"Where Do We Go From Here?"
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 23, 2011, 9:32 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
On the one month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, Ed David went to Liberty Plaza to find out where the movement will go next.
Director ED DAVID
Producer DANA SALVATORE
Cinematography ED DAVID & ANDREW MCMULLEN
Editors LILY HENDERSON & ED DAVID
Assistant Producer JILLIAN MASON
Music: "I Drive" by Cliff Martinez
ED - kittyguerrilla.com
ANDREW - andrewmcmullen.com
LILY - thinplacepictures.com
We go forward, we continue to grow in numbers and change the way the world works . We are fearless and unsubdued, and will no longer listen to politicians- we are the leaders. We will be educated, informed and uncorruptable. We will push through the winter of discontent to the springtime ahead. We are the infrastructure, we are the decision makers, and we are taking out future back into our own hands. Together, we Occupy the world, and we are taking it back from those who seek to own it.
Agreed! What we have now is the beginning of what´s going to be a worldwide movement that´s going to make big changes. We´re in the growing phase right now. The important thing now is to keep on fighting, protesting, making yourselves heard, and keep on GROWING; organize: get people to join, enlighten convince and organize major events including sit-down strikes (and later on genral strikes)etc. When we´re big enough we can begin to take serious action and create a sustainable society that this world and its inhabitants desperatly need.
"What you should do is exactly the kinds of things that are going to lead to hysteria among privileged and powerful people" -Noam Chomsky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27gfHU6G-hI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cdSoMbwTA4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu8J_UKKa-c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YftlB3AxBws
Noam Chomsky at Occupy Boston (october 22):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olxp34z_Mns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-d0dhNxu1k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHse0oaddr8
we need to do things that effect their wallets.
For example, buyreturnTM. Buy things from companies you don't like, from a store you don't like. Open the products, then return them within and according to their returns policy's window of time, closer to the end of the window so it screws up their accounting (although this does help them in a sense of float).
Returning products does three things: it hurts the business that makes the product. It hurts the business that sells the product because they will have to revise their return policy to be more strict which actually hurts them more (and other consumers).
Buyreturn ties them up and wastes their effort by leveraging a small amount of your own effort. They swallow the cost of shipping the product back, repackaging, etc.
Also, if you do this with food, in some states like Oregon it cannot be resold. In this way, you can teaparty some food products from companies you hate; legally. I can only endorse this with products made by corporations having foreknowledge and intention of putting toxins in the food to save a fraction of a penny, typically from China sourced inputs.
Use your consumer powers wisely. Be sure you know the facts on a company before you screw them.
Nice videos
http://www.easymuaythai.com/
Very high quality and straight to the point. I love this site!
Thanks from Clive @ http://easydiablo3.com/.
Thanks for sharing. Chomsky calls the current Deficit Commission plans a "dagger pointed at the heart of the country". It could go through in 5 weeks time. Stopping this commission's proposal is his suggestion for a practical short term goal.
Youre very welcome. Keep organizing, keep on growing :)
An outlet for your frustration: http://mustchange.org/
<3 <3 <3
I'm not sure about worldwide. F.ex. in Russia we are tired from revolutions and changes. I feel that most of us wanna rest from all of it.
cheer leading is fine mostly at the start but time has passed for that to be the message.
Occupy your motherland! http://occupywallst.org/forum/family-food-gardens-this-is-the-solution/
Your problem is that you've been raised on empty TV rhetoric and lack critical thinking skills. - Think, Organize, Act!
There has been ample thinking, organizing and acting... This movement is barely a month old and its impact has been unprecedented. I don't know why you are a naysayer but have you not considered the magnitude of the problem? We don't want the help of the current political structure; a new one is in order and that is going to take a long time. This is only the beginning....
Totally agree with you. This is a very young movement that's gained impressive momentum in a very short time. First let people get involved then start narrowing on the concrete goals.
I am part of this movement and I have to agree with what this person is saying. If we are to go anywhere from here, we really need to CONSOLIDATE our resources and information. There is a long of INDIVIDUAL organization going on, but the way the process is set up, all of the individual organizations are not well connected and informed (on the same page) or organized. It is chaotic and a real problem if we want this movement to actually go forward and enact the change we all want. Otherwise, we are just occupying and marching and not getting anywhere except shouting out our grievances. We need to consolidate, organize and act. I totally agree with rufust on this.
[Deleted]
THE SOLUTION - DEMAND REAL CAMPAIGN FINANCE AND MEDIA COVERAGE REFORM! The one thing you're not allowed to talk about in Washington because it is THE root of all evil.
i see your all caps and raise you some small caps.
"REAL CAMPAIGN FINANCE AND MEDIA COVERAGE REFORM"..... that ALREADY has been mentioned SEVERAL TIMES in regard to this movement. You're a little late to the party.
A must read about possible OWS strategy for LEGAL reform now http://algoxy.com/ows/strategyofamerica.html
I know you probably attend many, but this isn't a party.
Wow.... you've just stunned me with your "intellectual" comment.
Are you good lookin'?
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 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.
nicolas cage stole that to find nazi gold under the white house.
Aren't those the same words Obama used in his campaign speeches?
You're gonna change the world??? Sounds like the empty rhetoric I hear on election days. How you gonna change the world when 99% of you can't even define what the problem is???????????????
The problem are people like you that thinks the world is fine.
Like a crab that doesn't realize this hot tub is getting really dagum hot.
I call them 'status quotarians'
maybe your just mad because you play the victim like you have all your life. You need to get a life and hopfully realize that you can't spend what you don't have.
I don't think the world's fine. In fact, I was talking about these problems in Baghdad while you were still in your dad's bag. Hahahahaha.....but no one would listen!
The Occupy Movement has beenvery clear on what the problems are. If you dont know it by now youve really done a good job at not paying attention.
A couple of hints: Injustice, democratic deficit ( http://occupywallst.org/forum/replace-capitalism-with-democracy/ ), exploitation, increasing gap between the working class and the superwealthy. The system we have today is not sustainable and just, it must be replaced by real democracy!
Ditto!! When people say there are no clear goals or that no one can identify the problems, I just see them as people supporting the 1%, trolls, and those who love to knock back the propaganda punch and regurgitate it.
As the occupy movement grows the finacial elites and their supporters, including the trolls here, are going to become more and more desperate and we will see a growing propaganda campaign and massive lies about our movement, but that just indicates that we´re doing the right thing. Again:
"What you should do is exactly the kinds of things that are going to lead to hysteria among privileged and powerful people"
-Noam Chomsky
Exactly
Agreed!!
True. For more about that gap and how it is a present and growing danger to our republic even as I type this, please read this thread.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/ows-now-is-the-time-do-not-falter/
For those who don't know about the plutocracy and their fear of the political process and their attack on voting rights of the poor and elderly that is taking place right now in many states.
Im fully aware of the note written by Citigroup that was leaked. Very revealing.
Good. Hopefully those who do not will become aware this way.
SInce you know, then perhaps you are also concerned with this:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830
In the states, the defense of the plutocracy is beng played out even more effectively thanon the national level.
I been down here for some time now, I'm tired of standing shoulder to shoulder with Anarchists, communists, and radical islamists. When are we going to clean ourselves of the riftraft?
Join the Teabaggers!!!!! That is clearly where you belong. Why are you wasting your time with us...could be you really love us??
You identify the problem here. We all know what that is but you say nothing about what caused the problem and what the solution is. The solution is not just getting in people's way! Learn to THINK things out please!
This movement KNOWS what the problems are, it KNOWS who caused them, and it KNOWS what needs to be done. HOW it gets done is being worked on. This isn't hard to figure out if you're following the movement with an OPEN mind.
I am an occupier, I believe in this movement with all my heart. This video scares me. I thought we were approaching everything differently. This video puts this movement in a polished shiny package, tied up in a bow. The actors are unbelievable and it doesn't seem genuine. This is not what my movement looks like. I want to believe that Americans don't require messages to be spoon fed to them.I don't want my movement to look like a commercial that runs during the superbowl.
nah, don't over think it. It was tasteful. A lot better than what you are going to find on mainstream media.
Authenticity comes from the content not from the packaging. And the content of this video is made with genuine people with their genuine thoughts. Because is professionally filmed and edited it doesn't mean is a commercial.
Be aware of the wolves in lamb skins. What I mean is be aware of those "politically correctness" packaging to sell you a manipulative content.
Spoon fed? It was a simple, well produced video of people talking about their experiences/thoughts. There's no resolution here, nothing that would indicate anything like a shiny package. I dunno, to each their own... I enjoyed it for what it was. I don't watch commercials because I don't watch TV, and I skip them or mute them online... I really do despise advertising, so, I guess I couldn't really relate to your comparisons towards US advertising.
I have to agree with you here. While Goldie's sentiments are understandable, it's important to remember that, being that we're largely fighting Madison Avenue, we can best accomplish that by using some of the same tactics. Not all of them, not their sleazier tactics, just the production ones.
+10
I admit I had a similar feeling.
Although I am not an occupier, I'm an occupier provider, donated food/clothes/bedding and my experience was very different from that portrayed in the video. This was at occupy Denver though.
It snowed heavily once late Oct and I felt bad for those people struggling to survive on wet, dirty cardboard boxes with tarp covering thin sleeping bags (yes, not kidding). I went down there the night of the snowstorm with my biggest donation and talked with some of them. They wanted me to share my perspective also and were willing to listen. There was more desperation than happiness, but a sort of pride in it too. It could have been because of the storm, but it was more like a community trying to survive in this extreme environment, and less of a rally. These people have had to endure some serious hardship. I've done camping in the high altitude mtns and this was harder than that.
I am very thankful for them being to represent me when I cannot for health concerns of being in an extreme environment. Speaking of representation, I feel these folks are representing more than politicians ever have for me and for that I thank them.
I'm very proud of OWS folks, and occupy Denver and other events. Thanks everyone!
Dear Goldie, Keep occupying, please, do it for me. I just watched the video after reading your post. I too was turned off at first by the "beautiful people" look of it, but after watching it through I see it really as just another art form. It's okay. The message is fine - we'll see what comes of this, we aren't trying to control the message. It's okay to see the intensity of the occupation from a still view, with a slow pacing. It looks more polished, but it doesn't detract from what is really going on. It couldn't if it tried. And that's the point - to trust the human process of it. So please be heartened, and keep occupying. You're doing it for me, at home with my kids all the way on the other side of the continent - Thank you.
I agree with "goldie"that this video is a little to smooth and hypnotic, however, I also agree with "teociontu" that the content is important. I have to have faith in all of the people with such good intentions, that Occupy Wall Street will continue to evolve and be strong. Fair-ness.
THANK YOU! Indeed, this video seems like a trite summation of the demonstrations.
The one thing American;s must remember is that Gov't can't operate without the support of big business.And american's need to learn that both Gov't and Big business can't operate without them.So please people stop buying from the business's that don't hire American workers. And pay back their profits to those who made them, the working class. And vote out of congress all who make more money than the average worker.Go in mass and show the world America is serious about real change in how it operates. We the people shall make for a better world.
I'm not too sure what you're saying here. I agree that "big business" in terms of having corporations is necessary for a country of this size. I agree 100% we have to make a conscious effort to buy American and stop distributing what wealth we have to businesses using nearly-unpaid-basically-slave-labor and keeping all the profits for the fat cats we're seeing now.
I would not agree that the government and "big business" should have much to do with each other. The government's job is to keep the peace and run the judiciary system and some other sundries, but it's not to dictate to the economy. I'm not saying "No antitrust laws!" or "No minimum wage!" but that is to ensure competition, and that competition ends when the government starts subsidizing one company and letting it get fat and sprawl all over the place.
It's true the gov can't operate without a strong economic sector and I think that's what you're saying but "Gov't can't operate without the support of big business" could also be saying things I'm very uncomfortable with depending on the broader context. :o
this is the proudest ive been for america in all my life.
The one thing that strikes me about this video is the POWER OF THE UNFINISHEDNESS of OWS-- indeed, of life. Paulo Freire asserted that the neoliberal capitalist perspective is closed; it leads to fatalism. Perhaps that's why so many folks are not comfortable without seeing a concrete "list of demands"? (i.e., if there were some demands, then they'd either be met or not, and we could get this thing over with before it interrupts prime-time TV.)
Think about it this way: Who is usually the maker-of-demands, especially the met ones? But now, OWS says "WE are our demands" and that makes perfect sense. Howso? Because it would make NO sense for OWS to adopt the perspective of an oppressor by 'making demands'.
Perhaps better to just iterate what is happening here-and-now, like OWS is doing! Let the future be our future. Don't take A place in history, take YOUR place in history, you whacky nuts who insist on dreaming, on thinking of a liberated way of being for all. You go, Crazy... because you're exactly what I need. What we need. What you need. http://adamaecompton.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/occupyyourself-the-pedagogy-of-freedom/ and http://adamaecompton.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/richforredistribution-the-pedagogy-of-hope/ See my blog for more. I don't really respond to comments here because it's actually not supportive language for either the 1, the 99, or the trolls, to my surprise. Why be so mean to the trolls? Is that not your target audience? They have some good points, by which I mean, or at least points that are points that reflect their perspectives, however devisive they may seem. Jus sayin... [points for being ironic.]
Occupy wall street is a beginning. Let all those who think it's a joke get educated about what their lives will be like in years to come if they don't start taking it more serious.Gov't should be for the people as a whole and not just for the few. Money corrupts but it doesn't have to be that way. join in people of america before the jokes on you.
Idiotas. Toda la gente quien habla de esta mierda son idiotas.
hay que comprender que los quien tienen el poder, y manden a los gatos, hacen los reglas, y tienen este juego ganado.
Aprendense, despiertense. Bajo con el PRI. Poder a la raza. Vive la raza.
www.voterocky.org http://www.voterocky.org/spanish_version_why
To those within Occupy who say that no clear set of demands is needed, I respectfully disagree. It's wise to take a lesson here from MLK and the civil rights rights movement; great things can happen with a prolonged, dedicated struggle against oppression, whether it's racial OR economic. Soon it will come time to "Unify Occupy" on a clear set of demands, on the discipline and practice of non-violence, and focusing on the grave problem of income inequality in this country. You can read more of this argument on the Constructive Debate blog: http://bit.ly/sMjqHb
TO GO FORWARD, We must back criminal convictions:
1. Wall Street Firms...mortgage fraud, investor fraud
2. Public Corruption by elected officials National, State, County, City
3. For War Crimes Bush Cheney Bush Sr.for Panama
Than move to rebuild America First, by:
1. Getting US Military forces out of the Middle East entirely
2. Cutting the US Military Annual Budget by 75%
3. Rebuild America's Energy and Electrical System the entire
4. Close all borders off to illegal aliens, start the paper process to
5. Heavily regulate the Financial Markets
5. Rewrite every Trade Deal
Investigate the US Military for bribes, kickbacks, stealing, destroying public records, cost cover runs on Military Contracts working directly with the GAO to make sure Contractors pay back cost over runs within 2 yrs. Retire Military Bass under the Bush & Obama Administrations Disallow any government employee Congressman and or Military Officer from becoming a lobbyist Public Disclosure of where the 40 hard drives went that the Cheney & Bush staff destroyed or hid. Destruction of Public Property criminal charges filed, convictions and imprisonment.
Fire & or Investigate: Mullen former Joint Chief of Staff, Robert S. Mueller at the FBI and Petraeus at the CIA. Investigate: the lead up to the Iraq War, false information charge criminal collusion, fraud, reckless endangerment, criminal negligence by Rice, Powell, Rumsfeld, Cheney & Bush Heavily Investigate where the Drug Cartels launder their MONEY "Follow the Money" it is most likely Panama into London Banks ran by a George Bush relative. Estimated at $300 billion to $600 billion annually. Stop the money you stop the crime. Dump OBAMA, & PELOSI...they have seriously failed every American by allowing Bush not to be impeached>Pelosi, Obama carrying on the Bush Family Doctrine of War and Killings. James P. Evanhoe Jackson Wyoming Here is where the Criminal gang of Dick Cheney and George Bush live! Come at Christmas Time or in August to see them all! I'll take you on a tour! Here is where the Public Corruption of Local Authorities includes two State Judges: Day & Tyler, all of the County Prosecutors especially Weichman, the Sheriff, the Chief of Police and the Mayor. They are so corrupt I have invited the GAO, the FBI and the IRS to investigate, Seriously Stay Toned! JPE
What Occupy Wall Street (OWS) missing is stating clearly demands on the purposes of protesting. I suggest a broad “STATE FAILURES” slogan, on what contributed to the current conditions and thus the protest; I listed some of the Government State Failures and its possible solutions:
...
