this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2026

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Imagine the US holding a "Cost-of-living crisis" protest of 100+ million. Even the army and police protest. You are tasked with making the list of demands. What would be on this list? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by folaht@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

45 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Since four of the first five answers I've seen are so mild, let me give you what my list would include and tell me if I'm wrong or if I'm missing something:

Imprisonment and possessions seized for all those known to have committed child sexual abuse from the Epstein files
Imprisonment and possessions seized for all those related to Trump's corruption schemes which are:
- Stealing oil from Venezuela
- Insider trading during the current aggressive unprovoked full-scale genocide against Iran, Lebanon and possibly all nations in the Middle East, including US all allied nations in the Middle East except for Israel.
- Cryptocoin frauds
Imprisonment and possessions seized for all those involved in war crimes
Designate all detractors of these demands as rape, murder, thievery, and pedophile protectors

Establishment of an independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate allegations of ICE brutality
Retraction of any designation for this protest made as anything other than peaceful
Release of every political arrest made during this protest and any protest prior that are still in prison with exception of the Jan 6th Capitol storming
Reimprisonment of every pardoned criminal during Trump's presidency

An amendment that abolishes the first past the post winner-takes-all system.
- Instead it should have indirect elections to prevent campaign fraud (so you only elect local leaders, who elect those above them) and an approval voting system, but if that is deemed to radical here, then at least have initial proportional representation, with a majority amount of seats shuffled towards the winning coalition in order to prevent lame duck governance.
- If indirect elections with approval voting is considered acceptable, I suggest that each for political position one must complete a civil exam created by an independent institution. Failing to pass will result into disqualification for that term's elections.
An amendment that guarantees all citizens, including prisoners universal basic income
An amendment that guarantees all citizens ownership of basic housing
An amendment that guarantees all citizens ownership a basic amount of land that can prove themselves to be Indigenous First Nations US-soil Native American
Rewrite the 13th amendment to abolish of slavery in prisons
An amendment that secures roaming rights by making any vagrancy and loitering law illegal
- Have the amendment above include making it illegal to restrict access to gated communities. So no walking or driving around 10-meter-high, kilometer-wide walls.
Amendment that guarantees continuous slower traffic paths through faster traffic paths, so walkways > bike lanes > roads.

Repeal the Patriot Act
Universal Health Care
Nationalize all casinos except those owned by native Americans
End all sanctions and embargoes on other countries
Close down the Board of Peace
Close down all ICE death camps

all 50 comments

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[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 26 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Nationalize the large firms and key industries, end all embargoes and sanctions on other countries, redistribute land from the landlords and private firms, end all overseas millitary bases, end all wars and pull out of NATO. Begin building mass rail, solar, and nuclear by engaging with strategic partnerships with China. Land back and decolonization of Turtle Island. Building up the productive forces via central planning and strong state funding, while gradually appropriating medium firms as they grow and monopolize.

Dismantling settler-colonialism and imperialism are the primary tasks of building socialism on Turtle Island.

Production and distribution will be run according to a common, scientific plan. Worker's councils will be set up, alongside youth leagues. Social programs like free healthcare and education will be established, and a reduction to the 30 hour work week in the long-run. Full-employment will be achieved via mass infrastructure projects. The country will be connected and integrated with the city, suburbs will gradually be pivoted away from in favor of mixed-use, walkable city planning.

Full protections for LGBTQIA+ individuals and abortion protections. Religion will be purged from the state in all aspects, while being protected as an individual choice. Prison reform will be established, focusing on rehabilitation and ending the profit motive from incarceration. Police budgets will be slashed. National parks will recieve greater land and funding for protections, as will scientific advancement in medicine and more.

This seems like a lot, but it all stems from nationalizing the large firms and key industries, as well as redistribution of land, land back, and decolonization. As imperialism decays, the economic compulsion for self-reliance grows, meaning if the working classes can establish a socialist state then we can achieve the rest gradually.

If those ideas sound good to you, and you haven't yet engaged with Marxist-Leninist theory, I made a basic study guide! Feel free to check it out!

[–] ferric_carcinization@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But that would be communist!

Don't you know that a society can't be truly free unless the ones with power have the freedom to oppress those who don't?

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 months ago

Oh silly me! /s

[–] folaht@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like a good start.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 months ago

Only the beginning, before we can abolish class distinctions and fully collectivize production and distribution globally.

