Revolution® Part 2
THE REVOLUTION®: A Political Party
<p>
Religion is poison, sure. Hey man. So is ideology.<br>
- Yippie MauMau of Tibet, 1969
<p>
We need history because it is the storage closet in which the costumes are kept.
We are the first era that is truly learned so far as 'costumes' are concerned --
we are better prepared than any time has ever been for the Great Carnival, the
most spirited Mardi-Gras laughter, the most reckless fun, for the transcendental
summit of the utmost idiocy, for a truly Aristophanean mockery of the universe.
We can be the parodists of world history, the Punchinellos of God! If nothing
else living today has a future -- perhaps itwill be our laugher that has
one.<br>
- Nietzsche
<p>
We're unmaking history here!<br>
- Hassan I Sirius, in an email to Lisa-Marie Presley
<p>
<b>PRE-RAMBLE:</b>
<p>
In 1996 I ran for President.
<p>
OK. I <i>walked</i> actually.
<p>
Honestly? I laid down. I was high on morphine one evening at a Chinese
restaurant in Berkeley while the (UN)Democratic Convention was busy crowning
President Groovy and his stiffy (Al Gore.) It appeared in front of my
imagination in flashing neon like a Jenny Holzer video sculpture: DERISION 96:
FUCK THE VOTE!
<p>
I couldn't shake it. It was a perfect slogan. And that ought to have been
enough. I mean, consider the alternatives.
<p>
I imagined the disenfranchised masses rising up. Concerned pundits driven to
apoplexy because everywhere Clinton, Dole, and Perot went there would be a crowd
of lunatics shouting 'R.U. Sirius?!!' What other possible response to the
politics of the moment? There would have been copulating in the voting booths.
Dan Rather's electronic circuits would have sizzled and smoked in astonishment
as I blipped onto the radar screen. 1%... one lousy fucking percent was all I
asked!!!
<p>
<b>Fuck 'Em If They Can't Take A Joke or When the Going Gets Wired, the Weird
Turn Sirius</b>
<p>
It didn't catch on.
<p>
I want to propose to you. That's right, you with the microchip up your
sphincter. And the rest of you too... even the ones who write me email saying
stuff like, 'I agree with what you're saying about total revolution and free
food, needles, and condoms, but why didn't you say anything about the face on
mars?'
<p>
Let's play a game. Let's play wonk. Let's imagine that we actually have the
power to make policy in this democracy.
<p>
I'm going to run a serious campaign this time.
<p>
Let's call this new party the 'The Revolution®.' (Note to Richard and the
Disinfo crew: I was gonna call it the 'Alternative Party' but instead I'm
changing the name to The Revolution®, because I really like the chicken
burritos [without the onions] at Taco Bell®. And I figure that if they're
advertising revolution right now, it's <i>gotta</i> be mass market. I know...
lame. But hang with me for a moment. I wanna get some votes in this election,
not just please a handful of too-hip-to-breathe compatriots with pictures of
Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme and Antonin Artaud on their computer monitors. I want
<i>millions</i> of votes. And I figure; if we can have an 'alternative music'
(snicker), if we can have an 'alternative culture' that's embraced by
Volkswagen® and Jordache® jeans, why can't we have an 'alternative'
political party and get at least half as many votes as Eddie Vedder sells CDs?
Are you following me? Am I making sense here? I think this makes sense. We can
hype The Revolution® in the context of 90s content-free bohemianism. 'Get a
cappuccino at Starbucks® and then Vote The Revolution®!' Voting radical
as a fashion accessory. How can it miss?)
