Forum Post: How to make a difference
Posted 12 years ago on June 12, 2012, 1:19 a.m. EST by sirgreenranger
(1)
from Rockford, IL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I was having an argument about Occupy with my father, he claims that we aren't making a difference, and I was telling him about everything you guys have done, and he did bring up a good point: We don't want a leader, I love that, but what he suggested is well, do what the TEA party did and that is to try to elect some people into offices through our votes. We can change things from the inside as well as the outside if we did this, we are the 99%. One thing is that if we elected some people, they don't have to stop listening to us! They could attend GA's and still listen to everyone while casting their votes for this system and slowly change it to help everyone. What are your thoughts?
Well I was thinking more along the lines of possibly winning some minor spots and slowly taking over parts of the government both state and federal, and using that to amplify our voices and get the message across to more people and especially the ones in power. If we put up people who will keep listening to us then we might have a chance.
If OWS actually made suggestions that the majority of the population could support (and at least in 2011, the majority did not want the government to create jobs through government spending) then it could just have the Democratic party adopt those suggestions.
Both major political parties try to cater to the majority of the population. But as I have pointed out on these forums, unemployment is the most important issue in the US today but OWS doesn't have a plan for jobs.
So, fixing unemployment and inequality (and basically all other major goals of OWS, like reducing the influence of corporations in politics) could be done by encouraging the Democratic party to take up the accelerated work week as part of its platform.
Without a plan for jobs, it's very true that OWS isn't making a difference. Though it is possible that OWS may have changed attitudes toward wealth redistribution or at least the idea that "we need more rich people for the economy to grow!" (http://www.gallup.com/poll/147881/americans-divided-taxing-rich-redistribute-wealth.aspx)