...
If Occupy organizes into anything political at all they should look to one of the most powerful lobbies in the U.S. - the Jewish/Israeli/Zionist lobby AIPAC - as a role model. That is, if we don't first stop financial contributions of ANY KIND to our spineless politicians. If you doubt their influence research the topic further. Google away.
"I've never seen a President - I don't care who he is - stand up to [the Israelis]. It just boggles your mind...If the American people understood what a grip those people have got on our government, they would rise up in arms." - Admiral Thomas Moorer.
That is a powerfult statement - "rise up in arms." Before rising up in arms, however, we might first try ENDING THE GRIP by ending financial contributions and gifts OF ANY KIND by ANYONE to our politicians. It's not rocket science. It's one of the many simple solutions to our problems. The first seemingly insurmountable problem, however, is waking up and mobilizing the rest of the 99%.
Do not underestimate the Zionist influence in our government, banking and media...and do not even attempt accusations of anti-semitism. That semantic ploy has lost its force from overuse.
If Occupy organizes into anything political at all they should look to one of the most powerful lobbies in the U.S. - the Jewish/Israeli/Zionist lobby AIPAC - as a role model. That is, if we don't first stop financial contributions of ANY KIND to our spineless politicians. If you doubt their influence research the topic further. Google away.
"I've never seen a President - I don't care who he is - stand up to [the Israelis]. It just boggles your mind...If the American people understood what a grip those people have got on our government, they would rise up in arms." - Admiral Thomas Moorer.
That is a powerfult statement - "rise up in arms." Before rising up in arms, however, we might first try ENDING THE GRIP by ending financial contributions and gifts OF ANY KIND by ANYONE to our politicians. It's not rocket science. It's one of the many simple solutions to our problems. The first seemingly insurmountable problem, however, is waking up and mobilizing the rest of the 99%.
Do not underestimate the Zionist influence in our government and do not even attempt accusations of anti-semitism. That semantic ploy has lost its force from overuse.
Go ahead carefully,prepare before hand the good plans because preparation for any goal leads to progress. Preparation for action is progress.Preparation is progress.Anything can be prepared for.No preparation leads to hurdles.
We go forward just as the commenter states below. But we must curtail the police and government's desire for brutality by checking their powers to commit such in the court system by demanding that the appropriate attorneys general file criminal charges against the cops that perpetrated crimes that were probably directly endorsed by their superiors, maybe all the way up the chain of command to the mayor's office and the city counsel. And they must be held liable for the violations of civil rights and the brutal acts of assault in civil courts where monetary damages can be awarded. Afew cases like these throughout the country and these protests will be taken a lot more seriously and handled by authorities more carefully. We must use the criminal and civil court systems to our advantage. And by the way, they do not have a chance in hell of justifying their actions when the recordings of their actions prove how out bounds they have been in using their police powers. We can demand by hundreds of thousands of signatures that state attorney generals take action in charging these cops with willful assault on unarmed civilians. Getting the courts involved and holding these people and their bosses civilly liable for psychological and physical damages will go a long way in bringing strength and respect to this movement and protecting protesters in the future. Do not lay down and put up with any abuse. EVER! Please copy and pass this on.
HOW DID WE GET HERE>>>>The Bush Family & their Wall Street Cronies plus over spending on the Defense Department... a zero return on $8 Trillion spent.
EVERYONE will have their opinion on defense spending, but let's make this clear, over the last 12 yrs the Defense Department has spent an estimated: $8 Trillion Dollars, their annual Budget and on 2 Wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. That is enough money to provide complete educations for every American wanting a high education whether in a Trade School or University, it is also enough money to completely rebuild the Country's energy and electrical infrastructure. So the $8 Trillion spent by the Defense Department got us what? The USA is now in the worse decline since the Great Depression, so did the $8 Trillion help or cause the Greatest Depression in Modern Times, absolutely it added to the Decline. Americans got almost nothing for the $8 Trillion spent on the US Military. Think of it this way IF someone gave your company $8 Trillion what would the expected return on investment be? Meaning the $8 Trillion has to come back plus 25%, 30%, 10% on the investment. The Defense Department budget gave us no return on the $8 Trillion. That's right nothing. The jobs created by the Defense spending: to produce products such as jets, bombs,etc., to "care" for 900 foreign bases and global operations on land, air and sea, they DID NOT return anything in the way of bottom line profit, NOTHING. Meaning the Defense Department is a HUGE drag on the US Economy, it is the largest drag on taxpayers and the future of this Country. IF the Defense Department Budget isn't cut by 75%, with the added drag of declining WAGES by average Americans, the drag of an aging Population, the Huge drag caused by the National Debt and Debts by a majority of the State, the US Economy will completely collapse within 5 to 7 years, not maybe it will and has already started in that direction, just take a look around. Not only can we not keep spending on something that returns nothing in the way of profit, not even a profit of $10dollarsUS, there is absolutely no time for more Cheney & Bush Buddies Wars, that equal zero in the way of return. Vietnam War (not a true or legally declared war) lead for the most part by a Texas President LBJ, sent the US Economy into a major recession lasting 10 years.
Vietnam was a failure in lives and money spent. And Vietnam was never a threat to US ever, it was all about their oil reserves!!!
The Iraq War ( BUSH & CHENEY's WAR) Bush a another Texas President, was totally illegal, completely, those that criminally lied to produce that war, THE BUSH FAMILY & CHENEY are now being charged Globally for their criminal acts. Iraq is now selling off its oil to mainly other nations, the political structure because of its ties through the majority's (population) religious belief is with Iran AND "always has been".
The Afghan War will become another US Military-&-Political failure.
Wall Street must be heavily Regulated or it will repeat itself over and over again, just read Matt Tiabbi, Rollingstone magazine articles, It has become nothing more than a Crap Shoot, gambling. Through Occupy Wall Street, we can now have a place where the main reason for investing in Wall Street is innovation and productivity of American Companies and workers. And with the downsizing of the Defense Department Budget by 75%, this Country will have the revenue it needs to bring it back from complete collapse. The Obama Administration & the Bush Administrations are failures, because of the failure to stop the spending on a Department that returns a ZERO PROFIT! And their blatant failure to Heavily Regulate Wall Street. However Bush and Cheney cronies, got richer, oil prices caused further drags on the US Economy. And the over spending on weapons again supported the cronies of the Bush Family and as stated that drug down the US Economy over the 12 year period in question. Obama left in place almost everything the Bush Family wanted and the American people got what? ZERO! Obama is a PHONY !!!!!
James P. Evanhoe
Excellent Question, How About we start creating the clean "Hydrogen Economy" we were promised a decade ago?
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Navy-to-Energy/167361126687299
We need to head to Congress and occupy the entrances,exits and hallways with great picket signs and drums. We need to occupy it for months. Don't forget that much of what goes on is open to public. Hand delivering avalanched emails daily should be part of our agenda along with endless phone messages.
we go forward and stand together..............it don't matter what gang your from or who you represent........it is all our turf and we need to take it back.........fuck the police and anyone else that gets in the way............the mob rules and don't let them forget it....we run this
If you want to show Wall Street and the Banks who’s really in charge then go down to the bank you do business with open a small safe deposit box, $40 or so; withdraw everything but the minimum amount needed to maintain your account at a reasonable cost if not free… put the remainder in the safe deposit box. I guarantee if a couple of hundred thousand people do this, they will get a very clear picture of who is the boss. Everyone should post this same message and watch Wall Street come to its knees.
If you really want to make Wall Street notice you, declare bankruptcy.
If you are underwater on your home, take every nickle you have, buy gold, and declare bankruptcy. If enough people do it, Wall Street will feel it.
I think we need to convince the power structure that Industrial activity upon the earth must be balanced against the state of the Environment. This can be readily achieved we have the new resource..which is really an old resource and it can give us what we need and also protect the planet from further pollution. The strategic resource used to win wars...Industrial Hemp must be incorporated into our economy now.
"It was the best of times, it was the the worst of times' Tale of Two Cities By Charles Dickens harkens from the past to remind us, it is only 300 years since the French Revolution, "they will take to the streets, when there is no more food in their stomachs " the gap between the wealthiest is widening deeply and this Wall Street Master's of Universe call these protestors cowards from 100 stories up in a sky scraper, that is not odd? But we will have to specific demands other waving our fists and saying, 'The Lot of them to Jail!",or strike for strike sake, no we to have come away from this with something specific, right NOW its just anger and frustration that's feeding out empty stomachs, I knew all along these 40 yrs I had purpose since I left the military, I didn't know what it was I but I saw cancer growing in NY back in 1989 with the S&L crisis and beginning of the Trumps and Single Billionaires, single Billionaires was a milestone only 22 yrs ago now we are talking Trillions, Missing just missing, nothing in the trillions goes missing
I saw this video. The idea of having a think tank and having some legislation passed are noble ideas. I would love to pass a suggestion and I have written a letter that can be viewed online.
http://articlevmeeting.info/letter.pdf
From my point of view, this is the best way to start having a real impact on change. We should be adding state legislatures as "Occupy" locations in the states that there is no ballot initiative where the people can gather enough signatures via petition for a constitutional convention.
http://www.iandrinstitute.org/ballotwatch.htm
Click on the state that you live in and see if there is a process for legally initiating a call for a constitutional convention on the map on that page. It will tell you briefly if you are at the mercy of your state legislatures.
If your state legislature has complete control over the request to congress, than you NEED to organize in your own states to sit in on the legislatures. They will be forced to act. For those states that have a ballot initiative and the request can be supported by the majority at the polls, this will happen in your state. We need 2/3 of the states to make the request. After all, even though we have the symptoms of a failed system, as yourself a common sense question. Do you treat a patient by fixing the symptoms or do you cure the main disease that caused the symptoms?
I have read the first 20 or so posts. Everyone is looking for direction of the movement. It is simple and obvious where all the real problems come from. Our elected officials are servants of the 1%. If that fact remains, nothing will ever happen. So, what is the answer. Organize and get normal people in office that are servants of the people, the 99%. 99 to 1 we should win.
Anyway, here are a few of my own ideas why this is not a fantasy. It will work if we the people come together.
Most people would think we will just be betrayed again. They would be right if we don't plan for it. Here is a plan to deal with the influence of the 1%.
One possible system is as follows:
First, they sign a contract with us to agree to represent the concensus of our opinion.
Second, we set up a website to do two thing. Educate us on the issue which is being considered. Even test us on our understanding of the issue so that we qualify to vote on the issue. Then the website tracks each persons vote and totals them up. Now if 80% of us agree how an issue should be decided and our representatives do not do it. They violate our contract and resign from office as agreed to before we elected them.
What i am saying is that there is a solution. We are not without hope here. This movement is in it's infancy. It must have one purpose.
TO BE REPRESENTED
After we are represented we can deal with all the issues that concern us. Until we have elected officials that represent us, expecting positive change on issues is nieve. Also, dealing with issues before we are represented will end the movement. Disagreement on issues will separate us into different factions. We can all agree that we need to be represented. We can all agree on the majority rules. So wait on the issues and get represented.
I would love to vote for people that would represent us. I think 99% of us would. I don't want the following question in my mind the next time that I vote:
Which pandering liar will betray us this time?
I would like thank everyone for your time and effort.
Let the machine grind to a halt, then we can negotiate the terms.
what we should do? stop all mass production for one day, that will get their attention and break them a sweat.
day two, stop all production and services worldwide, that will make them all more than nervous and desperate.
All throughout history there have been many a privileged in charge, each in turn choosing a few from the masses to enforce their wishes and directives. The rabbit hole goes deep, very very deep and long before humans get halfway towards achieving their noblest of goals there will be facing the depths of myth and religion where the cornerstone of all privilege to the few and scarcity to the many once took hold and wormed its way to this day.
The insanely rich do owe everyone else around them for the planet's resources belong to all humans alike, the reasons some have so much and others so few has more to do with affinities rather than hard work or even innovation. Come to think of it i have wondered more than a few times if a world where everyone is born with equal opportunity, if that world would come to be so much more magnificent than anything we know to this day and age. All that big finance has done so far is hamper and most times simply eliminate innovation. Big finance is very much a hindrance to genuine growth and production, all throughout history it has done more against it rather than for it. All great innovation that has helped people garner that little more to their freedom came from humble innovators, then evaluated by so called guardians before set to serve the common person; creativity has been hampered at every step and always by finance.
I am looking for a world where every single child looks ahead for a future they can call theirs, with equal opportunity worldwide, where governments are a thing of the past. In this day and age governments are obsolete, fearmongers at best and everyone seems to know that much.
I personally dislike having a "ruling class", it doesn't bug me that they fly around in helicopters so they never have to mingle with us on a bus or subway. It doesn't bug me they live in closed and gated communities. No, this does not bug me because it's their lives to live as they please. What does bug me is that they try to enforce upon us their ideology, they think theirs is the only opinion that matters. That we who are too stupid to have clawed and scrapped our way up the financial ladder can't possibly know whats good even for ourselves. For far too long we have let people with catchy slogans and nice suits, sell us the same bullshit that keeps us mired in the status quo. This two party system where people are given only two choices to lead their country is crap. Since when is Democracy a two sided affair? Someone please post and explain to me how it makes sense that only two very old and dated parties could know the pulse of the people. Especially when the very same people who run for office are the children of those who have held office previously. Yes, I am talking about families like the Bushs'. We all know Prescott Bush was charged with treason and that he supported the Nazis, yet his son and grandson was elected to lead the free world... Does this make sense? America and much of the world has been hijacked by a very quiet and secretive "ruling class". Where things are settled and discussed internationally without our knowledge or approval... Is that Democracy? This movement means to me a call to action, political action; direct action, any kind of action its time to DO something about it. America was once a Beacon of Freedom and Hope for the poor and oppressed, now America is a Beacon of the Rich and Powerful.
I must clarify I do not say that Bush Sr. and Bush Jr. are Nazis, I merely imply that the man who had such an impact on both of their lives, that they followed in his every footsteps in politics and secret societies, must have also imparted some of his own beliefs into them as well. The Winners of War write history books and I do not want history to read that this movement died out as quickly as it started if our children are even allowed to learn history under the NWO. I believe that the rich and powerful have always looked for something that defines them from us. They look for some reason beyond luck and circumstance to explain their good fortune. I believe this to be true of most of us. We all look for what defines us and where it used to be our morals and ways of life defining us as people now your job and bank account define you as a person. We together have changed the face of this planet. It was not a singular person who rose from animal hood into the Age of Man, it was together in small communities at first that we rose up from being more than our environment dictated. I see a dark future ahead a future filled with much struggle and austerity. There is hope too in this dark world, hope that we give the world to the next generation better than when we inherited it from ours. I refuse to believe that petty in-fighting, and tribal; and racial hatreds, can hold us back. We are the 99%. We are the writers of our own destinies. We are NOT defined by what we can buy but by what we have to give as human beings. The 1% as people are not bad they live the only life they have ever known in most cases. Others have made themselves and were not given a single thing EVER and that is to be respected. Any and All who stand in the way of change so that corporations can continue to export war and destruction so they can compete for the rebuilding contract are the enemy. We were not given the option of sides in this war, we are the enemy of the rich because the constitution that says we are their equals. The rich are bored with being rich they want power over our lives. Do not let your children fight in wars and die so that rich and the wealthy can live the American dream. This movement is at a crossroads, we can squabble to each other over how long the drummers can drum, or WE can DO something about it. I say go out and confront people over this, I want to see videos of CEO's getting blasted for their ineptitude with OUR money. I want to see Rockefeller sweating his piggy little forehead off under a constant and never ending barrage of outrage at his under handed secretive shaping of society. I will not be lead into the abyss of perpetual debt the 1% would have us believe is the only and best way. America, you have stood up to the greatest powers at the time throughout history. Be it Great Britain under its inbred kings or The Great German war machine. Now it is time America to Stand up to your Greatest threat of all, one that comes from within America. The Oligarchs and elite have worked you to exhaustion and as you fall and die carrying the extra weight of the rich they profit off of you with their "Dead Peasant" insurance claims. Even in Death the ruling elite get the last laugh
The next step should be a TAX REVOLT. No one pays until the fed is audited and the culprits (see Inside Job) are prosecuted!
