...That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
—The Declaration of Independence
Like America's founders more than 200 years ago, Disney shareholders will gather in Philadelphia on March 3, 2004, with the opportunity to move toward forming a new, independent government that better guides and protects The Walt Disney Company to secure and enhance its long-term value for shareholders, cast members and audiences.
Near The Hall of Independence, where the founding fathers declared their freedom from England's oppressive rule, its corrupt and stagnating systems of governance, Disney shareholders will gather to determine Disney's future. Together, they will exercise their freedom to sever entanglements with a power that has not served the greater common interest.
At this defining moment in Disney's 80-year history the stakes will be high. Will shareholders choose governance as usual? Or will prudent shareholders choose to form a new, independent body to encourage creativity, stability and therefore greater shared wealth and prosperity.
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 the Pursuit of Happiness...
—The Declaration of Independence
Like America, the only nation ever founded upon an ideal—the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—Disney is an American corporation born upon the guiding ideals and principles established by its two founders: Walter E. Disney and Roy O. Disney.
The Disney brothers represent those hard working Americans who fulfilled what French immigrant St. Jean de Crevecoceur predicted in his Letters from an American Farmer (1782), "Here individuals...are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world."
Based on a shared ideal that "tomorrow is just a dream away," the Disney brothers revolutionized the world of entertainment by exercising their freedom to create and in turn, to prosper. They epitomized the American Dream, as Walt once said, "My brother and I solved the problem of being unemployed by starting our own business."
As a 20th Century American leader, visionary and innovator in quality family entertainment, Walt Disney's ideal was to first "bring pleasure and information" to the public in unusual and cutting-edge ways. The audience responded, and in turn, the company grew, evolved and prospered as it consistently met changing needs. As a result, The Walt Disney Company demonstrated the wisdom of our nation's founders, including Benjamin Franklin, who once said, "Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a by product of providing a useful service."
As a student of history, observer of the present, and seeker of invention, Walt Disney understood the public's needs and he knew how to reach them through his unique forms of entertainment. He, along with his artists, invested much to manifest this ideal service, bringing pleasure and information to families. Walt once described their shared creative Constitution, which well-supported the ideal:
The span of twelve years between Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey with sound, and Fantasia, is the bridge between primitive and modern animated pictures. No genius built this bridge. It was built by hard work and enthusiasm, integrity of purpose, a devotion to our medium, confidence in its future, and, above all, by a steady day-by-day growth in which we all simply studied our trade and learned."
With this Disney foundational ideal, the fruits of creativity manifested a bounteous success that continued to enrich our collective spirit as well as the pocketbooks of shareholders. But this representation would one day become taxing, when the mighty corporation put themselves above the people and the product.
But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.
—The Declaration of Independence
In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges." This is true of The Walt Disney Company. The recent hostile takeover attempted by Comcast, as well as Pixar's creative split with current management are "edges" of a diminishing Disney "cake."
Pull back the veil of hollow rhetoric, the never-ending words of defense and appeasement from Disney's corporate body, and one discovers that as Benjamin Franklin once said, "Half a truth is often a great lie."
Current Disney predictions of a "turnaround" are suspect. Even after Disney's 2003 gains, the company's operating income remains below that achieved in 1996. In that year, Disney's operating income was approximately $3.5 billion, compared to 2003, which was approximately $3.2 billion after reinvesting billions of dollars of shareholder capital in the company during that period.
Today, the company flounders because its ideals have been lost to profit margins. Those who pay for this precious loss are shareholders, cast members, audiences, consumers, as well as the Disney name and its hard-won reputation born from the immense dedication of its founders and their devoted associates.
Like the founding Americans who protested England's corrupt rule, however, many Disney patriots who bear the torch of its ideal recognize that the company's current "representative" body is not a "responsible" nor "responsive" one.
Fevered by a passionate response to the Disney ideals that influenced their childhoods, a nation of SaveDisney supporters joins the ranks of a revolution to preserve the uniqueness of this great institution. Our forces range from major institutional investors such as Institutional Shareholder Services to cast members past and present. All are exercising their duty to overthrow an entrenched political system with the desire to establish a more honorable, just and balanced form of Disney rule, led by an upright Chairman and CEO and an independent, vigilant board.
Do not separate text from historical background. If you do, you will have °°°°°°°°° and subverted the Constitution, which can only end in a distorted, bastardized form of illegitimate government.
—James Madison
In the spirit of the American founders, whose values and principles still serve as guide to this nation and its ability to be secure and to prosper, the SaveDisney call is a return to the noble ideals of its founders and thus, provide a unique, innovative and quality product of value to family audiences around the world.
This ideal alone, spurred Disney's successes in the past and will ignite its successes for tomorrow. As Henry Ford, another successful American businessman and friend of Walt Disney, once said, "The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed."
SaveDisney also calls to establish a more independent, principled and just form of Disney government that honors the company's heritage and ideals, in order to further growth, evolution and prosperity.
Only when integrity is again restored to The Walt Disney Company, will its shareholders and cast members thrive. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who °O°°O°°O°°O°°O°°O°°O° the Constitution." As Walt appealed to us, "Disneyland is your land." And this great company indeed belongs to everyone who has ever been touched by its films, parks and creative products.
Choose to declare "no" on the re-election of Disney Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner and board members Senator George Mitchell, Judith Estrin and John Bryson. Shareholders who have already cast their votes may choose to change their votes via e-mail, fax, telephone or in writing up to the Disney Shareholder's meeting on March 3, 2004.
And consider Walt Disney's declaration that "Mickey Mouse is, to me, a symbol of independence." We can be no other.
—And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
—The Declaration of Independence
By: Maeve O'Hara
Source:
SaveDisney.com 
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Philadelphia Freedom: Where Disney History Will Be Made 
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