Forum Post: Democracy Not Plutocracy !!!!
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 7, 2011, 1:52 a.m. EST by judithlj
(10)
from South Bend, IN
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
"Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. The combination of both plutocracy and oligarchy is called plutarchy" (Wikipedia). We are allowed redress of the government, but they can ignore this by not putting it on the calendar. We could try an overthrow of the government in a way the spirit of the second amendment intended. Except last time I looked my neighbor doesn't have a tank and I don't have an F15 parked out back. What we can do is peaceful demonstration. It worked in the 60's ask your parents and grandparents and then ask them why they forgot! Ask them why they became so complacent and seemed to wallow in the idea of consumption and fail to teach their children what the fight was about. They were the generation that wanted to get back to nature and treat each other like humans but somewhere along the way they traded that idea for the notion that what counts is what you can put under the Christmas tree. Middle class was comfortable not too rich not too poor - just right. This is not just the young crowds fight. 99% includes the baby boomers and they need to be as out spoken as these young people.
"it worked in the 60's? ask your parents and grandparents and then ask them why they forgot?" They didn't forget. The difference between them and you all is that the demonstrations in the 60's had specific, reasonably achievable goals, such as equal-opportunity employment, equal-opportunity home loans, accountability for police brutality, desegregation, etc. What's your mob's SPECIFIC, REASONABLY ACHIEVABLE GOAL?
Obama's job plan is a reasonable goal, universal health care is a reasonable goal, protecting the unions is a reasonable goal, pulling out of two unfunded wars is a reasonable goal, raising the taxes on the 1% is a reasonable goal ect.. The 60's was a race war this is a class war but it is still a fight we need to stand up for. I have lived long enough to be a witness to both, and they are noble fights!
then how come no one has submitted a formal statement to news media to inform the rest of the country what the demands are? the point i'm trying to make is that in the 60s everyone knew what the objective of the demonstrations was, and what steps the protesters wanted taken. i've been skimming these forums for hours now and I still don't know what you all want, other than things to change. Half of you support increasing federal government control, and at the same time others are calling the federal government corrupt and in the pockets of corporations... which would mean that more federal government control would make things worse. The group's arguments are contradictory and confusing to the average joe who just turned on the evening news and wants to know why he can't get around downtown manhattan. that's what im getting at.
the media in the 60's was not bought and paid for. Listen to the Nixon tapes the media drove him crazy. The main reason for the confusion is there are so many problems. We need the EPA and consumer protection, we don't need voting restrictions. It is also about accountability. Liberals want their own voices heard, republicans are sheeple repeating a tag line. The mess is huge and most of the issues are as important as the next.
I'll thank you for not calling me a sheep. And as far as "bought and paid for media," please don't hand me conspiracy theories. I don't buy it. News networks care about ratings. If CNN, for example, had exclusive information regarding the protest's agenda, they would air it, because people would tune in to CNN to find out what's going on.
im just saying that there's no point to a demonstration without a specific, outspoken, clearly defined agenda. And if you don't agree on agendas? Split into different groups. Everyone knew Dr. King's firm yet nonviolent civli disobedience groups had the goal of racial equality, and that the group had clearly defined objectives, and what steps would be taken to accomplish them. The Black Panthers, with the same ultimate goal as Dr. King, had very different interim goals and plans to implement them. The point I'm getting at is I understand you all want change, but without saying "We want x. X can be achieved by doing y. We will do z to get to y and then to x" you're just an angry mob. A peaceful angry mob, but still a disorganized mob.
maybe agenda is the wrong term. ideology, might be better