Where do we go from here? The history of America is itself revolutionary and we continue the revolution by developing the revolutionary potentials that already exist in the American political system. How? By convincing all foreign states to join the United States of America as new states to transform our country to The United States of the World. Congress has the sole power to admit new states and it can add revolutionary new possibilities worldwide for democracy and freedom to both American citizens and foreign citizens. Once foreign states join our union and accept the limitations to sovereignty that the 50 American states have accepted, the US government must, as Article Iv section 4 of the Constitution states, "Guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government..." Read about these ideas at my website www.usoftheworld.com Daniel McNeill
I'm up here in Canada watching this all unfold and i have to say that your tolerance in letting these absolute criminals on wall street get away with perpetrating the Biggest Outright thievery and fraud in the History of America is Astounding! Why is the News Reporting That Your Protesters Don't Know Their Own Agenda? " You are sick and tired of getting robbed!" (Start There!) Why Haven't These Wall Street CEO'S Shown any Remorse? Been brought up on charges?? Why Haven't They Given Back To The American Taxpayer What They Admittedly Stole (Starting with their bonuses and retirement packages!). Corporate robbery is neither freedom nor democracy It is plain and simple disgusting human greed! (try locking up a few of them with Bernie madoff for a while? (they did exactly the same thing as he did) Your Complete Trust In Their System Has Cost You Homes! !!Jobs! $$$$ Peace of Mind! And The Ability To Live Out The American Dream! They Have Taken All That Away From you! Because Their Dream is Bigger more important and they want it now! (At your expense!) They Eat The Expensive Meal And Drink The Expensive Wine And Have The Party Of a Lifetime! (And You Get The Bill !) Because Some Egghead in a think tank on wall street came up with the "get out of Jail Free Card Phrase" To Big to Fail" ( What a Crock) You People Occupying wall street? You Break The Law! The police Will Arrest you! Why is The Same thing Not Implemented with The Ceo's And Managers of These Companies who are breaking the law & committing Fraud everyday on wall street?(do the rules not apply to them??) (their must be some Corporate Lawyers Among you? Get Together File A Law Suit Have Them Charged And Arrested !! (are they More American Than you?Entitled to a different due process?) (is Their Money Crisper? Greener? Worth more? ( Of Course not!) Whens the last time you read about a wall street CEO losing a couple of million at a craps table in Vegas? (Never!) So How Can They Be Allowed To Lose Trillions On The Stock market By Selling Shares More Worthless & useless Than The Bad breath that was used to sucker in John Q Citizen! Your one and only Goal should Be Accountability and Punishment of every Manager -Trader Ceo & Corporate Bigwig Who Profited From The Sale of all the Worthless Stocks- Default swaps And Dirivitives that you now all own because they felt like having Record year! They Have Gambled and They Have lost! And they Have Opened the Door To You as a Shareholders in their banks &companies by sticking YOU with the bill! don't you think your entitled to at least a say?? As The Late Great Humanitarian Bob Marley Sings! " Get up Stand up! Stand up For Your rights!"
We must, as a group, let our voices and ideas be heard. It is our responsibility so gather the consensus of the 99% and do what is best for America. America is full of powerful leaders, it is the ones not focused on power and greed that must step forward now. We cannot make the same mistakes by letting any percent of our great country be silent, we must all be heard, and all be supported. It is our responsibility as leaders to take this protest to the next step, peacefully. The next step being finding ways to impose our ideas on the government, which may not happen just by holding signs. Our work has just started.
We must, as a group, let our voices and ideas be heard. It is our responsibility so gather the consensus of the 99% and do what is best for America. America is full of powerful leaders, it is the ones not focused on power and greed that must step forward now. We cannot make the same mistakes by letting any percent of our great country be silent, we must all be heard, and all be supported. It is our responsibility as leaders to take this protest to the next step, peacefully. The next step being finding ways to impose our ideas on the government, which may not happen just by holding signs. Our work has just started.
It's simple: We as a cross-generational, multiethnic, and most of all unified demographic do not want to be split into tribelike voting cells anymore. We do not want to be told that one amount of our money will be allocated to a corporation that we did not opt to support, and we do not want the actual amount of money allocated to them to be different from what we were told. We do not want American citizens to be sent to offshore prisons where they are stripped of their rights, no matter what they are accused of. We do not want to be stripped of our constitutional rights within our own borders. We do not want to be subject to permissions and licenses to exercise those rights in our hometowns. We want to be fully informed of the military actions of the nation that we as a people are in charge of running. We want to be informed of the use of the money that we as a people are in charge of raising. We want campaign donors to contribute funds in a manner that supports politicians, not influences them.
We refuse to stand only in desperation while our nation spirals into debt.
We are not blameless for the current state of affairs, but we have changed ourselves and we have been activated. The next step is to allow this activation to continue up the power structure, and to change 100% of the United States.
OK. My turn. I am the 99%. While I live here, was born and raised here, I AM NOT CANADIAN. I cannot be, because I am not in support of the crookedness that Canada fosters and perpetuates.
I'm a 42 year old, 4th year Honours student of Sociology/Criminology with plans of snagging an Education degree en route towards a Masters and PHD in Sociology/Criminology.
The System, does not work. It hasn't worked for decades. The system wants to stay the same, because in failing, it succeeds. ....by increasing the bottom line.
If Crime rises...then that's a failure of our attempt to reduce crime. However, it equates to success for our Governments, because they expand the budget, hire more corrections, policing, judges, lawyers, victims services people, probation officers, counsellors, make everything illegal to widen the net to fill the new prisons! Then they instill fear in everyone by highly publicizing the rare, severe crimes. Most of our little old ladies get scared, and vote for the dude with the biggest crime bill on the platform.
My mom taught school here in Saskatchewan for 35 years. My dad died in 1984. I'm a high caliber athlete and a bodybuilder. I've tried over 50 different jobs from 1987-1997 and got nowhere. I've held 3 jobs since at approximately 5 years each. I'm a highly driven humanitarian, mature, responsible, parent, acquaintance, friend, student, person. I'm the good guy.
A monstrous, globally recognizable corporation saw fit to fabricate a conspiracy and terminate me a month before Christmas last year. I'm educated, i'm an elite producer whether in sales or labour. I may win the arbitration, but the corporation will continue to seek out potential firings.
Our Crown Corporations in Saskatchewan (and other provinces) boast profits of $95M to $150M and up) annually.(or more, haven't looked lately)
They are the 1%.
For those of you who have never had to call on the system ( ie. police, family court, criminal court, social services, medical care, educational system, government insurance), I think you'd be appalled at how it really operates.
From police coercion to create crime, and impede decent people...to, pyramid scheming insurance agencies (they don't actually cover you if you're hurt in a motor vehicle accident-my mom paid herself out of her own savings because she, volunteered to be rear ended on the freeway by a 16 year old driver's 3rd accident in her first year of driving.
My mom, who served Canada as a teacher for 35 years, is permanently disabled, yet has been tortured by the rehab facility (that the crown insurance company uses exclusively) denied any insurance coverage, forced to deplete her own savings to compensate. They pit their doctors against public doctors and simply deny reality to keep the money. Try to argue it upwards and you are squashed because they make their own rules.
Levels of Bureaucracy need to GO.
I've had to make several appearances in family court over 8 years for lawyers and judges to take my family's money, and render idiotic decisions that are designed to hinder situations, and perpetuate the problem....so that they can bill us again! JUST TO BE MY SON'S FATHER
I'm a man. I can make my own decisions about what's best for my child.
How come my Fellow Man, the lawyer, the judge, the counsellor, the social service worker, the nurse, the doctor, the teacher..... ...ALL FEEL THE NEED TO FUCK US OVER...EVERY TIME WE COME TO THEIR COUNTER WITH OUR DOUGH OUT?? WHY!!!??
Why do chiropractors twist you into pain...and schedule you for '3 more appointments'?....why do rotten counsellors and psychologists and doctors and psychiatrists and all such leeches, keep scheduling more appointments? Are they incapable of solving the professional issues they face?...or do they simply choose not to help? (FYI, our chiropractic visits were mandated in the last 2 years and increased from $17 per visit to $35 per visit overnight. No wonder the chiropractor wants to injure us....more visits=more dough for him/her)
Here in Saskatchewan, these professions are protected by peer organizations that will cover their asses. Further, these professions, are contracted by our local government....these professions want to bill our government as much as possible...but if they solve your individual problem for you, they won't be able to bill the government for your visit....next week....and the week after.....
We are advanced and educated human beings. We are thinkers. We see how the 1% operates.
Greed is the problem. Bureacracy is the problem. Individual people who keep mistreating their fellow citizens by stealing their money are the problem.
The 1% like Greed. They like Bureaucratic stagnation. They like hiring dummies who can't or won't think for themselves, or for their fellow human.
I could go on....but we need MORE ACTION!!!
OWS is a great start!
We need a different system. We need to be more than pawns of the 1%. We are creative. We are feeling. We are not possessions. We are not things.
We are PEOPLE!!
WE ARE THE 99% EH!!!
Need to see this.....youtube.com/watch?v=P-nEkpLnsEU and follow the blog on www.thebigturds.com
Superb Wonderful Moving Video ...but irony of ironies... democracy is once more 99% male...
Will this never end?
What must take precedence, AMONG ALL ELSE is that we need to look backwards and not believe that we had all the Answers, we don't, but ONE PLACE DOES, History... If we look at the past, and see what worked in a free market system.
But, and this is key! we must use our Reason; it is what lead our Founders to the accomplishments that they made, the choices they made, ALL can be attributed to the Violent Pronouncements of Reason. They understood that a Government must be based on the principles of Liberty, and Expounding and Adding Individual Rights, and Further holding back the Government, the Principle, Was, To create a government that can maximize individual rights, but still create laws to bind us all together, and with a Government that wasn't Towering and Powerful.
So what does this mean for us?! We must use those same principles and redefine what freedom is, what Reason in America is! And we all must be BOLD in the Pursuit of Truth, we must even question ourselves in the Darkest of Times, in order to push forward in continue to Evolve and Progress to something better as our Founders did in their crises. We must read our Founders Text during these Winters, I beseech us ALL to use this Cold Winter to stay warm to Fire of Reason, read Thomas Paine! Thomas Jefferson! James Madison! John Locke! David Hume! and so MANY Others. But we also MUST realize that while it is good to contemplate the ideals of past, it is also not good to live in their time period either. We must use their ideas to help birth our OWN! better ideas! to expound and rethink liberty, and economic freedom from Government Tyranny, and Corporatism, the evils of Individual Liberty and the face of True Fascism.
We must learn more, teach more, talk more, create thought and pronounce that we claim Reason by the Same Right that Our Founders did, we must ALL use our Voice and Reason to break barriers, discuss issues and use Reason to it's reach! to define a solution!
Let everyone hear your passion... music moves people and organizes those who sing. Woody Guthrie wrote this song and it is definitely worth singing now. I was written for times just like these. I know, I'm an old hippie...but the music was a strong force then and it can be this time, too. This land is your land, this land is my land From California to the New York Island From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and me.
Occupy Trump Project looking for direct action activists http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupy-trump-project-looking-for-volunteers-for-di/
There is one exception to the bad news related to jobs in this country. This past week, although no official announcement was made and so the main stream didn’t report it, the government reported that…
I fior one am working twice as hard for half as much and I've lost half my home's value, but at least i have a job. So much for making all the "right moves" for the past 48 years. … the number of people earning $1 million a year or more increased in 2010 by nearly 20 percent… from 78,000 in 2009 to 94,000 in 2010.
Corporate Communist and their supporters must go!!!!! They maybe created by man but they are not my brother !! Make them pay the same income tax we do if their is true equal treatment under the law.
All we want is equal treatment under the law. Corporate Communism must not be allowed time to exercise our Constitutional right to dissolve the government and start over.
Obama hopes to co-opt the energy from WalStreet - funny, I don't think the politicians realize that there has been a revolution, but as these General Assemblies come up with solutions that are better than what are "government" has come up with, I think our current government will find itself less and less relavant. The Occupy Movement has no faith in government and is building a better world in spite of it. The Occupy Protestor IS a Born Again American.
World Sustainable Business Council - Vision 2050 Report. Thorough, peaceful, approach to sustainable economic development where all are fed, educated, housed and treated with dignity.
www.wbcsd.org/includes/getTarget.asp?type=d&id=Mzc0MDA
go mainstream. go to washington. go to national debate.
if articulated OWS presidential candidates gaining momentum in national debates.. questioning the elites in national television, on policies... on corruption... on special interests... etc... debating...
that will make the elites listen. it is no longer just some noise, some nonsense from the street.. but in the position to question their validity. their mandate.
do they really represent the people or just some puppets bought by the special interests?
where do you go from here? an information- not protest centered revolution.
http://occupythiswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.followthemoney.org/?gclid=CMbY87bB-qsCFUPt7Qod9HE8mQ
http://maplight.org/us-congress/guide/data/money?9gtype=search&9gkw=list%20of%20campaign%20donations&9gad=6213192521.1&9gag=1786513361&gclid=CP61oYbB-qsCFQFZ7AodcTF0jw
http://www.opensecrets.org/
http://occupywallst.org/forum/non-violence-evolution-by-paradigm-shift/
List of demands, guys.
Occupiers want justice from Wall Street. (letter to editor Lake Havasu AZ)
The conservative tea party has chosen to “occupy the US Constitution” through self serving interpretations; they claimed the Constitution to be theirs because “they say-so” ignoring contemporary constitutional doctrine. For example, they claim the constitution called for limited federal government; show me where? On the other hand, the Occupy Wall street actually has constitutional authority for their protest. . We are a Democratic Republic which is defined as a “state where supreme power rests in the body of citizens“, “Not Corporations“. The people occupying wall street are protesting ,out of need, to take back our representative government, using their right to assemble.
The Citizens United decision, giving business the status of a person and making money a free speech vehicle, allowing it to buy our government at the detriment of it’s citizens. This is in essence an invasion against government using the power of money to corrupt the rights of citizens; diluting the only power, given to it’s citizens, the right to vote.
Excessive spending in campaigns can illicitly garner millions of votes using excessive false advertising, like the swift boat scheme, giving them millions of votes, then, using this power to increase their wealth through legislative malfeasance.
The tea parties small government and less taxes play into the desires of the 1%ers. They can do what they want if regulations are appealed; like the Glass Segel act that allowed them to take cheap deposits from the FED, and depositors, using that cheap money in high risk investment generating billions, they took the profits, but when the schemes failed tax payers took the loses; then, after recovering because of tax payers money they gave us the finger.
This is what tea partiers want to protect. Occupy wall street wants justice for the people by taking back our Democratic Republic from the oligarchy.
about sanitation: i think we should rent port-a-potties, and when the mayor or police refuse to let a step van with the potties, or whatever is practical, park, then document and make an issue out of it that it is the powers that be that are preventing sanitation practices. If they don't prevent it, we prove we have consideration for ourselves and others, if they do prevent it, then they are at fault.
Loved this. Thank you.
