Forum Post: goal for Occupy Wall Street

The goal of occupy wall street

The goal of occupy wall street should be to demand that the heads of all large corporations and financial institutions, the 1%, enter a dialogue with the people from whom they benefit, from the 99%. They will have to acknowledge that at this rate their financial motivations and the consequences are no longer compatible with providing the opportunity of the American Dream - Opportunity - to all Americans. They will have to change their financial models from those that result in a disparate inequality to one that incorporates the elevation of America and all of its citizens. They must acknowledge that the freedom to prosper should not impose on another Americans ability to prosper or that the ability to prosper comes at the expense of other Americans.

This can not be forced by regulations and legislation. The goal of OWS should not be to pass laws because that does not get rid of the culture of greed that has been bred in America and which feeds the 1%. It must come from the free will of the majority. No one should be prevented from making billions, but if that person does so while their fellow americans are impoverished, homeless and desperate then they must realize that their goal is no longer compatible with the growth of America and it should be through social consciousness and morality that they no longer peruse this goal. It is not the ideals of America to profit at the expense of other Americans, for the 1% of the country to financially cannibalize the remainder.

Organizing and holding signs is a start. Asking politicians, who all have jobs and whose motivations must always be questioned, will be useless. The 99% must use their presence to demonstrate their ability to respond to grievances, just as Unions do, through initiating strikes. The 99% should pick a financial institution or a large corporation and use their mass action to strike on that entity. One Entity must be chosen to demonstrate if this is possible. The problem, which will have to be discussed, is what happens to the workers within that target that represent the 99%. Is this an acceptable consequence of establishing a fundamental change in America.

Why does a fundamental change have to occur this way? We are all reacting to corporations and financial institutions, but what or who is that. Is there really a single or a small group of people at the top of these corporations who wields this power? No. Sure there are people at the top who appear more guilty, but they didn't get there by forcing the enormous amount of people underneath of them to carry out their diabolic plan. They simply took the leadership role in a culture that they were part of. The corporation represents a pressure in America to have more than the next person, to keep up with the Jones', to take while the taken is good and get when the getting is good. This mentality has created the culture and the corporation really represents the collective greed such that one person is not more guilty than the next of excess; however, no one is innocent. Because we are all to blame for either being a part of this or for allowing it to get this far without demonstrating sooner there is no choice than to create a change in our culture through mass action. Laws and regulations don't create morality they attempt to punish for the lack thereof.

If you are upset with corporations then exercise your power against them. We are consumers and they are simply providing the article of consumption to the extent that they see profitable - our demand. We empower them through our consumption and then forget that we are in control.