Forum Post: Fairism
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 23, 2011, 8:59 p.m. EST by honeychild53
(0)
from Grand Junction, MI
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
We have pursued economic policies now for a generation, they only benefit the richest people in the country. With the hopes that if the rich people do better somehow everybody will do better, it doesn’t work. When the middle class is strengthened, when we change our tax code to benefit the people who work for a living, people in the middle of the economic spectrum do better and even rich people do better. Its not socialism its fairism.
Hey, honeychild. Like your message. But as I see it, OWS goes much deeper than changing the tax code. For that matter, who are we addressing when we demand that the tax code and such other inequities be changed? It surely is of no interest to our elected representatives or the corporate elite from whom they get their marching orders. In my mind, OWS is about dethroning corporations and their owners, in favor of a new, democratic people's movement that determines how we produce our goods and services and how they are distributed on a fair and equitable basis. Oops! Maybe that is what they call socialism… But if it is it sounds a lot more interesting than just watching the 1% pile up their fortunes and snub all the rest of us.
I have no problem with people making lots and lots of money - as long as they don't subvert our democracy and disenfranchise the American voter in the process. The influence needs to go back to who the founding fathers intended - the people (some "wealth redistribution" will happen automatically as the rich and powerful are no longer able to twist the laws in their favor).
For the sake our our children and future generations of Americans, we need to take back our democracy from the rich and powerful who are using their vast sums of money to "speak" as if they represent millions of Americans. They are twisting our laws and manipulating our policies in their favor at the expense of the average American. The $50 or $100 a normal American may give to a political campaign becomes meaningless when corporations or other special interests are handing our millions to buy political access to the decision making process. Here's my 2 cents on what we need to do:
For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Don't get distracted by the symptoms - we need to address the root cause. Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!