WHAT WE SHOULD DO IS ADDRESS THIS !!!!!!! http://247wallst.com/2011/10/20/america%e2%80%99s-most-overpaid-ceos/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=OCT202011A&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter
"Once again, this list makes it clear that shareholders who cannot effectively vote to have management removed are saddled not only with those ineffectual executives, but also with their pay packages. The notion of “pay for performance” is still not applied systematically among America’s largest public companies. There is no sign that the SEC or any other regulator is likely to change the method by which CEOs at public companies are compensated, so next year, there will be another 24/7 Wall St. Most Overpaid CEOs."
Read more: America’s Most Overpaid CEOs - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2011/10/20/america%e2%80%99s-most-overpaid-ceos/#ixzz1boefaylO
WHAT WE SHOULD DO IS ADDRESS THIS !!!!!!! http://247wallst.com/2011/10/20/america%e2%80%99s-most-overpaid-ceos/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=OCT202011A&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter
"Once again, this list makes it clear that shareholders who cannot effectively vote to have management removed are saddled not only with those ineffectual executives, but also with their pay packages. The notion of “pay for performance” is still not applied systematically among America’s largest public companies. There is no sign that the SEC or any other regulator is likely to change the method by which CEOs at public companies are compensated, so next year, there will be another 24/7 Wall St. Most Overpaid CEOs."
Read more: America’s Most Overpaid CEOs - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2011/10/20/america%e2%80%99s-most-overpaid-ceos/#ixzz1boefaylO
The bottom line is reforming campaign finance. As long as corporations control the $$ politicians need to get elected, politicians will work for the corps.
One of America's major problems is it's acceptance of it's own media controlled fear propaganda of socialism.
May each day bring our efforts closer to Justice. May we be aware of others who need our help, and may we have the opportunity to provide.
May our strength be based in Unity, and our Hearts be as Powerful as our Cause.
May all who fear find courage to face the ignorance of Hate. And, keeping in mind that Every Answer.. Is in the Question... (because you know enough to ask it )
Today, and Every Day.. We are Blessed with Opportunity To Make this a Better World. ....May THAT be our Mantra in the face of Doubt.
Thank you #OWS around the Globe, You are All Heroes in History ... our Angels for Humanity.
Look this other beautiful video from the people of occupymontreal http://youtu.be/QF42ec7fFi0 Wow !
Thanks for sharing !
The point should not be to occupy wall street; the point should be to SHUT IT DOWN. When strikers want to shut down a factory then form a picket line around it; similarly OWS should form a picket line around Wall Street and SHUT IT DOWN. Then things would really begin to happen. Otherwise OWS risks turning into a circus (there are already signs of this), and eventually fizzling.
Where do you go from here? You go home soon, because it's going to start snowing, and your $200 REI Adventurer Sleeping Bag won't be enough to keep your broke ass warm.
If nothing else, the world at large has finally woken up to the 1%'s dirty secrets. People are aware now and awareness is a powerful thing in creating change. Unless, of course, you don't mind living even one more year under the bondage of the 1%? I, for one do not. I am the 99%. I woke up years ago. I am so happy to witness this movement, to finally see the world coming together. What greater purpose then to take back what was stolen from us and to create a better world for ourselves and our children. Vive la revolution! And long iive awareness, too. Thank you, humanity, for restoring my faith in YOU.
"The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks." Lord Acton
"Give me control over a nation's currency, and I care not who makes it's laws" A.M. Rothschild
"It is well enough that people of the nation don't understand our banking and monetary sytem, for if they did, I believe, we would have a revolution before tomorrow morning"
Henry Ford
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered...I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." Thomas Jefferson
"Congress shall have the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof." US Constitution, article 1, section 8
Do you really want to go forward? Then abolish private banks (incl. The Fed, which is a private corporation!) and the charging of interest rates; both are at the core of problem with the current financial system! It seems that everybody owes money, people, companies, governments etc But who do we owe all this money to, and more importantly, why?
Ask yourself this question and you will find the answer!
PS http://www.lovethetruth.com/truth_about_money.htm
There's something called the big picture, it's when you look at the whole shit from the outside, AKA free your mind and push out the powers of control that influence all your thought and reasoning processes such as the so called democratic and legislative belief that a diluted infomercial such as this will really enact change. Until there is true freedom of the individual from the state, the same state machinery that enslaves people today will merely be reused and enacted to steal the lives and futures of free men and women.
CAN YOU OPEN YOUR MIND AND BREAK FREE? Can you envision freedom? It really doesn't appear so, give up your SUV, your condo etc etc!
You are doing wonderful work, it's very exciting to see and hear! Please do yourself a favor, and read (Black Box Casino) It will give you very important information.
where is this land of the 'big picture' ? does anyone else live there, but you? do you take emigrates? ( i am asking,because i am not as smart as you.)
for me the BIG PICTURE is like: a vast mural, a cieling of (narrative) symbols; like a day in the park, whereby, the narrative is a cross-color of points.
it is (all) very confusing to me, do tell me what / where is the big picture?
I'm wondering if it is time that we abolished the government and banking/monetary system entirely. Everyone who occupies a home or apartment should be given it outright and have their mortgages forgiven. What we should begin doing now is create gardens and farms everywhere that is possible. When we begin a new society, getting everyone well fed will be priority one. Everyone should use their own personal skill sets to do their part in maintaining the community. We need to communicate amongst all the communities what each other's needs are and what the goals for the nation and planet ought to be. Human well-being should be priority one. Keeping everyone fed, clothed, happy, warm. We ought to seize and re-manage corporate property. This includes farms, technology, infrastructure, etc. We then use democratic processes in each institution to guide forward. We will operate out of human need instead of human greed. We will need to learn to be selfless instead of selfish. We will have to encourage these behaviors and hold each other accountable. There is no need for technology to regress, in fact without the need for profit we may just unlock our full human potential. This idea isn't quite solid yet but I think it's something we ought to consider as we move forward. Money, after-all, is the root of all evils. The power hungry need to control large quantities of capital. This selfish behavior ought to be illegal, we cannot allow others to act in such a fashion. That sort of liberty is only liberty to few at the expense of all others. I refuse to continue to participate in this money economy while people are exploited all over the globe so that it can stay afloat. It's time to operate out of compassion and humanity. It's time to come together to benefit all of Earth's citizens. Most of all, it's about staying together and keeping the human spirit and soul well fed.
ᴛʜᴀɴᴋs ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ɪɴsᴘɪʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴᴀʟ ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ
peace, equality and respect for the earth were the foundations of the flower power movements of the sixties, there's been a fifty year silence, the planet and it's workers are deeply scarred. Visit and contribute to vastken.com
Hey let's not be hypocrites! We need to pay our fair share of taxes on the $500,000 in donation money we got! Then distribute the rest equally to all the protesters!
Hey let's not be hypocrites! We need to pay our fair share of taxes on the $500,000 in donation money we got! Then distribute the rest equally to all the protesters!
"This the proudest Ive ever been as an America today. Democracy in action" My sentiments exactly.
Take action on one specific issue to begin with. Hammer it home. Win. It does wonders for moral. Then move forward with the next action. It will grow. I smell stagnation. Less and less in the news each day about OWS. Seems to have fizzled from mid-America's point of view. You're dealing with a very short attention span here. I know it is a lot, but action brings out people, not teach-ins. Your enemy has legions against you. Professional Propagandists, lobbyists, Media. Action is what is needed to keep this alive through the winter into Spring. Otherwise people will forget.
I am 70 years old. I can remember when a man could have a job and support a family. I remember when my whole year of tuition including room and board was $600.00. I could save that amount in a year, I remember when a business would give you a full work week with decent pay in return for you giving him a decent day’s work.
I think we would have called that a ’social contract’.
If a business or corporation receives government and customer support so that it can make a decent profit, then that business should return the favor by providing decent jobs.
Many things go into a business being successful including a educated work force, a transportation network, equality of competition, foreign trade laws and even peaceful conditions under which to operate. The list could go on and on of how the corporations and financial institutions thrive under government protection and incentives.
Successful businesses should return favors, not rob from the poor.
We need to return to the ‘social contract’ where business and the populace respect each other. This is the goal of ‘occupy wall street’ and all the related occupations.
We want Congress to provide the rules that protect not only business, but the 99%.
Diverse as our goals and interests, in the end all come under the social contract between business and the populace. This can be our goal inclusive of all, but with a common theme. Congress can be our means.
Gary Peterson (Pete)
Former editor of “The Voice” of Eastern Jackson County of Missouri. Author of “Talk to Me Dad!” and “Flood on the Buffalo” under the pen name Pete Williams.
I am 70 years old. I can remember when a man could have a job and support a family. I remember when my whole year of tuition including room and board was $600.00. I could save that amount in a year, I remember when a business would give you a full work week with decent pay in return for you giving him a decent day’s work.
I think we would have called that a ’social contract’.
If a business or corporation receives government and customer support so that it can make a decent profit, then that business should return the favor by providing decent jobs.
Many things go into a business being successful including a educated work force, a transportation network, equality of competition, foreign trade laws and even peaceful conditions under which to operate. The list could go on and on of how the corporations and financial institutions thrive under government protection and incentives.
Successful businesses should return favors, not rob from the poor.
We need to return to the ‘social contract’ where business and the populace respect each other. This is the goal of ‘occupy wall street’ and all the related occupations.
We want Congress to provide the rules that protect not only business, but the 99%.
Diverse as our goals and interests, in the end all come under the social contract between business and the populace. This can be our goal inclusive of all, but with a common theme. Congress can be our means.
Gary Peterson (Pete)
Former editor of “The Voice” of Eastern Jackson County of Missouri. Author of “Talk to Me Dad!” and “Flood on the Buffalo” under the pen name Pete Williams.
http://www.themultitude.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=386
AS i do agree that we have major problems with the wall streeters and goverment it is insane to think there are people in ohio and around the country working 2 jobs and still standing in food lines to feed there familys or the people who pay in to social security for 30 years and then have to qualify to get there own money back we need change from the president to the bankers and the rest but please dont act like we arent spoiled people either my father served in koean war my son inlaw in the iraq war i love this country we need to change as a whole and start taking care of people and not bank fees and christmas partys and the crap the goverment spends money on that makes no sense hey well just give everyone 688 dollars that will fix the problem really omg a stimulis that made no sense heres on idea dont go out on black friday dont use your debit cards stop using your credit cards pay cash or use a check there free we have been screwed at the gas pumps i mean gas prices are higher then ever am i the only one that remembers the bp oil spill last year now bp is profitable again because we paid for that spill and they paid no taxes what is the country coming to i dont have all the anwsers my wife says i do i have 4 daughters that i have raised and one has a child i try to make things better for them everyday but what will happen and please here's an idea find some real canidates my thoughts on all of them are bad so good job and keep doing what your doing but you have to have a plan guy's all great thing's happen when there is a plan.
I am watching this with real interest from New Zealand. I'm involved in the Occupy Auckland protest which is in Aotea Square in the central business district. We have about 70 tents and maybe round 100 people staying full time.
Luckily, we also have a few people who are well versed in PR and media and have open communication lines with both the local council and the police. And, at this stage everything is peaceful and working well.
Good luck everyone!!
I am watching this with real interest from New Zealand. I'm involved in the Occupy Auckland protest which is in Aotea Square in the central business district. We have about 70 tents and maybe round 100 people staying full time.
Luckily, we also have a few people who are well versed in PR and media and have open communication lines with both the local council and the police. And, at this stage everything is peaceful and working well.
Good luck everyone!!
togheter you can change the world. we have to believe it's possible. you are inspiring all the world
Political Organization. contend legitimately for seats in congress. Wall street needed everyone distracted by war and forced austerity. I believe this movement defines our era.
These are my "demands"
This is not a wish list of OWS demands. It is a list of issues, that any of us can ACT upon.
Although long term restructuring of American government and economic policy is clearly in order, the immediate step is to exercise our democratic rights by contacting our congress people and senators to tell them how we, individually – not as OWS, feel about the following - or any other issues –
Public option & universal health care – medicare for all.
Corporations & rich must pay their fair share.
Corporations are not people & Money is not speech.
Stop oil company subsidies.
Eliminate recent restraints on collective bargaining.
Eliminate recent changes to restrict voting.
Restore banking regulations and regulators – regulate greed.
Break up the non-competitive, too big to fail banks.
Capital gains must be taxed as income.
Stop privatization of government.
-----------please see following post----------------------
Tax extra for ultra-fast stock trades ( <1 day )
Limit all campaign contributions to $100.
End the wars.
Cut the military.
Create an FDR type WPA & CCC & a TVA for wind farms.
Hire & train returning vets.
Arrest and try the war criminals.
Stop using the Patriot Act to spy on Americans.
Arrest and try the bank/investment criminals.
Eliminate the filibuster.
Endorse Elizabeth Warren.
Find an anti-Norquist pledge Republican to endorse
============================================
Select your issues ( or mine ) &
FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE & SENATORs CONTACT:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.house.gov/
http://www.senate.gov/
Then, “grass roots” your issues : get at least 4 of your friends to also email their congressman & get them to “grass roots” this through repeated generations–till Washington is covered in grass!
You can use www.whitepages.com/person
to look up people & addresses & zip codes.
Important Note:
they will only pay attention to zip codes in their
<House> congressional district Or <Senate> state
DEMOCRACY IS FOR SALE ONLY IF YOUR INACTION ALLOWS IT !
THE MESSAGE IS: VOTE THE WAY I WANT ON MY ISSUES OR I WONT VOTE FOR YOU
Three organizations – NRA and AARP and Tparty have been enormously successful and powerful – by using their votes-
WE MUST TOO !
The next move is the President's....check...
We know our congress is bought. Mr. President please step forward and say its true, unless you're bought too...
-Screamin Eagle www.facebook.com/screamineaglesings
Love it.
Maybe capitalism is another kind of slavery. But how else we could combine the human desire for competition and individualism with the need of social association? Other existing models are even worse. I know, I lived under communists.
IMHO Just need to somehow limit the excessive selfishness of the few. But how?...
one method could be to create a sliding scale of cost on excess, whereby as an example, simple purely practical efficient vehicles are almost given away and supersports and gigantic indulgent vehicles for the ambitious and megalomaniacs inccur state levies that in turn fund education and health for the up and comming and a simple comfortable life is very easy to achieve for the less driven. visit and contribute at vastken.com
Uplifting video. We need more like it.
Bank of America Corp. (BAC), hit by a credit downgrade last month, has moved derivatives from its Merrill Lynch unit to a subsidiary flush with insured deposits, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.
This is what is happening. Any quick search will bring you to the realization that just cheer leading in this movement will get nowhere fast. We are all facing an economy that will be on the brink of collapse for years to come. If it doesn't collapse, we will still be faced with major cuts in programs from section 8, social security, teachers, health, food programs and on and on and on. And all thru this wall st will not be taxed nor corporations. I know others can make a better case on this then i can but this is what i want to say We do not have any time to play fantasy. This my brothers and sisters is war. This is time to put down your signs that say wake up and to actually WAKE UP. And to you OWSNYC let go of the control. A true Democracy is one that hears all voices even the ones you don't like because they have moved on from the cheerleading, and if you are getting criticism, well then let it come and listen, if the message is real and true to the heart then it will with stand. loosen up and stop being such control freaks, you are killing the last chance we have before violence finds its the answer to what's coming.
This is revolution and a revolution is not fantasy slogans, IT IS hard hitting with truth and justice and that's what we have on our side. Announce now that you are taking place in what that one group occupy declarations threw out there as a plan. Meet in Philadelphia on July 4th and over a few day period, on consensus announce the new declaration for the new world. And if its rejected by the corrupt politicians then 2014 we take over the house and senate.
No mamby pamby unions or fracking or any of the other side issues. GET REAL NOW. WE ARE DEPENDING ON YOU. Please let me explain, fracking will end when, which will be in our declarations that we as of now with part of the ... oh lets say 90% tax on over a million personal income tax money, start building infrastructure for solar and wind of which all can only be built here. Over throwing the control over our energy needs from the big oil and nuclear as we take our present and future into our own hands. Look at Germany, they get 25 % of their energy needs from solar and wind and are continuing to build to expand that. So i say RIGHT NOW we stop the bullshit and start doing the same. Protesting fracking is an absolute waste of time and did nothing but piss me off hearing you went down that road.
