The Bennington Banner published an op-ed by James Haslam, director of the Vermont Workers' Center, about the push for human rights-based People's Budget during Vermont's 2012 legislative session, which started yesterday.

From the op-ed:

"The People’s Budget Campaign is about Putting People First. It calls for a transparent, participatory, and accountable budgeting process which prioritizes resources to meet the needs of our communities and is based on human rights principles, including actions to protect our right to a healthy environment and a livable planet.

The 1 percent has done an impressive job getting people to focus their dissatisfaction with the current system on "the government." Occupy Wall Street has helped turn the attention to the real forces who are in the driver’s seat. Instead of saying we need less government so that corporations can run the show, the new movement of the 99 percent is saying "no" to corporate rule and "yes" to real democracy. It is saying that with so much wealth there is no excuse people have to choose between feeding their families or being able to buy the medicine they need, or heating their home."