Who were the people represented in “We the People”?
The Constitution wasn’t written to represent all people.
It was written by wealthy men, for wealthy men, to protect wealthy men.
When poor farmers rebelled over debt in Shays’ Rebellion (1786-87), these 55 men gathered in secret—windows nailed shut—to design a system that would prevent “the mob” from ever threatening their property and power again.
Who wrote it:
- 55 wealthy white men (only 39 signed)
- 25 held enslaved people (45% of signers)
- Most were lawyers, merchants, plantation owners
- Combined, they owned more wealth than thousands of ordinary families
Who they excluded:
Women (50% of the population)Enslaved people (18% of the population)Native Americans (estimated 600,000+)Poor white men without propertyAll people of color
In 1787, “We the People” meant less than 10% of people living in America.
The other 90%? They were the threat to be controlled.
“They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.”
— James Madison, Father of the Constitution
Constitutional Convention, June 26, 1787
Now it all makes sense. The ‘Why’ has finally been answered.
Why we have homelessness, hunger, untreated mental illness while spending $850 billion on defense. Why Congress protects wealth over people. Why the system feels rigged.
The Problems We’re Ignoring
771,480 Americans sleep on the streets every night. Including 122,000 children. In the richest country in history, families with jobs are living in cars because they can’t afford rent.
44 million Americans don’t know where their next meal is coming from. 13 million are children. One in eight households is food insecure—meaning they skip meals, water down food, or go days without eating because they can’t afford groceries.
61 million Americans live with mental illness. Only 47% receive treatment. Wait times for psychiatric care average 48 days—if you can find a provider at all. Suicide is now the 11th leading cause of death—48,183 Americans in 2021 alone. Over 2 million people with mental illness are warehoused in jails instead of getting treatment.
Over 2 million youth aged 16-24 are neither working nor in school. Idle, disconnected, and at extreme risk for incarceration, addiction, violence, and lifelong poverty. No skills. No opportunities. No future.
We spend $182 billion per year on incarceration and criminal justice—with a 43% recidivism rate. We lock people up, release them with $50 and a bus ticket, then act shocked when they reoffend. The cycle repeats. The costs compound. Nothing changes.
Meanwhile, Congress just approved $901 billion for defense—$8 billion MORE than the President requested—without debate.
The Pentagon has never passed an audit. It can’t account for billions in spending. But homeless veterans sleep under bridges while Congress writes blank checks for weapons systems we don’t need.
Where Every Dollar Goes
End Homelessness — $20B/year
Permanent supportive housing for all 771,480 homeless Americans. Not shelters. Not temporary beds. Real apartments with wraparound services: case management, mental health treatment, healthcare access, substance abuse counseling, and job placement support.
Cost per person: $25,940/year
Current cost of doing nothing: $35,578/year (emergency room visits, police interactions, jail stays, temporary shelters)
We’re already paying more to ignore the problem than it would cost to solve it.
Housing First programs show 85% housing retention rates and massive reductions in emergency service use. This isn’t charity—it’s fiscal responsibility.
Eliminate Food Insecurity — $15B/year
Expand SNAP benefits, universal school breakfast and lunch programs, community food bank networks, and rural food access initiatives. Feed all 44 million food-insecure Americans with dignity.
No child goes hungry. No senior chooses between food and medicine. No working family skips meals.
Current SNAP benefits average $6.10 per person per day—try feeding your family on that. This increases benefits to adequate nutrition levels and fills the gaps for working families who earn just above the cutoff but still struggle to afford groceries.
Studies show every $1 spent on SNAP generates $1.50-$1.80 in economic activity. Hungry kids can’t learn. Malnourished adults can’t work. This investment pays for itself.
Transform Mental Health Care — $25B/year
Build 988 community mental health centers nationwide (one per 330,000 Americans), deploy 24/7 mobile crisis intervention teams in every city, create 100,000 new psychiatric care and addiction treatment beds, and ensure universal access to medication and ongoing therapy.
Currently only 47% of people with mental illness receive treatment.
Wait times for psychiatric care average 48 days nationwide—up to 6 months in rural areas.
Over 2 million people with mental illness are in jails and prisons, not treatment facilities.
Police spend 20% of their time responding to mental health crises they’re not trained to handle.
This program ensures anyone in crisis gets immediate care—not a jail cell. Ongoing treatment and medication support—not abandonment. Real recovery pathways—not revolving doors.
Every $1 invested in mental health treatment returns $4 in reduced healthcare costs, criminal justice expenses, and lost productivity.
Youth Employment Programs — $10B/year
Paid apprenticeships, vocational training, subsidized summer jobs, and structured mentorship for 2 million at-risk youth aged 16-24. Teach real skills. Pay real wages. Build real futures.
Evidence shows 50% reduction in criminal activity among participants.
Every dollar invested returns $7-10 in reduced crime, avoided incarceration costs, and increased lifetime earnings.
Youth unemployment leads directly to gang involvement, drug use, and violent crime.
Get young people working, learning trades, earning money, and seeing a future—before the streets get them. Plumbing. Welding. Healthcare. IT. Construction. The skills employers are desperate for.
Programs like YouthBuild show 75% job placement rates and dramatic reductions in criminal justice involvement. This isn’t a handout—it’s an investment in the workforce we need.
Reduce Crime — $8B/year
Evidence-based intervention programs, rehabilitation instead of warehousing, community policing partnerships, violence interruption initiatives, cognitive behavioral therapy, job training for inmates, and comprehensive re-entry support.
