Category: Politics

Manifestos that forward political outcomes

The Wellbeing Manifesto

Wellbeing Manifesto - Australia Institute

Creators: The Australia Institute
Purpose: Governments in Australia should be devoted to improving our individual and social wellbeing.

Manifesto

The Wellbeing Manifesto proposes nine areas in which a government could and should enact policies to improve national wellbeing.

  1. Provide fulfilling work
  2. Reclaim our time
  3. Protect the environment
  4. Rethink education
  5. Invest in early childhood
  6. Discourage materialism and promote responsible advertising
  7. Build communities and relationships
  8. A fairer society
  9. Measure what matters

Sources

Complete manifesto: http://wellbeingmanifesto.net/

John F Kennedy: Man on the Moon

Creator: US President John F Kennedy, Speech delivered before a joint session of Congress, May 25, 1961.
Purpose: To secure funding for significant US projects to boost the US economy, support democracy over communism, diminish the threat of nuclear weapons and land a man on the moon.

This opening selection sets the context for wanting to commit to landing a man on the moon.

“…These are extraordinary times. And we face an extraordinary challenge. Our strength as well as our convictions have imposed upon this nation the role of leader in freedom’s cause.
No role in history could be more difficult or more important. We stand for freedom.
That is our conviction for ourselves–that is our only commitment to others. No friend, no neutral and no adversary should think otherwise. We are not against any man–or any nation–or any system–except as it is hostile to freedom. Nor am I here to present a new military doctrine, bearing any one name or aimed at any one area. I am here to promote the freedom doctrine.”

Kennedy then identifies a number of significant programs including:

“…I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”

Sources

Original Speech to Congress, full transcript: http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Special-Message-to-the-Congress-on-Urgent-National-Needs-May-25-1961.aspx

The video at the top of this page is not the original speech. It is an excerpt from JFK’s speech at Rice University.

Full video of the latter speech at Rice University: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouRbkBAOGEw

US Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of IndependenceCreator: Written in 1774, primarily by Thomas Jefferson.
Purpose: For the US colonies to declare independence from Britain.

Manifesto

The famous sentence in this document is a general statement of human rights.
It also sets the context for the declaration of independence that followed:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and their pursuit of Happiness.

The middle section of the Declaration of Independence lists 27 reasons as to why they are seeking to create their own republic.
They’re directed at King George III, sovereign head of Britain.
They include:

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us.
For imposing taxes on us without our Consent.
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

And, finally, the declaration…

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

Sources

General: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
Full text: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence

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