Letter to Govenor of Maine concerning revisionis history of labor movement

This Letter was written by the President of  Mount Hollyoke College, the Alma Mater of  Frances Perkins. It is about the revision of our history to erase all notions of the struggle of labor vs corporations that is important to the understanding of our history.

March 29, 2011

The Honorable Paul LePage

Office of the Governor

1 State House Station

Augusta, ME 04333-0001

Dear Governor LePage:

I write with grave concerns regarding your decision to remove this past weekend a mural depicting scenes

from Maine's labor history, including a depiction of Frances Perkins, an alumna of Mount Holyoke College

and one of the most important figures in American history. I am also concerned that you have ordered a

conference room named for Perkins, who has longstanding ties to Maine, to be renamed.

In some ways, the timing for this decision could not have been worse. Friday, March 25, marked the 100th

anniversary of the horrific Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. This event strongly influenced Perkins's lifelong

commitment to the well-being of working men and women, as well as to working children in those days of

rampant exploitation. But on an even larger scale, the Great Recession we are now struggling though--and

which has hit Maine particularly hard--has numerous historical parallels with the Great Depression. Labor

Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman presidential Cabinet member, figured prominently in leading us

out of that cataclysm.

I was particularly surprised to read that you were influenced by an anonymous fax comparing the 11-panel

mural to North Korean political propaganda, because the act of removing images commemorating Maine's

history itself conjures thoughts of the rewriting of history prevalent in totalitarian regimes. If the U.S.

Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. is housed in the Frances Perkins Building, why can't she be

honored with a conference room in Augusta?

Perkins sets an example to the political figures of today of how service to our nation's working people must

always be at the core of our national enterprise. She is also the perfect role model for girls and women

seeking inspiration in a world that needs more women leaders.

On behalf of Perkins's alma mater, including many alumnae who share my concerns about efforts to

diminish the significance of one of our most distinguished sisters, I urge you to reverse course and to

celebrate this heroic woman and the notable achievements of working men and women in the great state of

Maine.

Sincerely yours,

Lynn Pasquerella

President,

Grievances and Demands for Redress

PETITION FOR RE-ESTABLISMENT OF GOVERNMENT

OF – BY – FOR

THE PEOPLE

Petition of Grievances of The People:

The United States of America was established through the three founding documents  (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights) as a government; of - by- for the people. 

1.     A wealthy few Corporations have, and are, endeavoring to wrest the foundational rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness from the People of the United Sates. 

2.     Corporations have exercised control over our Congressional and Executive branches of government to influence them to take actions that are not in the best interest of the Government of the People.

3.     An extremely small number of the very wealthy have undertaken actions to effect the establishment of a government that will no longer function as a government of –by--for the People.

4.     These wealthy interest have unduly influenced the functioning of the Government of the People to establish policies that will result in an unreasonable and unhealthy concentration of the Nation’s wealth in the hands of a very small percentage of the population.

5.     It is in the best interest of the Government for the People that the majority of the wealth of this country will be vested in and under the control of those who have labored to create that wealth, the working/middle class. 

6.     The Government of the People cannot sustain continuous, endless, war.

7.     Corporations and a few very wealthy people have tried to assume the role of Royalty in a government that was founded of-by-for the people.

Demands for Redress of the Grievances of the People:

The Representatives of the People through the two houses of Congress and the Office of the President, will act to insure the following:

1.     Corporations, Banking, and Business will be nourished to flourish in the interest of the Government of the People.  As long as the interest of the Corporation and the Government of the people are in concert Corporations will be encouraged to flourish, earn profit and grow.

2.     The Interest of the Government of the people will include the generation of wealth suitable for the maintenance of;

(a)  a decent standard of living for all,

(b)  the maintenance of a lawful society,

(c)   the ability to adequately address all of the legitimate concerns of the People for security and defense.   

3.     Corporations are not persons and do not have the legal right to function as persons or claim the rights guaranteed, under the Constitution, to persons. 

4.     Corporations have no right under our constitution to make unlimited profit, especially when such profit is contrary to the interest and general welfare of the Government of the people.

5.     Corporations have a moral, ethical, and legal obligation to conduct themselves so that they do not jeopardize the economic security of the Economy of the People. 

6.     Corporations will not be allowed to consolidate and become so large that a single corporation’s failure jeopardizes the economic health of the Economy of the People.

7.     Corporations that are too large will be required to begin an orderly, time certain reorganization to come into compliance with demand 6.

8.     Monopolies in restraint of Free Competitive Trade will not be tolerated by the government for the people. 

9.     Congress will reclaim its constitutional duty to draft and pass the laws of the Government of the People and will end the practice of allowing Corporations or their representatives to influence that process.

10. Corporations do not have the right to influence the functioning or operation of the Government by the People in such a way as to make it responsive to special interest that are contrary to the Interest of the People.

11. The President will be responsible for drafting a plan to systematically limit the involvement of the Military of the Government of the people in:

(a)  Occupations that cannot be shown to be in the Interest of the Government of the People.

(b)  Military engagements that do not have reasonable and clearly articulated goals, unless such engagements are undertaken to repel and defend a direct assault on Interest of the Government of the People.

(c)   Invasions of countries that do not represent

12. The Government of the People will not engage in Nation Building or the building of Infrastructure for other nations unless those nations or its people have not shown hostile action or intent to take such action.