I can keep writing but I am not much of a writer but more of a thinker and i see you and i taken control of this country but i am holding up that sign right to your face and yelling WAKE UP. Get your ass back on the path and lets show them who we are
beautiful
Occupt Wall St needs to co-opt the democratic party...let the left start taking notes from the people
Chuck Kaufman, AFGJ National Co-Coordinator, controls your money through his 501(c) of which he has complete control and is taking a cut. “AFGJ, a Washington D.C-based charity, got involved in the movement through Occupy DC on Oct. 6, and subsequently became the fiscal sponsor for Occupy Wall Street, which allowed the movement to accept more than in-person cash donations. In exchange for accepting payments on behalf of organizations, AFGJ deducts an administrative fee of 7 percent.”
Dane Clark "Over It" is a very thought provoking song. Dane is the lead drummer for john mellencamp. This should be the song for our movement. I know i'm OVER IT. Dane Clark "Over It" youtube it guys
Dane Clark "Over It" is a very thought provoking song. Dane is the lead drummer for john mellencamp. This should be the song for our movement. I know i'm OVER IT. Dane Clark "Over It" youtube it guys
Dane Clark "Over It" is a very thought provoking song. Dane is the lead drummer for john mellencamp. This should be the song for our movement. I know i'm OVER IT. Dane Clark "Over It: youtube it guys
1/20 the movie examines how America failed to change via politicians, and friendship always trumps government.
http://www.youtube.com/user/cmaloproducciones
Hopefully the Director and Cinematographer will volunteer his talents, deftly displayed in the clip, toward the Tsunami relief effort.
DC
Please check out this article:
http://www.thevenusproject.com/en/component/content/article/36-demo-articles/245-response-to-occupy-wall-street
if you have 3-5 mins. to spare.
It is a response to the Occupy Revolution and is compact with very revolutionary ideas.
Are they all actresses/actors? or just the woman on the title screen? http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0528194/
blogpost embeddable collaborative curational tool:
http://pear.ly/Zxfb
searching for people to start building pearls for the specific groups/blogposts
so all changes within the groups can be followed within one interface.
see also
student protests NL: http://pear.ly/Dpcb USA: http://pear.ly/N0Aj international: http://pear.ly/W7lL
if you're unfamiliar with pearltree interface http://pear.ly/uXl5 as intro
http://bliin.com/#item=v.78150 http://bliin.com/#item=t.5003
blogpost embeddable collaborative curational tool:
http://pear.ly/Zxfb
searching for people to start building pearls for the specific groups so all changes within the groups can be followed within one interface.
see also
student protests NL: http://pear.ly/Dpcb USA: http://pear.ly/N0Aj international: http://pear.ly/W7lL
if you're unfamiliar with pearltree interface http://pear.ly/uXl5 as intro
Good Question - TRANSITIONAL STRATEGY: a) Reform OR b) Revolution
What do people think of some of Peter Joseph’s ideas? http://youtu.be/1SQqjTxI3vc a) Form a World Occupy Global Conference at a set location for the media to digest, issues are established, forum created to solicit established governments b) Parallel Government representative from various regions are brought to the table along with legal and technical teams associated. b-1) Eventually creating a virtual global institution which begins to prepare the new social system as the old system continues its operation and inevitable failure.
Once the public model is defined, a mass public awareness campaign is commenced in which this new governing body is announced and the tipping point will come once the public begins to see the merit of the new social proposal and is recognizing the governing entity itself, eventually giving it priority over the prior political establishment.
blogpost embeddable collaborative curational tool:
http://pear.ly/Zxfb
searching for people to start building pearls for the specific groups so all changes within the groups can be followed within one interface.
see also
student protests NL: http://pear.ly/Dpcb USA: http://pear.ly/N0Aj international: http://pear.ly/W7lL
if you're unfamiliar with pearltree interface http://pear.ly/uXl5 as intro
thank you for taking the time to make this video. it captures a sentiment of peaceful, hopeful optimism.
blogpost embeddable collaborative curational tool:
http://pear.ly/Zxfb
searching for people to start building pearls for the specific groups so all changes within the groups can be followed within one interface.
see also
student protests NL: http://pear.ly/Dpcb USA: http://pear.ly/N0Aj international: http://pear.ly/W7lL
if you're unfamiliar with pearltree interface http://pear.ly/uXl5 as intro
blogpost embeddable collaborative curational tool:
http://pear.ly/Zxfb
searching for people to start building pearls for the specific groups so all changes within the groups can be followed within one interface.
see also
student protests NL: http://pear.ly/Dpcb USA: http://pear.ly/N0Aj international: http://pear.ly/W7lL
if you're unfamiliar with pearltree interface http://pear.ly/uXl5 as intro
My advice to you is founded upon what I have seen among the American people, the proudest, the bravest, the most enlightened the greatest nation of men and women that ever trod upon this earth. Now, it may just be that they will turn around some day and take back their government and rule themselves. I can see signs of the dawn of political intelligence here and there and now and then.
This is the BEST video about Occupy Wall Street/USA/World we have seen. Everything: visuals, comments, music soundtrack (Cliff Martinez ! ! !) --- Go !
Would you please share the link, i'd like to see it. Thanks.
I believe that we need to first work towards getting the money out of politics. Many other injustices occurring in our society would have a better chance of being solved if our politicians are not indebted to the wealthy and corporations. I believe that there should be completely publicly funded elections, but I think we need a space for an organized working group discussion on how best to proceed.
great question. what advice would you offer the movement today? http://littlebiggy.org/4660547
Awesome! Tears! Let's separate money from politics. If that is not possible, let's create something entirely new. But first, educate others about the reality. Many people still have no clue.
Demand real campaign finance and media coverage reform! The one thing you're not allowed to talk about in Washington.
One of the big complaints levied against the "Wall Street Occupiers" is that they don't know what they're protesting so, I asked some of them and it's true - They don't have a clue about what's wrong with this country. They talk about wall street ripping people off, big banks and the wealthy paying no taxes, and the resulting wealth disparity and no more jobs.
WELL DUH?????
Have they ever stopped to think about what caused all this? ANY OF THEM?
It's called - Elections controlled by the MONEY of the elites!
Government sucks only because it no longer represents the people, it has become a whore of the elites. And, why shouldn't it? The elites finance their CAMPAIGNS!
Solution - All election campaigns must become publicly funded by the people with free access to all media for ALL candidates! Election day - shall be a national holiday.
No more billionaires!
No more wealthy Ronald Reagan like actors!
No more wall street/pentagon whores and foreign lobbyists in OUR government!
NO MORE RULE BY THE RULING CLASS!
Sounds like injecting a little socialism into our system no?
OH NO, NOT THAT!
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!
Um, actually I've been talking about this quite a bit. The one single "demand" has got to be representative government. Our vote is the only thing the elites fear, and they are trying to do away with it in many states.
Please read this thread:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/ows-now-is-the-time-do-not-falter/
Freedom is not freedom unless every single person is free! The majority of mankind, not just Americans are slaves in a world created by the ultra elite, for themselves to reign as kings in an illegal and tyrannical way. Change this system!! Change the world!!
I'll tell you where this needs to go next, it's needs to formalize into an actual organization, with a clear message, vision and goal. There needs to be planning and some sort of strategy for achieving goals.
Also, need to stick to a single issue, getting the 1% money and direct influence out of Washington. we need to stay away from any and all issues that can be labeled as Dem, Rep, Lib, Con, Mod etc... These issues only serve to distract us and divide the 99%.
The New Book about the Financial Crisis, (Black Box Casino) is a must Read! How Wall Street's Shadow Banking Crashed Global Finance! by Robert Stowe England
Go for the FED , go for Bernarke, evrebody agrees that the big mess has be done by FED. Going against WallStreet Banks, is not allways being undestud by most of people, allthought we know is the main trouble.
One thing that can empower people, diminish inequality and eradicate poverty is a Citizens' Income (or Basic Income). Here's a great article about it: http://www.scribd.com/doc/69994132/Citizens-Income
Where do we go from here?
There are many things we can do but one thing that, in my opinion, would empower people, diminish inequality and eradicate poverty, is having a Citizens' Income (or Basic Income).
Here's a great article about it (from the The Big Earth Book): http://www.scribd.com/doc/69994132/Citizens-Income
How To Create A Better America. A New Vision For OWS!
Article V of the Constitution provides for a Constitutional Convention when the needs and desires of the states and populace are not being met, and specifically when the federal branch of government is the source of the problem.
"No person, corporation or business entity of any type, domestic or foreign, shall be allowed to contribute money, directly or indirectly, to any candidate for Federal office or to contribute money on behalf of or opposed to any type of campaign for Federal office. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, campaign contributions to candidates for Federal office shall not constitute speech of any kind as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution or any amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Congress shall set forth a federal holiday for the purposes of voting for candidates for Federal office."
Get a law passed for total public campaign financing to all federal candidates who obtain sufficient petition signatures and/or votes to get on the ballot and participate in the primaries and/or electoral process.
Require new FCC regulations granting free air time to all federal candidates for elected office.
Get a law passed where members of the United States House of Representatives shall be limited to serving no more than four two-year terms in their lifetime. Members of the United States Senate shall be limited to serving no more than two six-year terms in their lifetime.
Get a law passed that bans politicians from becoming lobbyists for 10 years after they leave office.
Adopt California's Proposition 20 nationwide and end gerrymandering by politicians and turn the drawing of congressional districts over to citizen committees.
Create a fair and progressive tax code. The marginal tax rate ought to be raised to 50 percent on income between $500,000 and $5 million, 60 percent on income between $5 million and $15 million, and 70 percent on income over $15 million. There should be a 2 percent annual surtax on all fortunes over $7 million. Eliminate loopholes in the federal tax code, unfair tax breaks, exemptions and deductions, subsidies (e.g. oil, gas and farm) and end all tax havens. Taxing financial transactions at one percent raises $400 billion a year in revenue alone.
End too big to fail. Break up the biggest banks. Ban derivatives trading. Immediate reenactment of the Glass-Steagall Act.
Leave Afghanistan immediately. Reduce the military budget by half.
Medicare For All. Allow Medicare to purchase drugs directly. Give MEDPAC greater authority to drive down medical costs.
Create a federal government/business "Manhattan Project" to develop clean energy.
Keep Social Security solvent for generations by raising the ceiling on income subject to the Social Security tax to $200,000. Currently, $106,800.
To increase opportunity and upward social mobility for future generations offer free public education through 6 years of college.
In the short term, to get demand back into the economy, we need a new government sponsored WPA and CCC to create millions of jobs rebuilding America so business can start investing and hiring again.
Business for the sake of business is not the answer and industry must be questioned for its use and value to the people whose air, land and water and society it pollutes. I did not know that there was an income ceiling for SSI. Instead of WPA jobs, let there be jobs lead by ecologists who have the knowledge needed to restore the ecosystems we rely on.
I feel extremely grateful to see you fight for what is right. Strive on. I see it happening in all over the world. So proud. Maybee that my litle daughter will have a future.
Also, some reflections on the #Occupy movement to date:
http://rosswolfe.wordpress.com/2011/10/05/reflections-on-occupy-wall-street-what-it-represents-its-prospects-and-its-deficiencies/
Here's my article on the matter:
http://emajmagazine.com/2011/10/20/what-now-%E2%80%94-the-question-haunting-the-occupy-movement/
Realistic demands call for good slogans. Use these: Tobin Tax Now ! Tobin Tax Now ! Tobin Tax Now ! Split the banks! Split the Banks ! Split the Banks !
Please read this. If this is true, it's really ridiculous! "US Fed Reserve Audit Reveals 16 TRILLION in Secret 0% Interest Bailouts" -> http://wakeup-world.com/2011/07/22/us-fed-reserve-audit-reveals-16-trillion-in-secret-0-interest-bailouts/
"“Even if nothing else happens here; even if everyone goes home today, it’s enough because what started here is going to continue in other ways, and it’s going to continue in other ways we can’t predict.” (Favorite quote from the video)
Apparently there are more important things in life than comfortable sleep and acceptance of the status quote. Thanks for waking us up.
Peace.
Groobiecat
www.groobiecat.blogspot.com
The video is hypocritical. It asks a good question, but with only one answer already in mind and the theme of the footage, namely that its fine to just keep doing what you're doing. For all the talk about openness, democracy ,and inclusiveness you did not include one person in the video who feels we are going nowhere without achievable near term (and longer term) proposals and an action plan.
Just remember that the lower income 50% (a good part of 99% according to my math) collectively earn only 13% of all income in the country. That puts their average family income below or near poverty level. They care more about getting a job back, putting food on the table,and paying the auto repair guy than they do about slick videos. You may have their attention and some support now because you've raised their expectations and hope, but a group that has no plan is not going to hold that support very long.
Occupy Wall St. planted a seed that is growing in the hearts and minds of us all. In solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the globe, let hope guide your heart and empower your minds.
Thats ordinarily the net result of not facing up to what the real problem is
:D
getting robbed and can't do anything about it but sit around and blabber about it?
lost?
Part 1 If you love our country, your family, children, grandchildren, friends, you need to sign and share this petition far and wide: http://www.change.org/petitions/78-years-is-long-enough
It may be a fool’s errand; yet, people need to know what has happened to our republic. And, it happened in 1933. (Really, in 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act) Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. The HISTORY that Inspired the Petition:
Part 2 The wealth of the nation including our land was turned over to the bankers. In return, the nations 100 billion dollar debt was forgiven. I have two papers that have circulated the country on this subject. Remember Jesus said "the love of money is the root of all evil" The Congress of 1933 sold every American into slavery to protect their asses. Read the following Congressional quotes: "I want to show you where the people are being imposed upon by reason of the delegation of this tremendous power. I invite your attention to the fact that section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act provides that whenever the Government of the United States issues and delivers money, Federal Reserve notes, which are based on the credit of the Nation--they represent a mortgage upon your home and my home, and upon all the property of all the people of the Nation--to the Federal Reserve agent, an interest charge shall be collected for the Government." -- Congressional Record, Congressman Patman, March 13, 1933.
"That is the equity of what we are about to do. Yes; you are going to close us down. Yes; you have already closed us down, and have been doing it long before this year. Our President says that for 3 years we have been on the way to bankruptcy. We have been on the way to bankruptcy longer than 3 years. We have been on the way to bankruptcy ever since we began to allow the financial mastery of this country gradually to get into the hands of a little clique that has held it right up until they would send us to the grave." -- Congressional Record, Congressman Long, March 11, 1933. What did Roosevelt do? Sealed our fate and our childrens fate, but worst of all, he declared War on the American People. Remember the War Powers Act, the Trading with the enemy Act? He declared emergency powers with his authority being the War Powers Act, the Trading with the Enemy Act. The problem is he redefined who the enemy was, read the following (remembering that the Social Security Number is a license to work): The declared National Emergency of March 9, 1933 amended the War Powers Act to include the American People as enemies: "In Title 1, Section 1 it says: The actions, regulations, rules, licenses, orders and proclamations heretofore or hereafter taken, promulgated, made, or issued by the President of the United States or the Secretary of the Treasury since March 4, 1933, pursuant to the authority conferred by subdivision (b) of section 5 of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended, are hereby approved and confirmed." "Section 2. Subdivision (b) of section 5 of the Act of October 6, 1917, (40 Stat. L. 411), as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: emergency declared by the President, the President may, through any agency that he may designate, or otherwise, investigate, regulate, or prohibit, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, by means of licenses or otherwise, any transactions in foreign exchange, transfers of credit between or payments by banking institutions as defined by the President, and export, hoarding, melting, or earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency, BY ANY PERSON WITHIN THE UNITED STATES OR ANY PLACE SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION THEREOF." Here is the legal phrase subject to the jurisdiction thereof; but, at law, this refers to alien enemy and also applies to Fourteenth Amendment citizens: "As these words are used in the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution, providing for the citizenship of all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, the purpose would appear to have been to exclude by the fewest words (besides children of members of the Indian tribes, standing in a peculiar relation to the National Government, unknown to the common Law), the two classes of cases, children born of Alien Enemies, in hostile occupation, and children of diplomatic representatives of a foreign state, both of which, by the law of England and by our own law, from the time of the first settlement of the English colonies in America, had been recognized exceptions to the fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the country."
