Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry's, Launches
"You Stack the Oreos"!

Nonpartisan Form of Democratic Expression Allows Citizens to Show Lawmakers How to Allocate the Federal Budget

Recently, the President delivered his proposed federal budget to Congress. But there's one problem. The federal budget is one of the most intricate and confusing documents around.

It takes the guy who brought us Chunky Monkey to break it down into something we all understand, like Oreos.

Cohen's interactive, non-partisan form of democratic expression (www.truemajorityaction.org/cookiebudget) begins by showing players how last year's federal budget was spent. Stacks of Oreo cookies, each representing a whopping $10 billion, are piled on 12 different budget categories (e.g., Pentagon, health, humanitarian foreign aid, etc.)

Then, using a mouse, a player can click and drag Oreo cookies from one budget category to another, creating a federal budget tailored to his or her own values and priorities.

For example, a player might drag 10 Oreos from the 45 cookies stacked on the "Pentagon" category and add them to them to the lonely Oreo on the "Humanitarian Foreign Aid" category.

After deciding where their Oreos stack up, TrueMajorityACTION members can instantly e-mail their proposed federal budget to their representatives in Washington.

Last year, a Cohen-inspired online animation distributed to TrueMajorityACTION members, using Oreos to illustrate how Congress spends our taxes, was viewed by over 1 million people: View it at http://www.truemajorityaction.org/oreos

"You Stack the Oreos" can be found at www.truemajorityaction.org/cookiebudget.

"Most people have a very different idea of how to spend our taxpayer dollars than what's in the President's proposal." Ben Cohen, now President of TrueMajorityACTION.org, says, "We want Congresspeople to know what the priorities of the country are."

TrueMajorityACTION.org is a free e-service that monitors Congress on issues of justice, compassion, and sustainability. About twice a month, at critical moments, TrueMajorityACTION's 150,000 members receive a short e-mail alert about an important issue pending in Washington or about a good political candidate. With the click of a mouse, members can send a free message to their Congressperson or take other actions to make a difference. Ben Cohen is undertaking this project on behalf of TrueMajorityAction and not on behalf of Ben & Jerry's, which is not associated with the TrueMajorityAction campaign.