Counts keep a grip on American lives. They wield extreme money to call the shots for communities across America. They shape places they have withdrawn from, do not represent, and do not understand.
And this violates
fundamental
American values.
America is of the people, by the people, and for the people. American citizens and our elected representatives make the decisions that shape our lives, not un-elected, absentee elites.
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:
- Wield absentee power over we the people. Counts do not live with us, are not like us. They’ve made themselves alien to the “we” of we the people. But from far away, they make the decisions that shape our lives.
- Decide what kind of lives Americans get. Whether we get the medicines we need. Whether our air is safe to breathe and our water is safe to drink. Whether our kids are sucked into addictive technologies. Whether our communities stagnate or thrive. Whether we can afford the American Dream. Counts take our decisions.
- Outmatch our decision making bodies. Counts are armed with Money Counts that outsize and outmatch most of our governments and corporations. An E8-sized county government is no match for an E10 Count. An E10 Count can take advantage and do what he pleases.
- Sideline our richest neighbors and local businesses. Even our richest neighbors and local businesses are helpless against the whims and wants of a Count. A family or business with $25 million doesn’t even match a single day of an E11 Count’s automatic Free Income.
- Run America on their terms. Counts put Americans in an impossible “take it or leave it” situation, where “leave it” just isn’t a real option. Don’t want your intimate, personal information captured, probed, and sold? Then you don’t get to use modern technology.
- Force bad decisions on Americans. When Counts take away our Public Gains, they force us into bad decisions. Americans have to tax more and more of each other’s limited wealth just to take care of basic needs. And that pits neighbor against neighbor.
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.