Part 3
The following are excerpts from the Senate Report, 93rd Congress, November 19, 1973, Special Committee On The Termination Of The National Emergency United States Senate. They were going to terminate all emergency powers, but they found out they did not have the power to do this so guess which one stayed in, the Emergency Act of 1933, the Trading with the Enemy Act October 6, 1917 as amended in March 9, 1933. "Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency....Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens." "A majority of the people of the United States have lived all of their lives under emergency rule. For 40 (now 63) years, freedoms and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have, in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by states of national emergency....from, at least, the Civil War in important ways shaped the present phenomenon of a permanent state of national emergency." -- Senate Report, 93rd Congress, November 19, 1973 You may be asking yourself is this the law, and if so where is it, read the following: In Title 12 U.S.C, in section 95b you'll find the following codification of the Emergency War Powers: "The actions, regulations, rules, licenses, orders and proclamations heretofore or hereafter taken, promulgated, made, or issued by the President of the United States or the Secretary of the Treasury since March 4, 1933, pursuant to the authority conferred by subsection (b) of section 5 of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended (12 U.S.C., 95a), are hereby approved and confirmed." -- (March 9, 1933, c. 1, Title 1, 1, 48 Stat. 1) "There Are Two Ways To Enslave A Country.... One Is By The Sword. The Other Is By Debt." — John Adams, 2nd President of the United States "A government of the people, by the people and for the people no longer. A government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations." — Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States It is NOT Capitalism that is the Problem, it is Corporatism. Corporatism is NOT Capitalism. The combination of Mega Corporations, Owned by a Few, working with and Controlling the Government for the Benefit of those Few. Our government is owned and controlled by the Federal Reserve, its shareholders and allies. “I care not what puppet they put on the throne of England, the man who controls Britain’s money supply controls the Empire; and, I control the money supply” — Baron Nathan de Rothschild, circa 1790, whose descendants control the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, most Central Banks around the world, and most of the world’s resources.
We go to our State Capitol.... and if that don't work... We go to DC in masses and rally at Lincoln Memorial like they did back in the day! Then, maybe we will get some media coverage! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Your-Capitol-National-Event-Oct-29th-12pm-3pm/216481695084076
“TOCSFAE” IS TOXIC TO THE BANKERS
From the beginning when our country was formed we face many challenges and many opposing views
Just like today however, the peoples voices have been silence by special interest groups as well as the over whelming power grab by the bankers. Your demands/petitions will never be heard or taken seriously unless lobbyist/corporate have bless it for greedy reasons or eventually Co-Opt it. so keeping a hard core is essential.
It is time for a fair hearing!
Whether you have protested at the gas pump or you are an Occupier give our protest the teeth it needs beyond the gas pump and over the protest lines.
Wouldn’t it be worth your time to know there is a petition list worth signing that binds all Occupiers together.
Wouldn’t it be great if you can be heard, fairly and equally?
This is were the step plan an ever growing list known as “TOCSFAE” can help. These step plans, enhances your concerns.
This petition will be a notification to congress of things yet to come and to properly prepare.
As of January 2012 we the people
We will not take the abuse anymore and neither should they walk around with there heads in the sand.
We will begin the process of phase one
Your petition will go to congress, informing them you support The “TOCS FAE” plan and so should they, by making preparations for receiving and forwarding income Tax mail. Your petition will also go to the top corporations letting them know of our intentions and they too should support and act on the doctrine by sending their taxes directly to congress. They should also be informed if our demands are not met, protests will be under way the likes they have never seen.
After this is achieved and we have broken the back of a few select Corporations we will move on to Step1 Taxes which may take months or years
Step1) Send your TAXES to a trusted congressman or congresswoman which maybe hard to find in your state. Make a Petition with your neighbors. Phone, email, fax your congress your list and intentions. Prepare your taxes, made out to the I.R.S check and envelope, and a stamp. Fit it in inside of a bigger envelope, onto which you should write congress address, preferably your state congress.
Example
Washington, DC 203 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone Number: (202) 225-2831
Have congress unwrap the envelopes, state you want your taxes to be mailed to the I.R.S
If you are asking yourself, what will this achieve first it can be used as a bargain chip however, congress cannot spend it or over take the fed reserve and banks system over night, nonetheless this will indeed give teeth/meat, back to congress. You should include a sign return receipt so as to show proof you paid your taxes.
If you are interested in expressing this message to Occupy General feel free to do so.
The best way to reach our aim is to refuse to legitimate the liberists with the vote and to pursue the Direct Democrazy with an active partecipation to the pubblic life. In the next future we'll be the Power forever. And then a new world will start, a world where there's no place for greed and criminal people.
I think laws addressing "Corporate Treason To America" ought to be implemented. Man/Corporate against Country and Country Man is Treason against America. Lets start with enforcing insurance companies to stop denying people of their rights. They are playing God and making Billions of dollars denying people of their contractual rights. They leave many people on government programs like welfare. Check it out; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmEwhakknkk
we face an immediate crisis. tues the uniformed freemason thugs will attack to clear the occupation. major quakes are imminent when we can either set up our democracy among the survivors or volunteer to rescue these fascists. stop and frisk to steal marijuana must be stopped. cannabis prohibition must end. we must face the fact that christianity is a horror story to brutalise us and our children with violent images of human sacrifice, zombie rising from the dead and cannibal communion with alcohol, the chemical lobotomy. we must face the fact that mass unemployment caused by automation is here to stay so we need increased benefits and a different community not dominated by brutal police and christian bullying. child protection will destroy christianity just as surely as womens liberation will destroy islam. we must stop this rabid christian anti-muslim propaganda. there were no muslim terrorists behind 911. we must stop this christian muslim war by realising both religions are BS. jesus is the antichrist. Ras Tafari the true Christ said the christians and the muslims must unite to defeat the enemy. that enemy is the ruling fascist elite under the figurehead of the whore of babylon, the queen of england. that enemy orders the violent attacks upon us by the uniformed thugs. that attack is the immediate future we face!!
we wait around for the wealthy to drive up in their mercedes and throw us a bone cause they control everything and all we can do is whine about the poor state of the world and adhere to protest rules which are in place to make sure we don't actually accomplish anything..
I live in Dallas, Texas. I surely hope that you will visit this city, The governement here is very corrupt. Our ex Mayor Tom Lepper, who had decided that he would create a site to go against occupy wall street. has been known to abuse his power along with city council member Dewayne Carraway. They have gone so far as to place cameras in innocent citizens homes as well as seperate families. You can do research of Tom Leppert for he had something to do with reconstruction of the Twin Towers in New York City when 9/11 happened. He is now running for Senator. He is a very corrupt man.
I live in Dallas, Texas. I surely hope that you will visit this city, The governement here is very corrupt. Our ex Mayor Tom Lepper, who had decided that he would create a site to go against occupy wall street. has been known to abuse his power along with city council member Dewayne Carraway. They have gone so far as to place cameras in innocent citizens homes as well as seperate families. You can do research of Tom Leppert for he had something to do with reconstruction of the Twin Towers in New York City when 9/11 happened. He is now running for Senator. He is a very corrupt man.
who is the guy at the end?
To a Constitutional Amendment establishing government only financing of elections.
Fantastic, love it! Thanks for making it!
http://occupywallst.org/forum/finite-existence-infinite-reality/
How come the names of the video's creators and editors are so prominent? We don't need glory hogging members. That video is public property, it belongs to all of OWS. WE created that video not Ed David.
After all, isnt their something 300 americans?
One protester is like having 7 whom cant be their. This needs to happen & get the talk out of small groups & get them out in the open. This has been way long over due & get us americans more involved in goverment acountablety. Bring this to light of whats really going on & prove were not as ignorint - lazy as our goverment thinks we are.
Get some leaderahip - become orgainized. Too many people want to beleve in this movent but it lacks direction & leaderahip. Which couses confuation & disarey. If this movent wants to make a impack its needa to have direction.
on a closing note,
The 99% pull resoures together, meaining man power - food - shulter & money. This out numbers all the 1% put togerher.
good movie showing how we are all represented.
Please, take the fight stright to DC!!
I am prefacing my comment to say that I am an occupier in another state. I am a very active and enthusiastic member, and I love this movement and the beautiful people I work with day in and day out to build a new world. I am not speaking for anyone else there only for myself. I just watched the video above and want to say I feel sick. I feel the video was disingenuous and obviously staged it lost the entire energy and vitality of the true movement so as to seem almost sinister. The speakers were not spontaneous like in the raw footage I see on youtube and just about every where else and as a result they seem almost cultish. The music is somber and quite honestly gave me a sense of danger, or negativity. The Occupy I see and feel in footage of Wall Street and my experiences in my town are of lively, enthusiastic and committed group of people who have life in their eyes and genuine emotion and content to their speech. This video frightens me on so many levels. I am afraid the person sitting at home watching this video, maybe sitting on the fence on the subject will be negatively influenced because of the sinister, zombie cult feelings it evokes. I am saying this as a fellow occupier who wants more than anything for the entire 99% to come together and create the world we deserve, and would hate to see this video presented as any kind of representation of the vitality and power of this movement. I ask that you reconsider using this video to represent the movement and put together a video of authentic footage and amazing people to speak from their hearts instead of from a script.
very well put. i wish i could have said this as articulately. i was heart sick to see this video. has anyone seen the consensus video? i know which one right? the one where the ga is in washington square park? i have watched that video many times and each time it makes me cry. beautiful people, beautiful process. authentic and full of life. this is how i want to be represented.
Where do we go from here? Unknown...but we find out by walking the same path we've been walking. We are outside the normal sphere of discourse with regard to politics, and this is our strength.
We are not a party. Parties are for celebration. We are a group of people dedicated to improving our world, and as long as we stand together we cannot be denied.
I am proud to be a part of this thing.
We sign petitions like mine here to Enact the Living Wage Act http://www.change.org/petitions/the-president-of-the-united-states-occupy-wall-street-pass-the-living-wage-act and we can create more to have our voices heard!
I am prefacing my comment to say that I am an occupier in another state. I am a very active and enthusiastic member, and I love this movement and the beautiful people I work with day in and day out to build a new world. I am not speaking for anyone else there only for myself. I just watched the video above and want to say I feel sick. I feel the video was disingenuous and obviously staged it lost the entire energy and vitality of the true movement so as to seem almost sinister. The speakers were not spontaneous like in the raw footage I see on youtube and just about every where else and as a result they seem almost cultish. The music is somber and quite honestly gave me a sense of danger, or negativity. The Occupy I see and feel in footage of Wall Street and my experiences in my town are of lively, enthusiastic and committed group of people who have life in their eyes and genuine emotion and content to their speech. This video frightens me on so many levels. I am afraid the person sitting at home watching this video, maybe sitting on the fence on the subject will be negatively influenced because of the sinister, zombie cult feelings it evokes. I am saying this as a fellow occupier who wants more than anything for the entire 99% to come together and create the world we deserve, and would hate to see this video presented as any kind of representation of the vitality and power of this movement. I ask that you reconsider using this video to represent the movement and put together a video of authentic footage and amazing people to speak from their hearts instead of from a script.
anyone have problems listen to this streaming with lag?
Lovely video. Thanks! So proud to be involved and working with so many passionate and intelligent folks. This is just the beginning!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote a short book in 1967 titled Where to we go from here, published posthumously. I would say it is now relevant again.
the movement needs to take over Washington, in the spring.We the people need to move into the nations capital by the millions.
we the people need to send the biggest and strongest signal to Big business and the Gov't that the people of the United States will no longer stand for the Gov't to not listen to it's people who elected them.
The way I feel is that the biggest thing that we need to take with us is that we have to Occupy wherever we are. Own our space. Take back our country. I think an important point is that we don't have to be standing together in a physical sense to be united. I'm a long way from NY, but I'm doing all I can down South here.
I hear those comments about folks not toughing out the snow, and I'm like...if people have to leave NY because of the winter, that's not a sign the movement's breaking up, you know? Because it can be everywhere and can be everyone and maybe, someday, even the 100%.
What a great video, congratulations to all who created this!
Remember demands imply negotiation. Demanding change from those who have no place in the new order is not productive. We don't demand anything of a tumor because we are not negotiating with it. We cut it out plain and simple. So keep it up and remember you can change things radically it has been done before and the time is ripe for it to happen again.
A very illuminating comment.
When you name something a tumor and come at it with a knife, your demands are clear enough.
The issue is, that what you call a tumor is actually the heart of the modern financial system. If you're planning on cutting it out like a cancer, you probably should put a minute or two of thought into what you expect will come after it. For better or ill, killing Wall Street will consign the nation to crushing poverty. It may be a more equal poverty than we have now, but it will be a much deeper poverty than most living Americans have ever experienced.
That's the problem with acting without thinking. You assume your 'new order' will be better. Even though our system is flawed, lots of systems are much worse. The cure, as it were, for our current ailment can always be worse than the disease. Something for everyone to consider.
how do you know that crushing wall street will put people into poverty? that's a pretty bold statement, and requires some backing up. For all we know, cutting out Wall Street will actually help the nation, and put the money back to work, instead of accumulating at the top like cream for the rich to skim off. in all, don't pretend to know the future, or the consequences of actions taken now.
It's not really that bold, if you'll permit me an metaphorical comparison.
If you dismantle a corruptly run power plant, brick by brick, leaving nothing but an empty field, then you'll get less corruption and no power. You'll have nothing but the value of the raw components. It solves one problem, but creates another that is arguably much worse.
If you dismantle Wall Street, corporate brick by corporate brick, you'll have less corruption and no financial sector. You could seize that money, but it would run out, and you'd have no way to make more. Again, you've stopped golden egg corruption by killing the golden goose.
Just as the value of the power plant isn't in the raw components, but the entire building together, the value of Wall Street isn't the cash on hand but the financial power it generates. That financial system may be corrupted, just as the ownership of a power company could be corrupted, but that isn't to say that simply dismantling either is a painless solution.
Wall Street, like a power plant, produces something that America needs. It's the 'pollution', if you will, that needs to be reigned in. Simply shutting it off won't free up money any more than shutting off a power plant will free up power.
First, wall street isn't the fed. Lets get this straight. Wall street DOES NOT make money(IE manufacture it), the Fed does. So dismantlement of wall street would not destroy our economy. It would only end the practice of gambling on it. Which shouldn't be happening anyway.
Second, Wall St may have power, but they do not make power, so they are more like a consumer, than the plant itself, so your analogy is incorrect. And to point out, Wall St does not produce anything. It simply exists on the backs of the rest of us poor schmucks who are wage slaves.
The organizers are taking all the money
Who are the organizers, officially?
http://biggovernment.com/lstranahan/2011/10/23/whaddaya-think-new-video-reveals-new-york-times-reporter-acting-as-occupywallstreet-organizer/
http://biggovernment.com/lstranahan/2011/10/23/whaddaya-think-new-video-reveals-new-york-times-reporter-acting-as-occupywallstreet-organizer/
I'm concerned at the lack of concern over the 5,000 to 10,000 home foreclosures each and every day in this country. I'm concerned that the occupy movement is age related, and the older the victims, the less aware and the less interested the occupy movement is in helping them. The Occupy Movement as presently constructed seems more about punishing the cheaters than protecting those who are about to lose their homes.
How can you protect them without punishing those who created the problem in the first place and stopping them from doing it again and again and again?
By changing one banking rule of law that allows the for banks to continue to destroy main street on a daily basis. "Restructuring a debt DOES NOT require a default first."
Right now, any debt restructuring first requires the debtor be placed in default. Change this one rule of law and mainstreet and the 99% would be on equal footing with the banks.
