Some Call Her an Illegal, We Call Her an American!

What kind of nation have we come to be?  A high school senior, valedictorian of her graduating class of 823 students, sister to a man serving in the US military (tours in Iraq and Afghanistan)… is being ordered to go back to a country she has not seen in fourteen years?

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/02/miami-valedictorian-fighting-deportation/?hpt=hp_t2

At age four, Daniela Palaez came to America with her parents from Colombia.  Attending public school from elementary through high school, she has been diligent in achieving success by way of her work ethic in her studies.  Her goal: to attend a top university with a cellular and molecular biology degree.  And being the valedictorian of her class, top universities are well within her grasp.

But other plans are now in action.  A Miami immigration judge has ruled that Palaez is to be deported to a country that cannot be called home, because Daniela does not remember much at all of the place.  Daniela Palaez has earned herself an American education, elementary through high school—an education that is geared toward making people better and more educated citizens.  Throughout our nation’s history, from the time of our Founding Fathers to today, the goals of public education have remained clear that the public school system’s primary focus is to create educated, moral, hard working American citizens with a sound understanding of our government’s workings and their own understanding of their civic duty and responsibility… Why then, would we bring up a student who has been conditioned to be a morally responsible, hard working citizen only to force her removal from the country that has invest so much in her education?

Make no mistake here.  Daniela Palaez and her brother, who serves this country with honor, are ever more citizens of this nation than many who have been fortunate enough to be born on the right side of an invisible line.  Where many natural citizens disregard the fundamental principles of this great nation, Daniela is proving to uphold the greatest tradition of this country—that America was created and built by immigrants that came here to better their lives through hard work and education.

That is why we of the 100 Million March, endorse legislation that would give citizenship to those people that have earned it through upholding the tradition that this great nation was built upon.  Citizenship should be awarded to hard working people that have spent their lives in public education from elementary school through high school, with completion of either a collegiate degree or military service afterwards.  

People like Daniela, who have spent more than three-quarters of her life being an active citizen of this country, who wishes to go on to a top university to major in the human sciences, should be given what has been earned—legal citizenship.

Daniela Palaez and her brother should be held as honorable examples.  And we at 100 Million March commend them.

We will continue to fight for legislation that supports the notion that citizenship can be earned.  That just reward will be given to those that deserve it by serving our country and being upstanding individuals. 

Let our government know!  That our country must remember its roots!

Citizenship should be granted to those that complete a public education, and either a collegiate degree or military service afterwards! 

Aftershocks of the Citizens United Decision

People living in California will tell you that it is not the initial earthquake that worries them the most, but rather it is the enduring aftershocks that continue to rip apart their lives as they try to rebuild.  The same can be said of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow corporations unlimited power to sway politics.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/campaign_finance/index.html?scp=9&sq=CITIZENS%20UNITED%20&st=cse

The Citizens United Decision (a 5-4 decision in January of 2010) allows all corporations to spend unlimited sums of money for political purposes, further strengthening the influence of big corporations over our government.  While this corruption of politics expands the already cavernous void between our nation’s government and the people that it is supposed to represent, the after-effects of the rampant spending for candidates has to raise questions to whose allegiance are the campaigners really fighting for?  Abraham Lincoln famously spread the idea that our government must be “of the people, by the people, for the people”—but that is not how the everyday, hard-working American feels.  The average American is angry.  The average American feels down-trodden, realizing that the hard work they put in everyday has been continually going towards an ever-growing powerful corporate community that only seeks to deepen their pockets and flex their powerful muscles of influence over politicians that work for their interests.

We have seen the effects of corporate America’s influence over our nation’s governance.  Jobs continue to sail away to other countries as unemployment rates soar!  Unregulated corporations swindled Americans into taking on debts for possessions that they could not afford!  And now corporations can wage unlimited support to candidates to do their bidding—without consent of the workers that keep the corporations alive and running?! 

Corporate America cannot be allowed to continue their power over the way our nation governs itself!

Corporate America does not act for the people!

Corporations are not the people of America!

The politics of wealth and greed that has run this nation into the Great Recession, the greediness that seeks only to expand the already expansive piggybanks of board members and CEO’s . The greediness that is holding down the workers that toil and break their backs to get a small sliver of the pie to make ends meet—this is not the dream that was to be America!  This nation was meant to be a land where a person works for their Fair Share, with a government that protects and serves them.  Not a government that lays in the bed of self-interest, side-by-side with big corporations, whose aim is only to exploit everyone and everything for their own gain!

The workers must have their own voices!

The people of this nation must be heard!

We must unite together and march! March to the polls and demand a greater America, an America for a better future!

A Common Sense Tax System

Senate Democrats have officially proposed legislation requiring incomes of $1,000,000.00 or more—must pay at least 30% in taxes.  Finally, legislation that makes the 1% pay their Fair Share like the other 99% does!

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/01/senate-democrats-unveil-buffett-bill/?hpt=hp_t3

Popularly known as the “Buffet Rule” after billionaire Warren Buffet, who has openly promoted higher taxes laid on the mega-rich, especially after admitting that he legally paid half the percentage amount that his secretary had to pay.  This is largely due to the capital gains rate (taxes on investments and dividends) being set at 15%.  For example, Warren Buffet earns an annual salary from Berkshire-Hathaway of a reported $100,000.  This is taxed at the normal income tax rate of 35%.  But the millions that he made over the past year in investments and dividends are only taxed at 15%.

There’s no wonder at why the disparity between the rich and poor is getting larger every year.  99% of Americans do not have the luxury of making a steady income without having to do anything for it.  Like some of the candidates running for president, how can you really be in touch with the people of this nation, if you are making over $20,000,000.00 a year without lifting a finger?  And when you pay a 14% tax rate on those tens of millions of dollars, it does not seem to resemble how the other 99% of Americans are working day in and day out at their full-time jobs that earn incomes that are a fraction the size and that are taxed at double the rate.  In fact, the average income of an individual is one quarter of one percent or 0.0025% of $20,000,000.00! 

You would think this would be common sense.  But there are serious doubts that the legislation that would add justice and fairness to our tax system—in favor of the extreme majority of the population—will actually pass Congress before the election.  That’s why we are calling for the 100 Million March! 

March to the Polls!

March for a Better America!