Forum Post: Formulating The Message
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 16, 2011, 3:43 a.m. EST by sassure
(7)
from Salem, MA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Even as the movement is gaining momentum, many on the outside are still shrugging their shoulders and asking, "But what do they want? What is their message?" If we can answer this question effectively, much of the apathy on the outside may turn into empathy.....
The starting point of the message must be this: Government has taken great pains to relieve the distress of banks and corporations, while doing precious little for the 99% of the people who are struggling financially, who can't find jobs, who can't get out of debt, who can't escape the harrassment of the taxman. It's time for the government to end the misery of the majority and invest in the future happiness of the coming generations of workers and citizens.
Getting money out of politics is the best place to start. I feel there should be a complete ban on lobbying and preferably a Constitutional ban. I also personally feel that people should not be able to fund campaigns or PACs and that all elections should be funded through a public trust or fund. That does bring up some big first amendment issues though so a possibly compromise to that would be there needs to be complete transparency of where the money comes from. There would be an argument of right to privacy but for government to work there has to be complete transparency and you cannot have both. Corporations are not people and therefor should have no place in politics. If the People feel the government is being unfair to a corporation/business then they can vote to change it. I also feel that elected officials should not be paid or given benefits anymore than they need and never have them exceed the median wage/benefits of who they are representing. If they have enough income/benefits from their private lives then they do not receive any income/benefits. Being a public official/representative should honorable and should not be looked at as being a job or career. Along with taking money out of politics, the penalties for corruption and lying need to be more strict. Possibly even more important to government working than transparency is trust. Officials cannot be left in office if they are found to break the public trust whether by corruption, purposely lying, or spreading false information. The private sector should also not be allowed to spread false information which again may bring up first amendment issues but the first amendment should never protect attempts to mislead and misinform the public. I think that's what I have for now...
OWS NOW MORE THAN EVER NEEDS A UNIFIED CORE MESSAGE OR IT WILL FAIL. GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS.
Getting outside money out of politics is the main message that ties ALL of the legitimate complaints and demands of the Occupy movement. It is time for Occupy to have a core message or risk missing their window to exact real change.
Deal with the core issue then all other issues will be able to be solved. But until we change the bribery system of our political system nothing will change.
If it is anything other than naked socialism run amok we'd love to hear about it! Frankly, when I talk to people on the street that's all they can come up with from the disparate ramblings of seemingly crazy people. Maybe the "message" should have been formulated about 2 months ago.
The 1% is naked capitalism run amok. OWS is simply a CRY for socialism, where the State provides work for all, where exploitation of man by man is abolished, where total liberty of women around the world is protected, where war as a policy of the State is abolish, where freedom of conscience is protected, where accumulation of great wealth by profiteers is outlawed. OWS maybe chaotic. Still, it is a CRY for a Socialism.
Sounds like the cry of stupidity to me. If you think socialism does anything to solve that list of ills supposedly caused by capitalism, you need more help than we can provide.