Herman Cain the Republican frontrunner, says, "If you don't have a job and you're not rich, Blame yourself."
So by that kind of thinking, those people that are losing their houses are at fault. Can you believe a hall full of people cheered and appaluded that sentiment at the Republican debate the other night?
If America would just take the time to look at what is being said, and use a little bit of empathy. We need to take that kind of message. We need to invoke a spark in everyone.
When we do this, you will see that young and old alike will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Then we will be able to fix things. Until the time that we achieve critical mass, we won't be able to help the home foreclosures.
Home foreclosures can be stopped. Shouting down the auctioneers at the county court house is one method.
Change the banking rule of law that requires any debtor be placed into default for wanting to restructure a debt. Change that law to "Debt restructure DOES NOT first require a default", and main street and the 99% has the tool they need to be on even footing with the banks.
Herman Cain is a business analyst who has worked in the military and corporate America his whole life...his crowning achievement being a great lead manager of a bunch of Burger Kings. What does he know about being independent, having been suckling the corporate teat to achieve his "success"?
That pretty much sums it up. And he didn't fight for the civil rights of black people in the 60s, because his daddy told him not to. He's such a useless tool.
Interesting. Isn't it noteworthy how the media has gotten into the habit of describing candidates as "ready" or "not ready"? They described Palin this way and it is annoying, as though they are auditioning for a part in a play than assuming a role of great responsibility. If you are not "ready" then you likely never will be.
I agree. Maybe it is like playing a part to them.
What else can you say for a guy who hears "Imagine" and turns it into a pizza commercial?
Uselss tool? You must be prone to kindness.
He's a useless tool, because his ideas will make this country worse.... by a long shot.... therefore, he's useless. He's incredibly arrogant on top of it. Oh, and I heard he is being funded by the Koch Bros. He worked for Americans for Prosperity, too. Anyone being funded by the Koch Bros. to carry on with their psychotic ideas is useless to the country.
It's a well cut piece, though I might have to agree with all the comments thus far...even the "vapid" one. Not because it is intrinsically vapid, it is just that people seem overly optimistic as well as directionless. If its demands that people want, declare them, as it probably will arouse those who are not involved or who are not paying too much attention. "Demands" sound vapid, too, but it'll be a long and substantial list if it's done right. While I am an ardent supporter of OWS, let us not forget what is happening in Egypt and Syria and how those who are in power will not budge unless they are prompted to. It must begin with holding our public servants to account.
The constant push for demands is irritating. Protesters make demands and achieve nothing. Revolutionaries assert power.
It is that simple.
Whatever power has been asserted is not clear. The process of citing demands will prove the ultimate absurdity of the task, as it will not be a short list. If we are to take back our Democracy, or rather, recreate it to be truly Democratic for people everywhere, then there needs to be some tangible and defined methods for doing so. OWS has attracted famous people who pay homage to the demonstrators, though these people are, whether they seek to be or not, very much apart of the current hierarchy. Unless the demonstrators begin to speak up instead of having famous people speak in their behalf, it is not such a convincing demonstration of power.
I think its only been one month, and it is absurd to expect to change the federal gov't after that much time.
Until you've been in the streets for a year and are over several million strong, and have gotten local gov't to rebel against the authority of the federal gov't you are just protesting.
Indeed, it has only been one month, though this video has a man saying how "even if we all went home today" that the demonstrations would have an impact. He goes on to talk about the Civil Rights Acts, all of which were top down dictates to a region of the country that was decidedly failing in adopting Civil Rights for African Americans. It is commonly understood that The Civil Rights Acts did not work, as is often the case with top down dictates. If the demonstrators all went home today, people would care even less than they do now, which is why declaring a set of principles and demands of what needs to fundamentally change is valuable. It is a means of reaching out to people by declaring common ideals, values, concerns and goals.
It is within the minds of individuals that large scale changes begin, there needs to be conceptual seeds sown by any movement hoping to have an affect, an ideal and a conviction that it is possible, with sufficient support it can be achieved using the system that is in place, it will take time so patience and tenacity are paramount. A maintained focus and aware voters giving their support to intelligent independent candidates, who can form a coalition of the willing to stamp out poverty, ignorance, nepotism and corporate corruption of democracy. To dare to disrupt the status quo, and stay the course, the devil you know, is not better than the devil usurped. Visit and contribute to vastken.com
You are describing a way to fail. It is that simple. Your claim that the demonstrators would have any impact if they went home today is unconvincing.
The civil rights protests were part of a decade of continued action, that exploded out of the oppressive feeling of the red scare 50's. Its a very different time.
This is just the beginning. We have many many years ahead of us. And you should never set your "conditions" until you are equal or superior to those you are revolting against/negotiating with. Otherwise your conditions and demands can easily be cast aside and yet your very act of offering such conditions/demands has legitimized the power structure.
Others have stated "goals" as an idea to replace "demands". That could work. But only as a rallying cry not as an end point. The ideas of this movement should remain open. All of this needs to be discussed. You have people that see themselves on opposite sides of a political spectrum, that see each other as enemies, yet are all part of the same movement. You need to understand what you common ground truly is. We don't fully understand what that is yet. Not truly. Not at a visceral level.
We have much to do. I think at this point it should be about assertion of power, not about considering what we will do once we "win". We haven't won anything yet. So what is assertion of power? There is much room for this idea. I think it should be an assumption of public service responsibility. So that the OWS movement begins to take over government services that are inadequately provided for. It is peaceful and yet powerful both as a PR move to strengthen the movement and as a political and economic one so as to reclaim these spheres piece by piece for ourselves.
You could hold marches in which the protesters clean public space. You could hold teach ins where "protesters" in basic math, literacy, science etc.... Once the movement has worked out its resource problem (food supplies etc...) and established steady streams of these things: surpluses can be redistributed to the needy.
Once that is underway you may find the movement taking care of a number of other public services that are impossible to conceive of now.
You have good ideas on the whole, but people are concerned with the basics of survival immediately and broader social change afterward. This is the vulnerability of the human condition.
So survive. There is no conflict between survival and building this movement. In fact survival is key to its success, but without the struggle to survive, without being tested, what does it mean anyway? The struggle for survival will be transformative.
If in struggling to survive, the movement sacrifices its revolutionary spirit by placing demands instead of striving for its goals, what good is it?
Perhaps you are getting too caught up in the semantics, as there is not much difference between demands and goals in the context which we speak.
So survive...I mentioned before plainly how the demonstration is key for its symbolism, but it is not a sustainable system of living. Community is important, but so is the freedom to be solitary and self reliant.
Beware the person who needs community.
There is a big difference. You place demands before others. A goal is set for yourself.
Quibbling with semantics...there are so many good reasons to be demonstrating. Why not name them clearly? Oh, wait, they are! End the concentration of wealth at the top...and how will we achieve this goal?
Those aren't demands, but goals and possibly strategy as you allude to it. It is interesting how persistent you are in clinging to something that you dismiss as semantics. I'm not sure where you are coming from. Very odd.
But its irrelevant anyway. This is not the GA.
Dear aaronparr, I said as much about not quibbling over semantics, as evinced by my comment above. Goals do not have to be internally focused and demands can be internally focused. While it is clear to many people what the OWS demonstrations are about, it is not clear to so many more people, which is why it is key to voice loudly and clearly what the organization is standing for. If it is done well, it will arouse the concerns and support of more people, as most people are still co-opted into, either economically, psychologically or both. Breaking down barriers requires expressing common interests, goals, if you will;)
I have no problem about expressing common interests within the movement. BUT you need to understand fundamentally why the movement is opposed to the idea of demands, and what demands actually are.
Demands can not be internally focussed. It just makes no sense at all for them to be so. What is a demand that is not expressed? Something only in your head? Sorry it just makes no sense at all. If you need to call this idea common interests or goals... fine. Just be careful of that word "demands". It has a history with protests and movements like this. You don't want to go down that road if you want any kind of success.
Goals can be set for a group as well....
Is this clearer for you? Goals are internally focused. Demands require something beyond the individual or group.
Don't quibble over semantics. Lets stay focused on the meaning of what we are communicating.
Your idea of the OWS movement taking over public services that governments fail to take care of is a terrific idea. I was thinking about that earlier today. It is starting with how the movement is feeding protesters for free from donations, providing medical services when needed (something that our country, states, local governments fail miserably at providing to their citizens), setting up a library at Liberty Square, events and entertainment, meetings, etc. It's a perfect example of how things should be.... an "organization" providing for its citizens where and when it should. It's like a mini-nation of socialism. Now, hopefully this can spread out into helping those in need everywhere.
exactly.
I think to be the most successful the GA would work hand in hand with local government and thereby gain the protection of local police which will be an essential component for long term survival. The OWS is a revolutionary force and that will scare the 1%. And they've got enough influence to bring the state's security appratus down on us harder than it was brought down during the red scare. If we start working with labor to propose national strikes, we could assure a nasty response, but I think if we can avoid such strong arm tactics on the national economy, we should be safe.
Hard to say though. We'll know after the winter when they see that we haven't gone away.
Yep. It's a good idea to start with local governments.... and then work their way up.
But how will you assert power? What is the plan? And when? I assume you want to follow the democratic process
No. I do not.
You do not what?
Want to follow the democratic process. You were forcing that upon me. No. This is revolution not a protest.
You got to be kidding me. On one side the GA is set up which is so democratic that it is basically unworkable and they you come in, woosh democracy aside because you and your ego opinion know what's best. If this movement represents the 99%, wouldn't it be a good idea to involve them a little? What differentiates you from any other fascist?
What the hell are you talking about?
Right On.
agreed.
Say it again!
[Removed]
OWS = OTPOR
Please study this, because we are being used by the very people we despise: US Gov't/CIA. Our enemies are very tricky....
See: The Revolution Business: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8HaMtGrveY
See also: Occupy Wall Street, OTPOR, and American Revolution: http://ajmacdonaldjr.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/occupy-wall-street-otpor-and-american-revolution/
You Can't make big changes! You don't have a goal!
I cannot view the video. I have not paid my corporate sharing fees consisting of technological upgrades. I sure hope you are sharing the truth about article 5 of the constitution so the "strength in numbers" you mention can mean something real and permanent. Try lower quality video next time.
We go away.
Here is where we can go.
http://2012forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=25917
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 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.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 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. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
ideal words become rhetoric (bullshit) when they are no longer believeable. 235 yr.s ago the 1% (founding fathers) had a rhetoric that was believeable (if not by the 99%, at least, a sub-stainable number for the cause) the 'crown' was the beholder of wealth, (ALL WEALTH) not fair, not just.
Today, the 'crown', 'all seeing eye'- the top of the pyramid, 'new world order' , has been made obsolete by a new nomenclutra.
To: Prime Minister Roseanne Barr [Green Tea] Prime Minister Gail Lightfoot [Libertarian] Prime Minister Charles Bruce Stewart [Green Libertarian] Secretary Jacob Covich [Catholic Trotskyist] Cc: All Voters and Non Voters From: Secretary James Ogle [Free Parliamentary] Subject: USP: Day to Day Updates 10/24/2011
Note: Please feel free to engage or disengage from this communication link by sending the message "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to joogle@gonott.com or by telephone at 415-686-1996. OK to "reply all". Anonymous forwarder now available upon request. http://www.usparliament.org/
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Vote Counting Minister James Ogle [Free Parliamentary] is calling for volunteers to help with the debates for the 8th USA Parliament's voter registration drive 2011 efforts.
Among the first things needed, is to contact the other US presidential candidates listed with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), and to help set up telephone/audio and/or video debates.
The current US president candidates' contact information is linked to the FEC's web site: http://fec.gov/press/press2011/presidential_form2nm.shtml
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According to poll, 54% Americans support occupywallst, 23% area against, and 23% feel they don't know enought to make a deicision. Let's attract the 54% by our perseverance and our tolerant politics. And let's educate that 23%!
Exactly. (guarionexxx)
educating the public should be one of our top priorities
Agreed. education is enlightenment. it is the job of those who already know the truth to share the truth with others, in a nonviolent and nonintrusive way. this movement has spread very quickly and will continue to spread, there is no doubt about that!
I agree. The media is not only controlled by interest groups, it brainwashes people with inept soap operas, reality tv and game shows. The Americans are one of the most ill informed people in the world. The Internet is one tool that has not been totally controlled yet, and it's proved extremely valuable for resistance movements, and to some extent to the spreading of news.
Education is one thing. Encouraging discourse is another.
You can't educate the 23% until you have a plan in writing. For that matter, you won't keep the 54% once you put something in writing. America is a big, diverse place. It's easy to get people to support big, vague ideas. Getting them to support actual specific solutions is where it gets really, really hard.
Don't read too much into soft numbers. 54% of America supports OWS's right to protest, and general feelings that Wall Street and Washington are too tight. The Tea Party, for example, would say cut spending, cut taxes, and shrink government. They don't have 54% approval, but they have a focused minority that effects change. Your large numbers are meaningless without goals, and once you put goals into action, that approval will bleed away. That's not a bad thing, because the Tea Party has shown that an aggressive faction can be very successful.
OWS needs to evolve if it plans to be more than a carnival sideshow, is the point I'm making. Just hanging out in the street isn't an end to itself. After a while, if there's no forward momentum, people will get bored and tune out. It's getting time to pick a direction, before it's picked for you.
You make some convincing points. So far the osw movement has been growing rapidly. And that's a good sign. Despite the attempts from some of the media to show the protesters as a bunch of lunatics, more and more protests are being organised. Over 50% of Americans voted for Obama, and their thirst for change has not been quenched. But it will be delicate task to turn these protests into concrete demands and results.
I agree with SteelWolf. OWS needs something in writing. OWS has done a great job getting the people's attention, now that they're listening give them something to hear. What changes do you want made and how do you want them to happen? It's time to be more practical.
As I understand all that I have read, #OWS sounds like they want to supplant the existing Gov't. Are they serious, this isn't Egypt! Help me understand that isn't the goal!
Honestly,General Assembly would do a better job than our present government at running this country. At least they understand what dialogue means.
Perhaps this is true, but in reality, maybe a "smaller bite" of the apple and we go from there. I have read posters that are ready to set up war crime tribunals for those who opposed the ows movement (after they take over the government, of course). When I hear this nonsensical talk, I laugh. Unfortunately, this kind of crazy talk delegitimizes the movement.
They want a change, and are willing to work toward a better world. It may require a new system of government (perhaps something as small as changing away from the FPtP voting system, perhaps something as large as changing to a new form of government), it may well require a change of economic model (but probably not: Capitalism has it's issues but if it has the balance of a government that support it's peoples, it still functions...).
We'll find out when we get there, and we'll not do so as a small group or a single protest, but as a nation of people.
You are correct that the passage of time can dim things if we don't handle it correctly.
I'm not as certain that a written plan is necessary.
Most of this country is dissatisfied about the way things are going. There's a ton of stuff that everybody can agree is wrong.
The way the right wing and their monied masters (Koch and company) do this is they use single-issue politics to divide us and make us forget our many similarities. They trick people into voting against themselves.
A case in point is the way they abuse the Christian right-to-life issue. They tell them that the Republicans are the party that is against abortion. They milk them for votes. When they (Republicans) controlled every branch of government, did they end abortion? No.
So they tricked some earnest, good-hearted people into voting for the party that lied to a nation in order to foment a war that would kill about 5,000 Americans and wound another 30,000, while killing hundreds of thousands of men women and children of another country. They did this by promising to save untold numbers of unborns.
We need to educate about the politics of division and the multitudes of similarity we have. Our similarities are greater than our differences.
What we need to do is keep getting the message about what is wrong that we can all agree on.
Right. I remember speaker Boehner yelling "Where are the jobs?" But he votes against every jobs plan that comes up. Left onhis own, he and his group won't even talk about jobs.
Everybody talks nice about jobs but they can't do anything.
They also said they would create jobs, and they haven't done that yet, either.
This is a good example of what I mean about needing specific solutions to be written down. In your effort to be inclusive, you wrote something that sort of agreed with me, followed by a point that could easily be inverted to apply to Democrat voters instead of Republicans, followed by a vague statement about educating people.
