A Ten-Point Solartopian Starter Agenda for the Age of Obama

Amidst the ecstasy of the Obama Inauguration, there lurks great danger.

Merely with his swearing in, our nation has broken an epic racial
barrier. We are losing our worst president and getting one who was
actually elected.

But the promise of change is not change itself. Inaugurating a
brilliant young leader who speaks in complete sentences can only be
good. But it is a fatal delusion to think this means we have gotten
where we need to go.

Here are ten early tangibles that will be accomplished ONLY if we push:

1) Revise the Corporation: Corporations have hijacked the
electoral process, the legal system, the 14th Amendment, the
environment. They have human rights but no human responsibilities. They
must be re-chartered and made to serve the public, rather than the
other way around.

2) Restore the Bill of Rights: The first ten amendments to the
US Constitution comprise a great guide for guaranteeing our basic human
rights and liberties. The Constitutional lawyer entering the White
House understands the issues; he need to be pushed to make sure these
rights are enforced, including equal justice for racial/ethnic
minorities and women, and reproductive freedom.

3) US out of Iraq and Afghanistan: These wars must end. The
healing---moral, spiritual, economic, and in terms of violence---can
only begin when the US leaves these useless battlefields and dismantles
its global network of intrusive bases.

4) Slash Military Spending: We cannot continue to spend untold
billions on detrimental weaponry. A 75% cut would be a good start; 95%
would be a reasonable ultimate target.

5) Rid the World of Nuclear Weapons: Atomic bombs are
instruments of mass suicide and of no tangible use. Even their
production and maintenance is unsustainable.

6) TOTAL conversion to renewables and efficiency: We have the
technology to run this Earth COMPLETELY on Solartopian green energy,
with no fossil/nuclear fuels whatsoever. This means restoration of mass
transit, and NO public funding, from taxpayers or ratepayers, for new
atomic reactors or coal burners.

7) End Hemp/Marijuana Prohibition: This ancient plant holds
the key to bio-fuels, as well as to sustainable paper production and
much more, and must be restored to full production. And prohibition of
a medicinal substance used by tens of millions of citizens makes for a
police state. Pot must be legal; control of other substances must shift
to treatment. The prison-industrial complex is as unsustainable as is
the military.

8) National Health Care: Appropriate prevention and treatment is a basic human right. We must find the way to provide it.

9) Universal Hand-Counted Paper Ballots: Electronic voting
machines are the nukes of the electoral process. Universal automatic
registration, handcounted paper ballots (on recycled hemp paper) and
workable campaign finance regulations are essential to the future of
democracy.

10) Universal Free Education: In an information age, education
through a college degree is essential to a sustainable society. Our
public schools from K to the BA must be funded on a level now wasted on
the military.

There is of course much more. But the greatness of this moment
will be measured in history only by the extent to which we actually win
on tangible issues.

This brief wish list should get us going. Send us more! But
above all: remember that even with Barack Obama in the White House (and
George Bush OUT of it) none of them will come without our
hard---hopefully joyful---work.