Current recidivism rate: 43% within 3 years of release
With proper intervention and support: drops to 11-15%
It costs $40,000/year to incarcerate someone—and they come out worse than they went in
We’re spending $182 billion annually to lock people up and release them with nothing—no job skills, no housing, no support, no chance. Then we’re shocked when they reoffend.
Violent crime isn’t solved by longer sentences. It’s solved by addressing root causes: poverty, addiction, untreated mental illness, lack of opportunity. Programs focused on rehabilitation instead of punishment show massive reductions in recidivism and violent crime rates.
This redirects funding toward what actually works: intervention before crimes happen, treatment instead of punishment, and support after release. Break the cycle. Save lives. Save money.
Education & Training — $7B/year
Free community college, trade school programs, adult education, job retraining for displaced workers, and registered apprenticeship programs to fill the 11 million open jobs American businesses can’t fill.
Workers with post-secondary credentials earn 25% more over their lifetimes.
Businesses report critical shortages in skilled trades: welders, electricians, machinists, HVAC technicians, healthcare workers, IT professionals.
Over 40 million Americans have some college but no degree—they’re stuck in low-wage jobs while skilled positions go unfilled.
This closes the skills gap, increases wages, reduces poverty, and gives people clear pathways to middle-class security. Not everyone needs a four-year degree. But everyone needs skills that pay.
Germany’s apprenticeship system produces highly skilled workers earning $50,000-$80,000 annually in their twenties. We can do the same—if we invest.
Total: $85 Billion — Every Dollar Accounted For
Not a wish list. A fully costed plan with documented ROI.
Every program listed has proven effectiveness. Every number is backed by research and real-world implementation. Every dollar is tracked and justified.
This isn’t about compassion. It’s about stopping the hemorrhage of money we’re already wasting on emergency rooms, jails, and bandaid solutions that don’t work.
We can afford this. We’re choosing not to.
Why Hasn’t This Happened Already?
Because the system was designed to protect wealth, not people.
From the beginning, the Constitution was written to keep power and resources in the hands of the few. For 238 years, the same pattern has repeated: protect wealth, control dissent, and dress inequality up in the language of democracy.
The evidence is overwhelming. The quotes are documented. The pattern is undeniable.
“They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.” — James Madison didn’t say that in private. He said it openly at the Constitutional Convention. It’s in the record. They weren’t hiding it.
They wrote a system to protect themselves from us. And it’s still working exactly as designed.
Read The Full Story: The Veritas Paradox →
But Here’s What They Didn’t Plan On
Us. Knowing. And organizing anyway.
The system was rigged from the start—but it still runs on votes. On pressure. On numbers they can’t ignore.
We’re not asking them to be better people. We’re not appealing to their conscience. We’re forcing their hand with the one thing they actually fear: losing power.
How We Make Congress Answer To Us
Congress won’t act on their own—over 50% are millionaires with a median net worth exceeding $1 million. They profited from the system. They’ll protect it until we make the cost of protecting it higher than the cost of changing it.
But they still answer to votes. And organized pressure. Here’s how we force their hand:
Step 1: Build The Number
When you join, you become one voice in a chorus of millions. Politicians can ignore one person. They can’t ignore coordinated masses.
1 million voices demanding the same thing gets their attention.
2 million voices forces them to respond.
3 million voices gets legislation passed.
Every signature is leverage. Every name is pressure. This isn’t about hoping they listen—it’s about making them too afraid not to.
Step 2: Targeted Action Alerts
We’ll tell you exactly when to act—when bills are being debated, when committee votes happen, when one phone call matters most.
You’ll get:
- The script (what to say)
- The phone numbers (who to call)
- The email templates (ready to send)
Just click and deploy. Five minutes when it matters most.
Want to do more? As the movement grows, you can step up to team leader—coordinating local groups, organizing town hall presence, and amplifying pressure in your district. We’ll provide training, resources, and support.
Step 3: Make It Local
We’ll show you the homelessness numbers in your district. The hungry kids in your schools. The mental health crisis on your streets.
Then we make your Representative answer for it—in town halls, at local events, in the newspaper, on social media. We put their face next to the suffering they’re ignoring.
Make it impossible for them to hide from what they’re allowing to happen.
When voters see the problem and see their Representative doing nothing, the political calculation changes fast.
Step 4: Primary Threat
Politicians care about one thing above all else: keeping their job.
We track every vote. Every statement. Every dodge. Then we recruit primary challengers who will support the 10% Solution and we fund their campaigns with small-dollar donations from this movement.
Force the choice: Represent the people, or lose your seat.
They don’t need to believe in the cause. They just need to believe we’ll follow through. And we will.
Step 5: Media Pressure
We’ll provide shareable graphics, viral-ready videos, documented facts, and emotional stories that cut through the noise.
When we hit critical mass, the media has to cover it. Then Congress can’t pretend the issue doesn’t exist. The pressure becomes national. The cost of inaction becomes unbearable.
This isn’t hope. This is strategy.
We’re not asking politely. We’re not waiting for them to grow a conscience. We’re building the machine that makes them act—or removes them from office.
This Is Winnable
The numbers work. The plan is sound. The evidence is documented. The only question is whether we build the movement large enough to make them listen.
Add your name. Join the movement. Let’s force their hand.
This isn’t hope. This is strategy.
Add your name. Join the million.
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