Forum Post: Getting Serious about the Next steps

After doing a little research and contemplating on this some myself, I think there are some key aspects that Occupy Wall Street could focus in on. I'm not an active protestor, nor have I ever been, but this particular protest (which is what it is at the moment, not a movement. but that’s another topic altogether) has got me wanting to take part somehow. This type of protest is what starts the bigger, longer-term actions that are what is needed for actual change. So where does actual change start? It starts with the money. Therefore it is our (the 99%) job to approach the 1% with ideas for solutions rather than a pissing contest. So it is necessary for this protest to define itself in order for it to turn into the movement that it could become and our country so desperately needs.

Here are a couple suggestions for some goals for Occupy:

1) Campaign finance reform. Close the loopholes and stop-letting money control what Congress pays attention to. This is the heart of the issue at hand. Everything that has happened is a symptom of what some may call a corrupt system of campaign finances. If this root cause is not addressed the current symptoms may find a short-term solution, but the underlying disease will remain and resurface.

2) The education system. Rebuilding the public school system from the ground up. In today’s modern technologically advanced society our education system is in the Stone Age. Our children are falling further and further behind the children of the rest of the world in science and math. Science and math are the driving force behind the US and World economy. It is the fuzzy math of bankers and investors that allowed sub-prime mortgages and credit default swaps to exist in the first place. If more people were better educated in science and math, more people would have seen the errors of the system, and recognized that there was a problem. And more non-bankers would have known that the deal they were getting on their house really was “too good to be true.”

We need to revamp the public schools with heavy use of technology. The schools need to recognize that all children don’t learn in the same way or have the same strengths. Teachers and schools need to be taught how and given the tools to create individualized curriculum for each child. In this way our schools can teach to the child’s strengths. Next, there needs to be a system to track the successes and the failures of what is being implemented. If something or someone is not able to meet the standards that are set, then that thing or that person needs to go. Next the teachers’ unions need to give up tenure. It costs too much money and breeds complacency. Without tenure every teacher would have to be better. They would have to want it, and continue to want it everyday until they don’t anymore. And in this way, teachers could be paid more, a lot more.

By taking on campaign finance and the education system, the Occupy protest will focus itself and will be able to turn into the Movement that it has the potential to be. It won’t be easy, but if we are serious about change then we need a focused approach, and need not try to bite off too much to handle with one movement. Keep the message simple and people are more likely to get behind your cause. If the masses understand what they are fighting for, they are more likely to get others involved and put more of their own money behind it. Think about it this way. The 1% may have more wealth than the 99% spread over all their interest group, but if the 99% can gather all their wealth behind 2 issues that could ultimately resolve all the other problems as we see them, then our collective wealth could win out. We have to look big picture. In order to change the way things are, we have to play by the current rules, and then we can change the rules from the inside.