Counts can impair American judgment. They keep Americans from challenging how they hoard our Public Gains. They treat us like machines with buttons to push to get the results they want.
And this violates
fundamental
American values.
Americans expect to be the real decision makers in our lives. It’s just basic dignity. Fair debate means being straightforward and upfront about what you believe, not using tricks to get your way.
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:
- Give themselves outsized voices. Counts wield extreme money to control the channels of public communication: print, radio, video, social media, and now AI tools. Individual Counts get outsized voices. Contributing Americans can’t balance out the voices of Counts.
- Pretend it’s all too complicated to explain. A Count can pretend the way he takes millions or billions of dollars each year in Free Income is too complicated to explain to Americans. Counts can hide behind technical jargon instead of being straightforward about money.
- Warp the core values we rely on. A Count can strip the meaning of the words we use for deep values. Throttling Public Investment? It’s “freedom.” Forcing whims and wants on all Americans? It’s more “freedom.” Counts make Americans less free and then brand it “freedom.”
- Keep Americans addicted. Counts can try to keep Americans addicted to their technologies. Counts can use brain science to try to manipulate Americans like machines. They can try to keep Americans locked in as loyal followers, not making real decisions and choices.
- Make Americans less trusting of our neighbors. Counts can give Americans a skewed sense of our own neighbors and country. They can give us the false impression that everyone has extreme views. Counts can leave us all feeling like we don’t know who to trust.
- Make Americans less trusting of our own senses. Counts can make it difficult for Americans to see the reality that extreme money is an extreme threat to our country. Counts can warp what we all see and hear to leave us feeling unsure about what is real or fake.
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.
