Act 2 - One-Time Amnesty
We need to look no further than Stanley Milgram, Philip Zimbardo, or the Nuremberg trials regarding authority to see that emotionally healthy and well-balanced human beings are capable of doing horrendous and atrocious acts if merely asked to do so by an authority figure. When humans are rewarded for said unethical acts (Enron, WorldCom), they begin to do it willingly and eagerly. While this has a history as extreme as genocide and ethnic cleansing, it casually happens in less extreme situations every single hour of every single day in every aspect of government and business.
Human beings may not know why we are wired like this, but it is as simple as Tenet #1: people respond to incentives. Countless aspects of big business have been designed against the long-term well-being of the people or the environment in exchange for short-term profits and executive enrichment. Market insiders admit the problem should have been resolved at the beginning, but now it has become so large and so many people involved that nobody dares when one lie needs another lie and requires yet more lies to cover up the cover-ups. The tower of lies has become unwieldy. We have to universally accept that everything has gotten out of hand in almost every industry, and the only way to ensure a clean sweep is a one-time granting of full amnesty for everyone who provides a full confession of all wrongdoing they participated in, witnessed, or even were aware of.
A willed-ignorance approach towards lies upon lies will eventually cause chaos and anarchy, but if we take the wheel now, we can better control the direction. Therefore, let us capitalize on this new stage in human evolution. We will all come together and allow this one-time amnesty and immunity to those who fully confess all known wrongdoings. There is no other way we can stop hidden crimes. To the fully confessed, we agree not to seek mob justice, no seizure of assets, and no witch hunts with their privacy intact. There is no other way they will agree to come clean. They know the American public is angry. Then, we will use what we have learned to create a better system.
Therefore, in the spirit of a truly great leader, Desmond Tutu, we will have our own version of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission where anybody who knows about any of the following will receive full amnesty upon full confession about the following items:
- Knowingly putting products to market that can harm, addict, enslave, or damage human health
- Damage to the environment
- Spinning misinformation to the media for the purpose of influencing the public
- Lobbying politicians, including funding their campaign in an implicit method in exchange for favorable treatment
- Gross waste and misuse of taxpayer dollars
- Any bribe-like compensation, e.g., revolving door employment of promising a job in the industry, etc.
- Withholding discoveries that would benefit humankind in some way
- Anything that may hinder the people's pursuit of happiness
This is purposefully, very open, and broad. The guilty can claim attorney-client privilege, the acts were under an NDA, ex post facto, or it was a government secret. Nonetheless, none of these excuses will be honored. We can not apply a proper solution until we clearly define the problem and have all the facts. To the partially or entirely unconfessed, they have no amnesty, and all their misdeeds can be broadcast to the world. There may not be any place for the guilty to hide. When enacted, there will be back-door meetings where the guilty will agree to keep certain things quiet and uniformly agree to partially confess. Yet, all it takes is one person in that group to come clean and thereby receive the DOGE's financial reward and personal safety guaranteed, which will be several times what the reward is for keeping quiet.
The guilty know it is only a matter of time; the number of private security firms protecting the guilty elite is skyrocketing. They are arming themselves with private security forces and fortresses and purchasing bolt-hole overseas homes as we speak. All of which can be avoided by a simple and complete confession.
Forgive and Fix
Yes, unconscionable things will come to light. Yet this must be done if we are to advance and evolve. We have to forgive and fix. Yes, it will be all too easy for internet sleuths and investigative journalists to attempt to track down and point fingers at the suspected guilty. However, they won't know who really came forth. They may have been the very ones who broke the silence, confessed, and helped design a better system. That is why the names of the parties confessing need to be withheld from the public. There is no other way. You can't navigate to your desired destination without knowing exactly where you are and how you got there.
We acknowledge that many decent, normal people given improper incentives in a broken system will do horrendous acts. We need to admit things have gotten out of hand in almost every industry. Let us forgive those who confess, learn from their mistakes, and be glad that real positive change is finally happening, as we all begin to move forward with positive solutions.
This second act shall be called the Citizen Truth and Reconciliation Act (terrible acronym: CTARA?). After this one-time clean-sweep granting of amnesty and immunity, the DOGE Fund replaces it in perpetuity.
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