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Gov. Culver - Iowa says NO to cuts & austerity!
To/Against/For: we won't pay for a crisis we didn't make!Number of signatures required(target): 250
In Iowa and across the country - and indeed, the world, workers, students and the poor are under attack. We are being forced to pay for a recession we did not create: our social programs are being slashed, fees for education are being raised through the roof, workers in the public and private sectors are being laid off en masse, and we are constantly being told we need to 'sacrifice' for the sake of 'recovery' and 'national unity.' But we, the undersigned, declare that we have made enough sacrifices. We have had enough austerity measures. Our collective labor sustains the predatory, greed-driven economic system that forecloses on families, leaves tens of millions without the basic necessities of life and gives us no control over our workplaces, our education and our lives. We need a new system that places the needs of people over the needs of profit, that funds education, housing, and jobs creation instead of war and Wall Street, and where the people democratically control the economic decision-making of the country - not the speculators, politicians, and billionaires who led us into the current world recession.
We the undersigned demand that the working classes of Iowa must not be made to foot the bill for the state's budget crisis or for the recession generally. We demand a public works program that will create jobs in our state, at union pay rates and conditions, and rebuild downtown Cedar Rapids and other flood-damaged areas. We demand that your 10% across-the-board cut to the state budget be reversed and that increased taxation on the millionaires and billionaires of Iowa pay for the necessary increases in social spending. We also petition you to seek a federal bailout for the Iowa state budget to make up for the shortfall. If capitalism can afford for bank bailouts numbering in the hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars on war spending and over $286 billion in wasteful corporate health care bureaucracy but cannot afford to provide for the well-being of the majority, then we cannot afford the capitalist system.
All across the world, resistance to pro-corporate policies and politicians is building, from socialist electoral campaigns in Britain to mass demonstrations of the union federations on the streets Spain's cities, to the National Day to Defend Education across the United States. If the needs of the people are not accounted for, this anti-establishment tide will only continue to rise. And if neither the Republican nor Democratic parties can act in the interests of the vast majority, as everything about these parties from the way they're structured internally to the corporations that provide their funding indicates, we will construct a party of our own, built from unions, progressive community groups, socialist organizations and student activists, to fight for the change we need.
Recent Comments
| Name | Comment | |
| Prabal Rai | TO KING AND PRIME MINISTERS ADULLAH BIN ABDUL AZIZ BIN SAUD CUSTODIAN OF TWO HOLY MOSQUES KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA Your Majesty, I have been trying to plead for my plight since from last five years to justify my case for my compensations from my former company that I have worked in Saudi Arabia as part of my basic and legal rights according to GCC accords agreed by all the members countries of Gulf regions. As you have announce before to international body to help stop exploitations of migrants workers in the entire gulf region to safeguard their welfare and rights they are entitled. I have sent my plight to your Royal court in Riyadh office three times and then it was forwarded to labor ministry and sadly until now my case final verdict is not finalize through labor ministry officials due to which circumstances I'm not clear. Neither the ministry official ever tries to inform me or give any proper response. As some of your government organizations have refused to accept my Email or blocked their side for allowing my mail. Specially, from your Labor Ministries site and Ministry of foreign affairs who I think is trying to hide my case to be reached for you. Your Majesty, I'm really disappoint by the labor ministry decision before to compensate US citizen for same medical reasons as their government is strong enough to pressure your labor authorities but what about the other citizens of minor countries like us we will not get any justice from your government officials. Your countrymen if they believe Allah almighty as their creators then where is the Koran teaching, Be merciful to others then Allah will be merciful to you? Is this a true belief of Muslims then we shouldn't abandoned this way from your country officials rather we should justified. I'll be your humble and obedient servants, Yours faithfully Prabal Rai | |
| Amanda Strong | This is exactly what this society needs. Government should be focusing on the well-being of all people, instead of being bias towards their own class. We're already billions of dollars in debt, we don't need anymore. It's time for a change. | |
| Mari Araujo | Keep on keepin' on! | |
| Marlon | We're going to deliver this to Culver when the signature target has been met, but I think the real point here is to build the confidence of the people themselves. The Democratic Party isn't a democratically-run organization with a bureaucracy problem, like the unions are. We can't just fill it out and do pest control; we can't reclaim something that was never ours to begin with. We need to start from scratch. |
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