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Forum Post: Its time for OWS to have a core unified message: Get OUTSIDE MONEY OUT of our POLITICAL SYSTEM

Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 15, 2011, 2:03 p.m. EST by Endgame (535)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

I want to start out by saying that it was brilliant that the Occupy movement began with no singular message. It began with a wide variety of factually backed up complaints. Occupy has managed to completely change the discussion in politics and in the media which is a great achievement. But I think its time for Occupy to evolve or risk having the movement hijacked and momentum crushed.

The most consistent and most important demand of Occupy is that we should get the money out of our politics and end the corrupt bribery system that has long infested our politics and in turn our democracy. 94% of all elections are determined by the candidate with the most money in their campaigns. No real choices anymore only the illusion of choice. Its time that this becomes THE core message of the Occupy movement.

I want to make it clear that I am not saying that we should stop talking about all of the other important demands coming out of this movement. But I do believe that to achieve all of these things (healthcare reform, financial reform, education reform;both in quality and cost, etc etc) we HAVE to get the outside money out of our politics so that we can have these debates based on the facts and only then will we be able to fix these serious issues.

So to all of the Occupiers, why not continue to be vocal about the changes you want but put it all under the unified message of getting the outside money out of politics? Its all tied together. Fix the core or the problem and everything else will begin to work properly.

9 Comments

9 Comments


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[-] 1 points by psconway (106) from Brooklyn, NY 12 years ago

Totally agree. The money in politics is THE KEY ISSUE.

Check out my little draft proposal here: http://www.nycga.net/groups/political-and-electoral-reform/docs/proposed-constitutional-amendment-on-election-reform

[-] 1 points by Endgame (535) 12 years ago

I fear that OWS might be squandering their chances now by not taking the most important message that ties all of their complaints together and using that one powerful message to get their point across and making it impossible for the media to mischaracterize and belittle the movement.

Now that Occupy is not only national but worldwide its a MUST that this becomes more focused. Getting money out should be the unified message.

OWS, DO NOT LET YOUR WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY RUN OUT. A UNIFIED MESSAGE OF ENDING THE POLITICAL BRIBERY IS NEEDED NOW!

[-] 1 points by Silica (51) from Suisun City, CA 12 years ago

Agreed. It's time to really start driving this point home.

[-] 1 points by CafPop (45) from Rochester, NY 12 years ago

This is the most important step to take to get money out of politics: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57323527/congress-trading-stock-on-inside-information/?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

Make it so congress members can't buy and sell individual stocks and require them to make investments only using Blind Trusts. Fix this, and you'll fix everything else naturally.

[-] 1 points by deweybueno (25) from Grass Valley, CA 12 years ago

The movement will continue but we must outsmart the money. There is an auction coming up and reality is that we could end up with the likes of Grover Norquist, Koch Bros, and friends controlling the white House and Congress. This is a corrupt system but our system. I ask wouldn't it be better for one to make an effort to clean our house and prepare to move forward to create a forum to be heard and force change.. Bottom line is while all politicians have been working in a corrupt system for years I think there may be a few who want to attack the immediate and dangerous fact that the GOP this auction cycle is contained by the financial bullies. I support moving into the future, however we can not allow the financial bullies all gov positions to corrupt. We must also work within the current system and get the money out of politics. Is it not agreeable that Money is not the equivalent to speech? A very basic problem that needs a constitutional amendment. I ask why that very issue is not being attacked while moving forward. That alone would make a change. Further why are we allowing Congress to make their own laws which apply to themselves? The very fact they can make inside trades hedging for profit on trades set up to fail suggests Wall Street is running the country while the tax payers money is paying the salaries of those who are in congress for profit only. There are many ways to move forward but change will take time. I ask for a movement to attack a very important issue that would induce a break in this by demanding a amendment to the constitution that removes the ruling that money is equal to speech. A victory that could set forward motion in the long run.

[-] 1 points by unfleecedbysheep (153) 12 years ago

That has actually been the message from the beginning. Rightfully so. Your expression is correct.

[-] 1 points by bensdad (8977) 12 years ago

Meet us - Nov 16 6PM 60 Wall St - RESTORE DEMOCRACY
We have a large number of great, well thought out, COMPLICATED ideas that will require a huge amount of "selling" and “explanation" and will garner GREAT OPPOSITION.
We need to be realistic & pick an issue that is simple – and that is popular -
that 83% of Americans already agree on -
that 76% of Republicans already agree on -
that 56% of TP already agree on -
that will bring together the people in OWS with the people outside of OWS.
Everybody wins!