In other words, if you want to be pleasantly inclusive, without giving me any reason to think that you have a plan to fix what's wrong, then 'mission accomplished'.
It's not enough to dismiss your opponents as brainwashed, or to appeal to their sense of universal unity. I don't in principle disagree that Wall Street has too much influence over Washington (or vice versa), but agreeing that there is a problem isn't the same as agreeing about the solutions. A bad plan is better than no plan.
Say what you will about the Democrats and Republicans, but at least they are in the arena, fighting for ground and pushing their agendas forward. I know what OWS is against. What are they for? You can only sit in protest against abstract ideas for so long. People want solutions. Either you have them, or you don't. If you do, then show the world. If you don't, the world will figure it out soon enough.
I don't think it's about being pleasantly inclusive so much as it is about achieving a sufficient consensus to get results. It's about majority rule instead of rule by a few elite aristocrats, and that takes widespread consensus, not an easy accomplishment by any means.
In order to create a plan to fix what's wrong, it's necessary to first identify and agree on exactly what is wrong. The devil is in the details, but those details can only be arrived at by examining them from the top down, moving from the general to the specific. If we can't agree on the general, how can we agree on the specific? Right now, the only thing everyone agrees on is that the status quo sucks. The conflicts begin immediately as soon as you start talking about why it sucks, and that's not even getting into specifics yet.
The divisive tactics used by today's politicians make arriving at that consensus next to impossible.
You stated "The Tea Party, for example, would say cut spending, cut taxes, and shrink government. They don't have 54% approval, but they have a focused minority that effects change." The Tea party has not only a focused minority that uses aggressive tactics, they also have massive funding, being that they represent the 1%. This allows for spreading slick propaganda via Madison Avenue that's swallowed wholesale by a significant number, if not quite 54%.
We need to reverse that. We need to win over the more rational independents from Tea party support. We need to gain a majority.
You stated "It's easy to get people to support big, vague ideas." No it's not. Just mention "big government" versus "small government", and watch the feathers fly. When someone says "I'm against big government", just ask them if we should have a strong military. The Tea partiers and their supporters will confidently scream "Yes!" Now just remind them "Well guess what? That's big Government!", and watch the look of shock on there faces.
You stated "A bad plan is better than no plan." A bad plan can prove to be devastating, even with the best of intentions. We have to be careful with this. Remember, Reagan had a bad plan, he called it "supply side economics". Look where that got us.
“TOCSFAE” IS TOXIC TO THE BANKERS
From the beginning when our country was formed we face many challenges and many opposing views
Just like today however, the peoples voices have been silence by special interest groups as well as the over whelming power grab by the bankers. Your demands/petitions will never be heard or taken seriously unless lobbyist/corporate have bless it for greedy reasons or eventually Co-Opt it. so keeping a hard core is essential.
It is time for a fair hearing!
Whether you have protested at the gas pump or you are an Occupier give our protest the teeth it needs beyond the gas pump and over the protest lines.
Wouldn’t it be worth your time to know there is a petition list worth signing that binds all Occupiers together.
Wouldn’t it be great if you can be heard, fairly and equally?
This is were the step plan an ever growing list known as “TOCSFAE” can help. These step plans, enhances your concerns.
This petition will be a notification to congress of things yet to come and to properly prepare.
As of January 2012 we the people
We will not take the abuse anymore and neither should they walk around with there heads in the sand.
We will begin the process of phase one
Your petition will go to congress, informing them you support The “TOCS FAE” plan and so should they, by making preparations for receiving and forwarding income Tax mail. Your petition will also go to the top corporations letting them know of our intentions and they too should support and act on the doctrine by sending their taxes directly to congress. They should also be informed if our demands are not met, protests will be under way the likes they have never seen.
After this is achieved and we have broken the back of a few select Corporations we will move on to Step1 Taxes which may take months or years
Step1) Send your TAXES to a trusted congressman or congresswoman which maybe hard to find in your state. Make a Petition with your neighbors. Phone, email, fax your congress your list and intentions. Prepare your taxes, made out to the I.R.S check and envelope, and a stamp. Fit it in inside of a bigger envelope, onto which you should write congress address, preferably your state congress.
Example
Washington, DC 203 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone Number: (202) 225-2831
Have congress unwrap the envelopes, state you want your taxes to be mailed to the I.R.S
If you are asking yourself, what will this achieve first it can be used as a bargain chip however, congress cannot spend it or over take the fed reserve and banks system over night, nonetheless this will indeed give teeth/meat, back to congress. You should include a sign return receipt so as to show proof you paid your taxes.
If you are interested in expressing this message to Occupy General assembly feel free to do so.
Tom, no ill meant, you might want someone to look at the text of your petition, it could do with some spellchecking, improved grammar?
It is not my petition
I agree with your first two paragraphs completely, and not a word past that.
As far as that goes, I think you'll all make wonderful libertarians someday, and I look forward to agreeing to disagree with you as a matter of policy. ;-)
I listen to a lot of right wing and left wing arguments. "The left is funded by Soros! The right is funded by Koch brothers! Astroturf! Paid agitators!" You're mirror images, right down the line. Fact is, both sides aren't happy because they want the other beaten into submission, using big government as their stick.
If you want the government to stop peddling influence, cut off their supply. If #OWS takes that path, they'll be hacking at the root of evil, not at the leaves, and might actually accomplish something. Otherwise, you're just asking to swap one style of aristocrats for another.
"I listen to a lot of right wing and left wing arguments. "The left is funded by Soros! The right is funded by Koch brothers! Astroturf! Paid agitators!" You're mirror images, right down the line. Fact is, both sides aren't happy because they want the other beaten into submission, using big government as their stick. " I'm not interested in beating anyone into submission. I just want to stop being beaten into submission!!!
"If you want the government to stop peddling influence, cut off their supply. If #OWS takes that path, they'll be hacking at the root of evil, not at the leaves, and might actually accomplish something. Otherwise, you're just asking to swap one style of aristocrats for another." Please clarify, elaborate a bit if necessary.
Sure thing.
It's human nature to want to control others by force. Social conservatives have religious views they want used as laws. Liberals have idealistic views they want used as laws. The idea of what is moral and virtuous differs greatly between left and right, but their methods are the same. Take control of the government and force others to do what's best for society (in their opinion).
It's for exactly this reason that the Founding Fathers designed a government that wasn't a direct democracy or a dictatorship. They didn't want political parties. They wanted citizen legislators. They didn't want big standing armies. They wanted local militias. Jefferson went so far as to say that "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."
Precisely for the problems we are having now, they were for limited central government and grassroots or local solutions to almost all problems. When the central government has too much power, it becomes a target to be fought over by people who want to remake the world. A weapon to smite your enemies. A treasure box to reward your friends. Not a service to help the people, but a crown to rule them with. People lose hope in themselves and focus on symbols and Big Leaders who promise Big Things.
The left and the right have their own moralities, but rather than agree to disagree, they seek to crush the other with the weight of government. The game itself means that to play is to be bought off. Republicans and Democrats are both bought and paid for. They have to be. They both believe in using the power of the State against Individuals Who Do Not Conform on the other side and in the middle. That's expensive work, and they both rake in cash from monied interest by the tens of millions.
They have influence to sell, and ideals to push. The system practically corrupts itself as soon as you touch it.
So long as we have the Big State, we will have power hungry aristocrats eager to run it, to keep all the rest of us in line. The Founders had it right. Responsible discord is better than forced unity. The enforcers will always turn into crooks and thugs, no matter how noble their intentions.
The further we stray from the Founder's ideals, the smaller and more oppressed all we'll become. It doesn't have to be like this. If we can find it in ourselves to let our neighbors be different than we wish, both at home and abroad, and let ourselves be equal before the law, then we can live modest, peaceful lives. If not, we'll continue to become more deeply factionalized, more distant, more bitter, until violence is the only resolution.
Power corrupts, and our government has far, far too much of it.
You're singing the Tea Party's song here.
That particular tune predates the Tea Party by quite some time. It's a harsh sound to people that dream of forcing others to bend to their will. Neither the far right or the far left loves the sound of "live and let live", because it means giving people the right to be wrong. Zealots on either side hate the song of peaceful coexistence more than they hate each other.
Hopefully, we return to those roots, and just let each other be. The other paths are dividing the nation deeply. Tearing us apart. Leading us to war.
Very well said SteelWolf
I don't see that the single issue stuff applies to the Dems. For the majority of people, the majority of things the right stands for is just against their best interests. I've observed other single-issue ploys from GOP and friends.
Here are a couple of examples of things that should resonate with the 99%. Consider each one developed into a 30 or 60 second spot.
Warren Buffet should not pay less in taxes than his secretary. What kind of country does that?
No man should be considered for government office, much less the presidency when he believes: "If you don't have a good job and you're not rich, blame yourself." In today's world?? That man could learn much from a "working poor" single parent with two jobs. Whose version of truth do you believe?
We need a public option for health care and congress should have the same one. Why should the congress get a better plan? Why should we have no choice but to deal with companies that have a goal of maximizing profit rather than quality of care for the money?
The most important of all: 85% of the people wanted a public option in health care. They didn't get it. 75% of the people wanted government to pass the debt ceiling and get back to jobs as the issue. Congress did not, pushing the debt ceiling negotiation to the 11th hour when under the previous president the debt ceiling was routinely passed many times. Congress still cannot do anything about jobs. Who does this congress represent? Not the American people. The money that is spent to buy elections renders both political parties null and void. It doesn't matter who wins, the money corrupts. It is time to reform campaign funding and remove the lobbyists.
These are things that most Americans would agree with, given a decent presentation.
How is it done? I'm not sure. Just like those guys back in the 1770's weren't sure. They wanted to be remain citizens and have their rights as they were guaranteed. "Taxation without representation is tyranny." They didn't know that they were going to fight a war for independence. They just got together around a few ideas like being forced to pay tax and forced to quarter troops, and then there was the issue about freedom of the press...was it Zender? (I forget it's been a while.) A bunch of stuff...anyway, do you get my drift?
Right now we want our government to be responsive and it isn't. We are talking about it among ourselves. We will not be silenced and we want to grow our movement because it afffects most of the country.
A few years ago there was an infamous report leaked to the press. It was from CitiGroup.
http://www.box.net/shared/9if6v2hr9h
They feared we may want a more equitable share of the wealth. They felt that the only real threat was that the 99% vote. Please note that there are efforts under way right now to impinge on the voting of the poor.
We must band together first, then apply our shared power, before the 1% takes it from us. We must reject their rules. If we need a new party, so be it. Time will tell.
First off, I appreciate your civil and well spoken responses.
I could write a small book in response to your post, but let me give you the synopsis. The left and the right both feel that their opponents are beholden to special interests, and that they vote against their own interests. It's an easy point to make, no matter what side you're on.
As a libertarian, looking at the left and right from a different perspective, I can say that voting in your own interest isn't always in your interest. Electorates have been voting themselves bread and circuses for as long as there have been elections. It's easy to argue why this is bad from the outside vantage of history, but it's also obvious why contemporary voters would find it attractive, even feel it was in their interest to do so.
The Founders didn't believe in direct democracy for this reason, and neither do I. Giving people whatever they want because a majority of them want it is easy to rationalize to a chanting crowd, but it's suicidal as a form of government.
The truth is often unpopular. Here's an example. As someone who started off making four figures and now makes six, I understand being a 'have' and I understand being a 'have not'. I wasn't ashamed to scrub bathrooms then, and I'm not ashamed to have money now. Sometimes, on your way up to a good job, you need to take some bad ones. As far as that goes, Herman Cain's point was undiplomatic, but accurate. No one in this life is going to make you rich but you. If you aren't happy with your lot, dream big, and claw your way up.
The path up for any man or woman isn't what the 54% or 85% or 23% wants. It's what you as an individual are willing to plan, sweat and bleed for. That's a hard truth, but public opinion will never change it. It's an ugly truth, but if you want to succeed, you have to learn to love it.
I only raise these points to illustrate something basic. This conversation started about distrusting the influence Wall Street has over Washington, and vice versa. You and I agree on that strongly. It's a bad thing. We are the 54%.
Now that you and I have laid some more cards down, it turns out we probably don't agree on much else.
On a personal level, I don't mind that one bit. I'm a live and let live libertarian, and I'm happy to be disagreed with. I suppose my fear is that if your movement looks at me and people like me as the problem to correct instead of the model to emulate, I deeply worry about what your eventual solutions will be. There's something that's not being said here that's speaking loudly.
Our system is flawed, but there are worse ones out there. There's an idealistic vein in me that is not unsympathetic to your overall goals, but the devil's in the details. Like it or not, I know what the Democrats, the Republicans and the Tea Party are selling. I'm not yet sure what #OWS is selling. I know what your marketing literature says, but I'm still waiting to see your product.
Anyway, thanks for your time. I suppose time will tell where this is all leading.
Actually, rulers learned early on that giving the masses bread and circuses was a great way to diffuse discontent and control them. The Caesers did it frequently. I am in no great rush to embrace your diagnsis of anosognosia.
I understand why the founders wanted a Republic also. Yet when I look at the way things are being conducted "in the wild" the fact is that the right has been dumbing down political discourse and rabble-rousing as a part of its strategy to cause voters to go against their own interests.
Birthers, tea partyers comparing Obama to Hitler, "He pals around with terrorists." "Death panels" and now this new one...guillotines: "They are only interested in destruction. That leads to gas chambers. That leads to guillotines." Then there's Rush mocking a disabled boy who received a grant for solving his health problems. It goes on and on every day. This is pandering to the very element that the founding fathers did not want calling the shots.
The fact is that this is seeking to remove enlightened discourse from the process, because actually, what they are selling could never win on merit when reviewed by sensible people in the cold light of day.
So then, on the left we see a lot of cheerleading and promise making, and then the squanderng of a majority--the refusal to accept a mandate.
This is not merely the republic at work; it is a cynical and dishonest abuse of the public from which legitimate power stems. So I guess it is fair to say we do not see the two parties the same way.
Frequently people who are opposed to OWS or are detractors of it tell me that they earn well and they have worked hard to get where they are. I believe it. I congratulate it. I do not begrudge them what they have. The fact remains that they are fortunate! SUCH GOOD FORTUNE IS NOT THE NORM! Twenty percent of the children in the United states live in poverty! There are more poor children in America than there are people in your state (unless you live in NY, CA, TX or FL).
Do not be so quick to believe that the lack of success that others suffer from is due to a lack of hard work and sacrifice. For some that is all there is. The 99% do the majority of the sweating and bleeding in this country and for too little return on investment.
Herman Cain's point is indefensible because so many people are poor through no fault of their own and despite their heroic efforts. If you can't see that, then for all the patina of fair and open-minded discussion, you are not being honest. You are right that no one will make you rich; you must do it yourself. However if you think that path is open to everyone and therefore their failure to achieve is their fault, then you must be the most out of touch person in the world (excepting of course, Herman Cain :^) I know you are more intelligent than that.
I don't begrudge you your success. I am concerned because the politicians that speak for you are all on board with taxing an unemployment check---yes they do that--but can't give up the tax break for running a private jet! The only way you can get them to talk about removing the tax loopholes is by increasing the taxes on the poor and middle class, who are suffering now, and decreasing taxes on the well-to-do, who are not suffering now. On the face of it that is obscene. If that is who you are, then perhaps you should worry. I do not think that is who you are. SO then speak up. I don't hear the outcry when these people say things that put you in a bad light. Your voice and intellect are welcome here.
Most of us are fighting the plutonomy at some level
( http://www.box.net/shared/9if6v2hr9h )
because it is the destruction of our government. We want representative government not what we have now. That means we want big money out of politics now, so our government can fuction as originally intended. We are going to get the vote out while we still have it.
Thank you for your stimulating comments. We need them to make America a better place.
Wonderful perspective from the ground. Very inspiring.
Awesome.
prettier than pretty! Awesome truly
Awesome!
Beautiful!
Great stuff!!