<p>
Perry Farrell can organize the campaign tour. Reebok® and Nike® will
battle Coke® and Pepsi® for the opportunity to endorse. In fact, this
may be an ideal way to avoid the trap of being beholden to dozens of wealthy and
powerful financial contributors. We will <i>instead</i> be beholden to just
<i>one</i> sponsor. Let's say it's Reebok®. I agree that, for instance, if
I'm elected President I will wear Reeboks® everywhere. I wear the logo on my
t-shirt during State dinners, press conferences, etc. We paint the Reebok®
logo on the front of the White House. During the inauguration ceremonies, Monica
Lewinsky will appear wearing naught but a lovely pair of Reeboks®. Replace
the stars on the flag with the Reebok® logo. We give Reebok® all of the
advantages that other politicians give all their contributors. But then we're
free to <i>screw</i> all the other mega-corporations if and when we see fit.
<p>
Looking further down the road, I can imagine sponsorship replacing taxation.
Three decades ago, corporations carried more than 30% of the tax burden. Now
corporations carry less than 10%, and we all have to make up the slack. But what
if we could trick the corporations into sponsoring social programs and
infrastructure. 'Alabama's Generous Food Stamp Program is Brought to You By
Burger King®.' OK, I know... further down the road, as I said.
<p>
<b>The Revolution® 15 POINT PARTY PLATFORM FOR NATIONAL POLITICS</b>
<p>
NOTE: All of these platform points are stated simply in three-or-less sentences.
The reality would be far more complex. I'm not going to nerd out here with
details and qualifiers. What I *will* be doing is detailing in each one of
these, one by one, in the months to come.
<p>
<b>1)</b> We will repeal five times as many laws as we pass. We need to simplify
and clarify the rules of the game. We will do a better job of enforcing and
obeying a few reasonable rules than thousands upon thousands of incomprehensible
statutes.
<p>
<b>2)</b> End all corporate welfare. Let allegedly-free enterprise stand on its
own two feet.
<p>
<b>3)</b> No Federal Personal Income Taxes for individuals with incomes of less
than $100,000. Encourage states and counties to also end taxation of
middle-class and poor individuals. Institute a flat tax on income over $100,000.
<p>
<b>4)</b> Legalize most pleasure drugs, prostitution, and gambling. Institute a
'sin tax,' taxing these activities at 100% to make up for some of the funds lost
as the result of #3. Use part of this tax income to make counseling and
rehabilitation easily available in all locales.
<p>
<b>5)</b> Close down the prison/industrial complex. Pardon all prisoners who are
in for non-violent crimes involving sums involving $25,000 or less, provided
they have no known history of violent activities. Pardon all prisoners listed
with Amnesty International.
<p>
<b>6)</b> Defend civil liberties. For the first time in recent memory, let's
have a federal government that respects The Constitution and The Bill of Rights.
Let's have the ACLU and the EFF and other pro-rights organizations inside the
federal government.
<p>
<b>7)</b> Stop policing the world. Become just another member of the UN, with
responsibilities equivalent to our numbers. Reduce the Pentagon's budget by at
least 50%.
<p>
<b>8)</b> Close down the National Security State. Since the end of World War II,
representative democracy has been hostage to the National Security State.
Release all secret documents (excluding only those recent ones that present a
very clear and present danger), fire the CIA, and reform the federal
intelligence apparatus.
<p>
<b>9)</b> Put environmental concerns before profits <i>and</i> jobs. On the
other hand, put scientific consensus and reason ahead of emotion-based
environmentalism. Protect the environment while limiting Orwellian bureaucratic
absurdities.
<p>
<b>10)</b> Open federally-funded birth control clinics all across the country,
guaranteeing women in every locale reasonable access to her legal right to
abortion and other forms of birth control.
<p>
<b>11)</b> Allow 'autonomous zones.' Offer ways in which localities and even
households can -- with a very few limits -- opt out of the system.
<p>
<b>12)</b> Re-establish social services at pre-Reagan levels, for starters.
Study the possibility of a 'workfare' state that would create an ultimately
self-sustaining 'generic' maintenance economy that would involve those who don't
receive income independently, or through employment, in the production,
distribution, and receivership of life's essentials. Ultimately, an advanced
high tech society will need to end the employment/make money ethic entirely or
risk a total psychotic break from the social/environmental pollution wreaked by
billions of desperate people on a hustle.
