Counts can afford to withdraw from America. They can collect America’s Public Gains and retreat to remote compounds. And Counts threaten to take out our Public Gains and quit America entirely.
And this violates
fundamental
American values.
America is one nation. Every day Americans renew our pledge to our indivisible American republic, with liberty and justice for all. To be an American is to stand united together in our American Life.
Extreme money can turn any regular problem in America into an extreme threat. Elite, entitled Counts endanger America by wielding extreme E8, E9, E10, E11 Money Counts to:
- Turn their backs on American Life. Counts don’t live in our neighborhoods. They don’t drink our water, don’t attend our schools or places of worship, don’t shop at our grocery stores, don’t work along with us, don’t join our everyday lives. Counts make themselves absent.
- Withdraw Public Gains at runaway speed. The Money Counts of the Counting Class inflate as they withdraw the wealth of America’s Public Gains as Free Income. The larger the Money Count, the faster it inflates. Contributing Americans are left behind, standing still.
- Take the money and run. When Americans try to reclaim our Public Gains, Counts simply threaten to leave and take America’s wealth away with them as they go. Counts know they can afford to quit America entirely. Counts can afford to cash out on America.
- Wall off private opportunity, security, and freedom. Counts retreat to remote compounds where they can always choose to purchase their own private freedom, security, and opportunity. They don’t need the support or protection of any public options, even for healthcare.
- Deny their debts to America. With a total lack of humble gratitude, Counts deny their debts to America. They retreat to the delusion that extreme money comes from isolated “genius,” not America’s KIRE Engine of Prosperity. They make believe that they are “self made.”
- Stick Americans with the bill. Counts are nowhere to be found when it’s time to pay the bill for America’s national debt, or to use Public Gains to fuel Public Knowledge, Public Investment, Public Resources, and Public Extensions. Americans are left to pay the bill.
On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Big Woods Declaration (BWD) renews the call for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, free from the corruption of extreme money.
The BWD is a First Amendment petition to the American people and our government. It is not limited to any political party or group.
The BWD is a total of 60 pages: the Core Declaration (4 pages), the 13 Notes, the 27 Dangers to America, and the 16 Solutions for America.
The BWD may be shared and reused under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. View a copy of this license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
The BWD was created without the use of any AI, opinion polling, or focus groups. The BWD draws on many core American ideas as well as the work of Thorstein Veblen, America’s visionary from the Big Woods of Minnesota.
All photos in the BWD were taken in the Big Woods. The BWD was framed by Erik Christopher Sahlin with Alyssa Beth Wulf.