[–] raicon@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago

Private equity out of family housing
Public compulsory health insurance
Progressive property tax based on number of residences
Social programs for helping Homelessness and helping people own their first home
Cap rent prices to an indexed table, tax landlords heavily if they rent multiple places

[–] jtrek@startrek.website 17 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Off the top of my head ...

free public health care for all.
forgive all medical debt
free public education for all, including college.
forgive all student loan debt
universal basic income
more public housing. Homes are owned by the people who live in them, or the state. No profit seeking private orgs.
close the "buy borrow die" loopholes, where people get untaxed loans to access their wealth without paying taxes
more tax on the wealthy
look into making property tax progressive like income. That is, the first $nnn of your house is untaxed, the next chunk at some percent, the following chunk at a greater percent, and so on.
all Republicans removed from office. They are barred from government positions for life, as well as any private role with decision making power.
break up mega corps. Disney, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. Their current leadership has their wealth seized, and they are barred from leadership positions for life.
invest heavily in public transit and safety improvements to existing roadways. Cars are literally killing us as well as sapping our resources.
mandatory profit sharing for employees.
mandatory pay transparency
maximum pay gap between roles. No more janitor making $7/HR while the CEO makes $300/hr
accounting hijinks to pretend like your org made no profit, or "they're not employees they're contractors" are punishable by seizure of all wealth and a prohibition from similar roles for life
come up with something so venture capitalist bros aren't deciding the future, if the above doesn't somehow fix it.

[–] folaht@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 months ago

That's more like it.

[–] teawrecks@sopuli.xyz 2 points 3 months ago

I would be happy with one guideline: taxpayers should see and feel the impact of their tax dollars.

It feels like that's currently not a priority at all. The govt can just hand the money to some middleman who pockets 90% for a job worth 10%, and no one checks on it. DOGE was the pinnacle of this practice; honestly felt like Elon and Trump said "hey, you know what would be funny?"

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

(deleted content)

[–] Wilco@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 months ago

Forgive medical debt, make collecting on medical debt illegal, and force 10x reimbursement for collections and court fees going back 10 years. Allow amounts to be recouped from personal assets. The courts would need to pay back 10x the legal fees imposed and the corrupt "judges" (actually magistrates, attorneys hired by the courts) would have to pay as well, collection agencies would fold because of these reimbursements and their filthy lawyers would lose their assets.

Repeat this process for all predatory collection systems in the USA. Private Equity firms that steal people's trailers by raising lot fees, Private Equity that take over HOAs to amass fees and put leins on houses ...

[–] Pickleideas@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

Set minumum wage to a living wage +auto adjust annually per inflation
Medicare for all
Replace social security with a retirement plan baked into the essential budget

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 9 points 3 months ago

In context, Trump won 2024 with only 77 million voters. If you can get 100+ million to show up, that's enough to demand control over Congress and the Presidency.

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 months ago

All power to the soviets

[–] FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 7 points 3 months ago (2 children)

As a bit of a left field addition to other good suggestions already in this thread:

Rescind the fiduciary duty of any officer in a corporation to increase shareholder value no matter what. Exceptions must be made for cases where it would hurt the environment (anywhere on the planet and judging by the strictest state laws in effect), cause excessive loss of jobs, or hurt consumers.

I think a lot of problems of late stage capitalism are downstream consequences from this stupid law.

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I think a lot of problems of late stage capitalism are downstream consequences from this stupid law.

Not really. Capital accumulation above all else is what makes capitalism capitalism. Even without that specific law the system as a whole incentivises and and pushes towards this end.

[–] FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You're criticizing capitalism fundamentally, which is valid. I wasn't going that far. I didn't think revolution was within the scope of this imaginary protest agenda we're setting here. So baby steps. Reining in unbridled capitalism wherever possible (and necessary) is better than nothing.

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago

I take no issue with that I just think you were misdiagnosing the issues as downstream of a single law as opposed to structural inevitability of the capitalist system whether that specific law exists or not.

[–] folaht@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What's the exact law called?

[–] FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 1 points 3 months ago

Calling it one law may have been oversimplifying it on my part. It's more of a concert of laws and case law. Here is a summary with sources.

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Representatives pay would be capped at a salary of the average of their constituents + a stipend for DC (maybe a little above average, but not terribly). Medical would also be that.

[+] mrnobody@reddthat.com 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Term limits are antidemocratic and largely unhelpful as they disincentivise long term thinking. There's a reason Amerikkka only put them in place in 1951 after FDR.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (2 children)

You've told us you think all the ideas others had aren't good. What ideas do you think are good?

