As we embark on this next four years, I ask you to ponder our past.  Because we ignore our history at our own peril. We must not pretend that  our current economic troubles were created in a vacuum. They were  engineered, scripted, legislated and mishandled by bungled and flawed  policies, which I can sum up in four words: “small government, less  taxes”.

To think that a nation the size of these United States can operate on  a shoestring budget and seat of the pants strategy as put forth by the  conservative movement is ludicrous. We are a complex nation, made more  so by our Constitution which gives each State the right to legislate  separately.

The future of our nation rests squarely on our ability to build a  foundation upon which our children will be able to continue to build. We  cannot cheat. We cannot do this “on the cheap”. We cannot permit this  foundation to be built with substandard materials or by skirting safety  regulations. Far from it, we must insist that the highest quality of  materials and craftsmanship be used.

For a over a decade we have had the conservative insistence that the  way to build a strong economy was to heap all the profit into one small  container and send it offshore. That somehow, this flawed trickle-down  theory would provide riches for everyone.  Far from providing the  “democratization of money”, conservative economic theory gave us an  economy where some CEO’s make $100,000 per day, but the minimum wage is  still less than $10 per hour.

The only way to achieve our national goals is to pursue an economy  based upon sustainable principles. We must move beyond the simpleton  slogans and accept the fact that arithmetic works every time.  Money,  like all other resources, is not infinitely available. When you give  most of it to the few, there is less for the many. The question before  us now is: how do we have a balanced economy without the dogma of  conservatism calling it socialism and a redistribution of wealth?

I submit to you, during conservative economic policy we have seen the  greatest redistribution of wealth from the working poor and middle  class to the super-rich that has ever been allowed by a democratic  nation. Our regulations and legislation have been subverted to the needs  of the few, rather than the necessity of the many. And it is time for  us to right this wrong, to insist that our national interest be put  above the petty machinations of the corporate “persons” that  conservatives worship.

We need to balance our budget and recognize that a nation that takes  from its poor, disabled, ill, elderly and children to give tax welfare  and subsidies to billionaires is sick and is in desperate need of a  cure. And we have that cure. It is called voting.

We can start today on this path to prosperity by ending all tax  subsidies to fossil fuel companies, by insisting we reform our tax code  to bring sanity and fiscal responsibility back to our corporations. And  by funding education, health and welfare at the same level we do  defense. No longer will Congress take free health care and pensions  while denying them to the American people. And no longer will they make  more than our military, or our teachers. All subsidies will be reviewed,  and every government contractor will submit to drug testing and adhere  to the highest of corporate ethics, including providing health care and  pensions to its workers.

No longer will our tax dollars be used to fund bridges to nowhere.  And no longer will States defund women’s health or education while  giving billions to corporations. We aren’t going to infringe on a  woman’s right to choose. And we are going to insist we adhere to the  entirety of the Second Amendment, by enacting the well-regulated clause.

We cannot continue on this path that conservatives have laid out, and  today, we move forward to our sustainable economy by starting a new  initiative to build a new energy grid and develop a new energy policy.  Today we resolve to cut our consumption of fossil fuels by 10% every  year and to replace our gird with renewable energy solutions.

This is the only path to true energy independence and is the only  fiscally responsible and patriotic path available. You can only build a  sustainable economy using sustainable materials. Trying to build a  sustainable economy with dirty, diminishing, toxic, dangerous materials  provides a dirty, diminishing, toxic and dangerous environment.

But I cannot do this without you. I need you to contact legislators. I  need you to work on campaigns. I need you to run for office. Because  the giants of industry, those CEO’s making over $16,000 per hour, they  aren’t going to just sit back and say “sure, use the sun for power, it  will cost us trillions, but hey, since it is good for the planet and the  economy, go ahead.”  Those corporations aren’t going to just agree that  they need to pay their fair share, they are going to fight this. But if  we learned one thing in the 2012 election it is this, all the millions  they spent trying to buy our votes didn’t work.

So rise up people. Get on your phones. Call your legislators. Tell them it is time to balance the budget.

Here are a few ideas to bring to your legislator:

• Balanced Budget Fairness Act: For every dollar  given to a corporation as a subsidy, one matching dollar to education.  For every dollar budgeted to the defense department, one matching dollar  to health & welfare department. Every dollar given to oil, gas,  coal & nuclear energy companies, one matching dollar to solar, wind  & renewable energy companies. And every dollar to animal-based  agriculture, one matching dollar to plant-based agriculture.
• Reproductive Health & Wellness Act: To ensure  & protect a woman's right to reproductive health & wellness, and  to ensure compliance with Federal law & a woman's Constitutional  rights, all health centers, clinics, outpatient, medical offices &  hospitals which accept Federal and/or State funds will provide all  medical services, prescriptions medicine & consultation on  reproductive health & wellness, including family planning,  contraceptive & abortion.
• Corporate Tax Reform: only allow compensation that  is taxed for social security to be deducted from corporate income tax.  And limit deduction of travel, meals and entertainment to Federal Per  Diem. Tax any excess as a dividend.
• National School Energy Revenue Act: convert all  schools to renewable energy, creating jobs and helping to balance  budgets. Excess energy can be sold to the grid or to other municipal  uses.
• Safe Gun Act: view at http://www.causes.com/actions/1719530

Link to contact information, http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Please let me know who you contact and what actions you have planned,  you can post your results and efforts on one of our Facebook groups:  National Eco Party, National Education Party, National Women’s Party  2.0.