Our only goal should be to pass a constitutional amendment to counter Supreme Court decisions Citizens United (2010) & Buckley v. Valeo (1976), that enable unlimited amounts of anonymous money to flood into our political system.
“Corporations and organizations are not a persons & have no personhood rights”
and
“money is not free speech”.

We don’t have to explain or persuade people to accept our position – we have to persuade them to ACT based on their own position. Pursuing this goal will prove to the world that we, at OWS, are a serious realistic Movement, with serious realistic goals. Achieving this goal will make virtually every other goal – jobs, taxes, infrastructure, Medicare – much easier to achieve –
by disarming our greatest enemy – GREED.


THE SUCCESS STORY OF THE AMENDING PROCESS The Prohibition movement started as a disjointed effort by conservative teetotalers who thought the consumption of alcohol was immoral. They ransacked saloons and garnered press coverage here and there for a few years. Then they began to gain support from the liberals because many considered alcohol partially responsible for spousal and child abuse, among other social ills. This odd alliance, after many years of failing to influence change consistently across jurisdictions, decided to concentrate on one issue nationally—a constitutional amendment. They pressured all politicians on every level to sign a pledge to support the amendment. Any who did not, they defeated easily at the ballot box since they controlled a huge number of liberal, and conservative and independent swing votes in every election. By being a single-issue constituency attacking from all sides of the political spectrum, they very quickly amassed enough votes (2/3) to pass the amendment in Congress. And, within just 17 months, they were successful in getting ¾ of the state legislatures to ratify the constitutional amendment into law. (Others were ratified even faster: Eight —took less than a year. The 26th, granting 18-year-olds the right to vote, took just 99 days.)


If they could tie the left and right into a success -
If Ohio won. If Arizona won. If Maine won. If Mississippi won - WHY CAN'T WE ??????????


I feel that we should stay with this simple text to overturn CU:
”corporations are not people” and “money is not free speech”
for four simple reasons and one – not so simple:
1
83% of Americans have already opposed CU in the ABC/Washington post poll and the above
IS THEIR POSITION ALREADY.
2
We don’t have to work to convince people on the validity of our position.
3
Simple is almost always better.
4
This simple Amendment is REQUIRED to overturn CU.
And all other electoral reform can be passed through the normal legislative process.

5
OWS and these pages are chock full of ( mostly ) excellent ideas to improve our country.
All of them have strong advocates – and some have strong opposition.
None of them has been “pre-approved” by 83% of Americans !
Pursuing this goal – without additional specifics is exactly what Americans want.
What do we want? Look at that almost endless list of demands – goals - aims.
Tax the rich. End the Fed. Jobs for all, Medicare for all. So easy to state! Can you imagine how hard it would be to formulate a “sales pitch” for any of these to convince your Republican friends to vote for any of them?
83% of Americans have ALREADY “voted” against CU. And 76% of the Rs did too.
All we have to do ask Americans is to pressure their representatives – by letters - emails – petitions.

Wanna take your family on vacation?
Convince your 7 year old to go to Mt Rushmore.
Then try to convince her to go to Disneyland.
Prioritizing this goal will introduce us to the world – not as a bunch of hippie radical anarchist socialist commie rabblerousers – but as a responsible, mature movement that is fighting for what America wants.


Ohio won. Arizona won. Maine won. Mississippi won -
I feel that using their tactics, and the tactics of the NRA, the AARP an the TP – who all represent a minority – who have successfully used their voting power to achieve their minority goals - plus the Prohibition Amendment tactics – bringing all sides together - is a straight path for us to success that cannot fail to enable us to create and complete one MAJORITY task. Read more: http://bit.ly/vK2pGI

[-] 0 points by Endgame (535) 12 years ago

Wouldn't surprise me if somehow money played a part in the judges decision tonight...

[-] 0 points by LNAB73 (82) from Oklahoma City, OK 12 years ago

I agree... all non-human U.S. CITIZEN money should be banned from ALL elements of our political system, direct and indirect, including outside fund raising or advertising-incl issues. Add to that a PERMANENT BAN on ANY MONEY, PERKS OR OTHER things of value, real or intrinsic, from being given to any elected gov't official or gov't employee on penalty of imprisonment. THAT should solve about 99% of the problem with our corrupt gov't and their entitled owners.