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I’m not against stopgaps in themselves. If you do not have the power to force real change, then immediate achievable demands make sense. Working people need relief, and there is nothing wrong with fighting for rent caps, wage rises, debt relief, public housing, or stronger labour rights.

What I object to is pretending those things are the solution. They are not. They are stopgaps. They can ease the pressure for a time, but they do not remove the system that produces the crisis in the first place. They do not end landlordism, finance capital, monopoly power, imperialism, or production for profit. They manage the symptoms.

Fight for reforms where they are all you can win. But understand them for what they are. Temporary measures, not emancipation. The crisis of capitalism does not have a reformist solution. Its only solution is the overthrow of the system itself.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

When the system is so awful and corrupt as it is, I'm not sure it matters if you call something a solution or not (which in any case I don't think many people think "the solution" is any one given mediocre change). What's important is improving lives, not criticizing anything short of perfection

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Improving lives is generally good. The question is whether people are clear about what they are winning.

I was replying in this very thread to someone calling higher minimum wages and taxes on the rich the solution. That is the problem. Measures like that can be worth fighting for, but they are not a solution. They are stopgaps within the same system that created the crisis.

That matters because without that understanding people mistake temporary concessions for lasting change. They win reforms, are told the problem is solved, pressure drops, and then those reforms are rolled back as soon as capital regains the initiative. We have seen that repeatedly, including in Europe where social protections were swept back once the political balance shifted.

That is not criticizing anything short of perfection. It is insisting on political clarity. Fight for every immediate gain you can win, yes. But understand that unless the system itself is broken, those gains remain limited, fragile, and easily reversible.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Money out of politics. We need a constitutional amendment that money is not speech, and that it's in the interest of the people to control how much influence money can buy.

Having a domain name and access to some kind of basic text and video hosting should be considered speech. (But that doesn't need to be in an amendment.)

Corporations should be required to serve the public interest, even if that public interest is just providing a useful good or service. It should be made clear that persuing profit in a way that's counter to the public interest (see Fallout) is illegal. (Note that prohibition under this would become an interesting discussion.)

I'm fine with disallowing people over X age to run for office. Term limits outside of the very highest office are generally a bad idea.

Clearly we need to patch some of our biggest vulnerabilities, the pardon process, the independence of the judicial branch, and the ability of the President to wage war without congressional approval.

Gerrymandering is a problem that needs to be addressed. Perhaps proportional representation should be encouraged here.

[+] mrnobody@reddthat.com 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago

Term limits also limit positive change. They are meant to prevent change in general.

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I didn’t say anything about age limits. My point was about term limits: they reduce voter choice based on an arbitrary claim that they function as some kind of harm-reduction mechanism, which is hard to take seriously given how obviously dysfunctional the American system is. Term limits do not solve elite capture, corruption, or institutional failure; they just act as another inertial mechanism that constrains democratic choice and blocks the kind of massive structural change the U.S. clearly needs. Most of your reply was a rant about broader problems I never said anything about, but none of it actually answered the point I made.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world -2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Representatives shouldn't make any money at all. We don't need poor people trying to represent us.

[–] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's a job, they should get paid.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

They can get paid through insider trading. Why do we need to pay them an honest salary?

[–] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Remove the power dynamics created by capitalism. That's the real problem with capitalism and why they fear socialism because socialism also removes the power dynamics

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (6 children)

To be clear, socialism retains administration and organization, it just gradually abolishes class divisions.

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[–] CanadaPlus@futurology.today 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

If the army and police are on our side, why bother with demands? Nobody else matters.

[–] GuyIncognito@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Year zero, destroy all computers and return to agricultural living. binoclards eliminated

[–] greyscale@lemmy.grey.ooo 0 points 3 months ago

Mmm butlerian jihad, it is calling me.

[–] i_ben_fine@midwest.social 1 points 3 months ago

https://generalstrikeus.com/

[–] disregardable@lemmy.zip -1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

The issue is that the solution is a large increase in the minimum wage, more regulation over the healthcare industry, and a lot more taxes on the rich. 40% of the population have been brainwashed into believing the solution is a bad thing.

[–] QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml 6 points 3 months ago

No that's not the solution, that's a stopgap at best. A mild reform. It does nothing to address the core contradictions that drive capitalist crisis.