2012 and petition the government for a redress of grievances before the 2012

elections, the Working Group on the 99% Declaration, founded and duly announced to

the New York City General Assembly on October 15,2011, shall draft asuggested list of grievances

to be respectfully submitted to the Delegates of the National General Assembly no later than

June 30, 2012. The final version of the PETITION OF GRIEVANCES ratified by the National

General Assembly, MAY or MAY NOT include the following issues suggested by the 

Working Group on the 99% Declaration:

1. Implementing an immediate ban on all private contributions of money and gifts, to all

politicians in federal office, from individuals, corporations, "political action committees",

"super political action committees", lobbyists, unions and all other private sources of money

or thing of value to be replaced by the fair, equal and total  public financing of all federal

political campaigns. We categorically REJECT the concepts that corporations are persons or

that money is equal to free speech because if that were so, then only the wealthiest people and

corporations would have a voice. The complete elimination of private contributions must enacted

by law because it has become clear that politicians in the United States cannot regulate

themselves and have become the exclusive representatives of corporations, unions and the

very wealthy who indirectly and directly spend vast sums of money on political campaigns to

influence the candidates’ decisions when they attain office and ensure their reelection year

after year. Our elected representatives spend far too much of their time fundraising for the

next election rather than doing the People's business. The current system's propagation of

legalized bribery and perpetual conflicts of interests hasreduced our once great republican

democracy to a greed driven corporatocracy run by boardroom oligarchs who represent .05% of

the population but own 38% of the wealth.

2. The immediate abrogation, even if it requires a Constitutional Amendment, of the outrageous

and anti-democratic holding in the "Citizens United" case proclaimed by the United States

Supreme Court. This heinous  decision, which equates the payment of money by corporations,

wealthy individuals and unions to politicians with the exercise of protected free speech.

We, the People, demand that this institutional bribery and corruption never again be deemed

protected free speech.

3. Prohibiting all federal public employees, officers, officials or their immediate family members

from ever being employed by any corporation, individual or business that they specifically

regulated while in office;  nor may any public employee, officer, official or their immediate

family members own or hold any stock or shares in any corporation they regulated while in

office until a full 5 years after their term is completed; and a complete lifetime ban on

accepting all gifts, services, money or thing of value, directly or indirectly, to any elected

or appointed federal official or their immediate family members, from any person,

corporation, union or other entity that the public official was charged to specifically regulate

while in office. In sum,elected politicians and public employees in regulatory roles, may only

collect their salary, generous healthcare benefits and pension. Any person, including  corporate

employees, found guilty and convicted of violating these rules in a court of law by proof

beyond a reasonable doubt, shall be sentenced to a term of mandatory imprisonment of no less

than one year and nor more than ten years. 

4.  Term Limits. Members of the United States House of Representatives shall be limited to serving

no more than four two-year terms in their lifetime. Members of the United States Senate shall be

limited to serving no more than two six-year terms in their lifetime.  The two term limit for

President shall remain unchanged. Serving as a member of Congress or the President of the

United States is the one of the highest honors and privileges our culture can bestow. These

positions of prominence in our society should be sought to serve one's country and not provide

lifetime career designed to increase personal wealth and accumulate power for the sake of vanity.

5.  A complete reformation of the United States Tax Code to require ALL citizens to pay a fair

share of a progressive, graduated income tax by eliminating loopholes, unfair tax breaks,

exemptions and deductions, subsidies (e.g. oil, gas and farm) and ending all other methods

of evading taxes. The current system of taxation favors the wealthiest Americans, many of whom,

pay fewer taxes to the United States Treasury than citizens who earn much less and pay a much

higher percentage of income in taxes to the United States Treasury. We, like Warren Buffet, find

this income tax disparity to be fundamentally unjust.

6. Medicare for all American citizens or adoption of a single-payer healthcare system.

 The Medicaid program, fraught with corruption andfraud, will be eliminated except for the

purpose of providing emergency room care to indigent non-citizens who will not be covered by

the single-payer healthcare system.

7. New comprehensive regulations to give the Environmental Protection Agency expanded

powers to shut down corporations, businesses or any entities that intentionally or recklessly

damage the environment and/or criminally prosecute individuals who intentionally damage

the environment. We also demand the immediate adoption of the most recent international

protocols, including the "Washington Declaration" to cap carbonemissions and implement

new and existing programs to transition away from fossil fuels to reusable or carbon neutral

 sources of energy.

8. Adoption of an immediate plan to reduce the national debt to a sustainable percentage of

GDP by 2020. Reduction of the national debt to be achieved by BOTH a cut in spending to

corporations engaged in perpetual war for profit, the "healthcare" industry, the pharmaceutical

industry, the communications industry, the oil and industry, and all other sectors that use

the federal budget as their income stream. We agree that spending cuts are necessary but those

cuts must be made to facilitate what is best for the People of the United States of America,

not multinational and domestic corporations who currently have a stranglehold on all

politicians in Washington, D.C. in both parties.

9. Passage of a comprehensive job and job-training act like the American Jobs Act to employ

our citizens in jobs that are available with specialized training and by putting People to

work now by repairing America's crumbling infrastructure. We also recommend the establishment

of an online international job exchange to match employers with skilled workers or employers

willing to train workers in 21stcentury skills. In conjunction with a new jobs act, reinstitution

of the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps or a similar emergency

governmental agency tasked with creating new public works projects to provide jobs to the

46 million People living in poverty, the 9.1% unemployed and 10% underemployed.

10. Implementation of a student loan debt relief forgiveness program. Our young students are

more than $830 billion in debt from education loans alone with few employment prospects due to

financial collapse directly caused by the unbridled and unregulated greed of Wall Street.

Interest on these debts should be reduced and  deferred for periods of unemployment and

the principal on these loans reduced or forgiven by using a Wall Street corporate tax surcharge

as reparations for their conduct leading to the economic collapse of 2007-2008 and current

worldwide recession. 

11. Immediate passage of the Dream Act and comprehensive immigration and border security

reform including offering visas, lawful permanent resident status and citizenship to the world’s

brightest People to stay and work in our industries and schools after they obtain their education

and training in the United States.

12. Recalling all military personnel at all non-essential bases and refocusing national defense

goals to address threats posed by the geopolitics of the 21st century, including terrorism and

limiting the large scale deployment of military forces to instances where Congressional approval

has been granted to counter the Military Industrial Complex's goal of perpetual war for profit.

The annual estimated savings of one trillion dollars per year by updating our military posture

will be applied to the social programs outlined herein to improve the quality of life  for human

beings rather than assisting corporations make ever increasing profits distributed to the top 1%

of wealth owners.

13. Mandating new educational goals to train the American public to perform jobs in a 21st

Century economy, particularly in the areas of technology and green energy, taking into

consideration the redundancy caused by technology and the inexpensive cost of labor in China,

India and other countries. Eliminating tenure and paying our teachers a competitive salary

commensurate with the salaries of employees in the private sector with similar skills because

without highly skilled teachers, there will never be a highly skilled workforce.

14. Subject to the elimination of corporate tax loopholes and exploited exemptions and  

deductions stated above, offering tax incentives to businesses to remain in the United States

and hire our citizens rather than outsource jobs. Introducing an "outsourcing tax" to discourage

business form sending jobs overseas. Providing tax breaks to companies that invest in

reconstructing the manufacturing capacity of the United States so that we again make

everyday products in the United States rather than importing them from countries like China

and India.  

15. Implementing immediate legislation and WTO intervention to encourage China and our

other trading partners to end currency manipulation and reduce the trade deficit.

Comments:

AND THE GUYS IN AFGHANISTAN WILL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.