<p>
<b>13)</b> Study the possibility of restructuring the economic/money system
toward making money consistent with actual value in an age where
money-as-information is excessively abstracted from the creation of real wealth
and unfairly favors those who know how to manipulate it. Also, question the
oligarchic power of those who control the money system, such as the Federal
Reserve, the IMF, and the World Bank, reforming or possibly eliminating those
organizations.
<p>
<b>14)</b> Fund a 'Manhattan Project Toward Utopia.' Finance and encourage
altruistic scientific and technological projects geared towards breakthroughs
that can diminish or eliminate scarcity, disease, and other forms of suffering
that most people would prefer not to experience. Establish a principal of
universal access to the products of such breakthroughs.
<p>
<b>15)</b> Victory Over Horseshit!*** The political process in America is
hostage to certain obvious absurdities that are an embarrassment before the
civilized world: like the continuing embargo against Cuba (and particularly the
Helms/Burton bill), the excessive numbers of state executions, our refusal to
sign the land mine treaty, the opposition to policies like needle exchange that
are geared towards slowing down a plague, refusal of funding for international
birth control, ad infinitum. Let's have a national government that calls
ridiculous horseshit what it is.
<p>
<b>What Is To Be Done</b>
<p>
It's all a monstrous joke! It's serious. I'm Sirius. Can we MAKE FUN and still
get serious political change on the public agenda? Can we do it any other way
than by making fun? For god's sakes, <i>THINK OF THE CHILDREN!</i>
<p>
I hope that volunteers will come forward to help put this party together. Let me
be honest. I haven't done a fucking thing, other than write this thing that's in
front of you. Like most of you, I've been busy trying to keep alive.
<p>
Needs include: researchers to do the detail work on the platform. Researchers,
or people with a working knowledge of the political system, to delineate and
deal with the legalities of forming a political party, getting on ballots,
fundraising, etc. Fund-raisers. Members. Media coverage. Lecture invitations.
Endorsements from the famous and the fashionable. Advocates. Avocados. Cans of
tuna fish. Pencils. Ad infinitum.
<p>
Wouldn't it be fun if a group of non-ideological, non-purist, fun-loving
non-believers actually mounted a campaign to end oppression, just to see if it
might work? Could be the best role-playing game you've ever tried.
<p>
<b>Final Notes</b>
<p>
1. If you want to become a volunteer, as well as a member, and get involved with
research, fundraising (eventually), organizing lectures and live appearances,
generating media, organizing signature drives, and confounding mainstream
politicians, write VOLUNTEER next to the Subject header when you send me <a
href=mailto:rusirius@well.com?subject=VOLUNTEER>email</a></a>.
<p>
2. If you just want to become a member, write MEMBER next to the subject header
when you send me <a href=mailto:rusirius@well.com?subject=MEMBER>email</a>.
<p>
*** VICTORY OVER HORSESHIT was originally the slogan of Art Kleps 'Neo-American
Church,' a religious organization started by a psychedelic prankster
extraordinaire in the 1960s.
--- - - - ---
The Revolution® Part 1
Level 0
http://www.disinfo.com/prop/diss/prop_diss_revolution1.html R.U. Sirius
Announces a Post-Modern Social Contract and a Political Party for the Rest of
Us.
The Infinity Factory
Level 0
http://pseudo.com/links/genhttp.asp?ShowShort=infinity&Arch=v_infinityMay31_98_832pm.ram&Type=vid
See a RealVideo interview with RU Sirius conducted by Disinformation's Richard
Metzger. Also available in <a
href=http://pseudo.com/links/genhttp.asp?ShowShort=infinity&Arch=infinityMay31_98_832pm.ram&Type=aud>RealAudio</a>.
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