Counts can corrupt our American governments for self gain. They can put their collection of Free Income first, ahead of America. Counts break our tools to keep the promise of the American Dream.
And this violates
fundamental
American values.
American governments are how we how we secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all. Our governments should serve we the people, and ensure the promise of the American Dream lives on.
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:
- Outmatch our governments at all levels. Many of our governments are simply not equipped to defend against Counts armed with extreme money. An E10 or E11 Count can overpower and push around any level of our government. He can manhandle our public servants.
- Corrupt the purpose of our national government. Our government exists to uphold the founding vision of America: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, with justice for all. Counts reduce our government to be about protecting their own flows of Free Income.
- Wall off Public Knowledge. Counts deprive Americans of custody of the treasure of Public Knowledge we all inherit. They throttle the public research and education we use to build on and pass along Public Knowledge. And they capture Public Knowledge in AI for self gain.
- Starve Public Investment. Counts hoard the Public Gains we would use to fuel Public Investment. They leave Americans without the money we need to provide public options at the American standards of equal freedom, equal security, and equal opportunity.
- Abuse Public Resources. Counts use extreme money to make American governments let them misuse and abuse Public Resources. They waste freely. They evade the rules we make to protect the health of the American people and the health of our air, land, and water.
- Exhaust Public Extensions. Counts push our national government into extreme debt, just to preserve and increase their Money Counts. Our crushing national debt steals the future of young Americans. And we’re left without the power to flex for future challenges.
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.
