Forum Post: Occupy Wall Street joining forces with Tea Party
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 19, 2011, 2:08 p.m. EST by MissKate
(0)
from Arcata, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I'm curious, has the movement considered inviting Tea Party members into the fold by opening dialogue and finding common ground? Imagine how powerful our movement could be if we brought seemingly polar-opposite ideologies together as one force. I'd like to hear thoughts on this
I agree. But the way this works is that we are an open movement. They are welcome to join any of the 100+ demonstrations going on.
Along with their Koch brothers money????
Sure, ask them to join, and give them good reasons to join. Anything that will open their minds. Taking the money out of politics should be something they would also be interested in. Like us, we only want to elect people by popular vote, not whoever can raise the most money. Tax payer funded elections are the only way.
They should join.
The primary issue is non-partisan. Until we can make any reform or set a direction for this country - we have to be represented by our government again. Right now they serve the wrong masters and have sold out the American populous.
The problem is that people are skewing the origins of the OWS movement into a "fair" movement. What's fair. What's right. Diminishing their strength with unrealistic rhetoric.
It's unfortunate.
The tea party absolutely positively will not acknowledge the heavy concentration of wealth under any circumstances. They are die hard blood thirsty winner take all capitalists.
We have been mislead by Reagan, Bush Sr, Clinton, Bush Jr, Obama, and nearly every other public figure. Economic growth, job creation, and actual prosperity are not necessarily a package deal. In fact, the first two are horribly misunderstood. Economic growth/loss (GDP) is little more than a measure of wealth changing hands. A transfer of currency from one party to another. The rate at which it is traded. This was up until mid ’07′ however, has never been a measure of actual prosperity. Neither has job creation. The phrase itself has been thrown around so often, and in such a generic political manner, that it has come to mean nothing. Of course, we need to have certain things done for the benefit of society as a whole. We need farmers, builders, manufacturers, transporters, teachers, cops, firefighters, soldiers, mechanics, sanitation workers, doctors, managers, and visionaries. Their work is vital. I’ll even go out on a limb and say that we need politicians, attorneys, bankers, investors, and entertainers. In order to keep them productive, we must provide reasonable incentives. We need to compensate each by a fair measure for their actual contributions to society. We need to provide a reasonable scale of income opportunity for every independent adult, every provider, and share responsibility for those who have a legitimate need for aid. In order to achieve and sustain this, we must also address the cost of living and the distribution of wealth. Here, we have failed miserably. The majority have already lost their home equity, their financial security, and their relative buying power. The middle class have actually lost much of their ability to make ends meet, re-pay loans, pay taxes, and support their own economy. The lower class have gone nearly bankrupt. In all, its a multi-trillion dollar loss taken over about 30 years. Millions are under the impression that we need to create more jobs simply to provide more opportunity. as if that would solve the problem. It won’t. Not by a longshot. Jobs don’t necessarily create wealth. In fact, they almost never do. For the mostpart, they only transfer wealth from one party to another. A gain here. A loss there. Appreciation in one community. Depreciation in another. In order to create net wealth, you must harvest a new resource or make more efficient use of one. Either way you must have a reliable and ethical system in place to distribute that newly created wealth in order to benefit society as a whole and prevent a lagging downside. The ‘free market’ just doesn’t cut it. Its a farce. Many of the jobs created are nothing but filler. The promises empty. Sure, unemployment reached an all-time low under Bush. GDP reached an all-time high. But those are both shallow and misleading indicators. In order to gauge actual prosperity, you must consider the economy in human terms. As of ’08′ the average American was working more hours than the previous generation with far less equity to show for it. Consumer debt, forclosure, and bankruptcy were also at all-time highs. As of ’08′, every major American city was riddled with depressed communities, neglected neighborhoods, failing infrastructures, lost revenue, and gang activity. All of this has coincided with massive economic growth and job creation. Meanwhile, the rich have been getting richer and richer and richer even after taxes. Our nation’s wealth has been concentrated. Again, this represents a multi-trillion dollar loss taken by the majority. Its an absolute deal breaker. Bottom line: With or without economic growth or job creation, you must have a system in place to prevent too much wealth from being concentrated at the top. Unfortunately, we don’t. Our economy has become nothing but a giant game of Monopoly. The richest one percent already own nearly 1/2 of all United States wealth. More than double their share before Reagan took office. Still, they want more. They absolutely will not stop. Now, our society as a whole is in serious jeapordy. Greed kills.
George Soros would never allow this. Neither would his funded sponsors here like Moveon, adwatch and the SEIU union thungs would be pissed off also.
At this point, many of the OWS movement would say that Tea Partiers are not welcome. I think that we need to talk with a group of individuals who clearly also has qualms with how things are going if the movement wants to accomplish anything. But, OWS is also non-political. Personally, I say that Tea Partiers are welcome, but only as non-political affiliates who wish to support the movement with their ideas. I agree with you though. One thing this movement needs is more belief in an underlying unification. I have seen much more dissent and hatred the last few days than organizing and unifying. Not that I mean to speak ill of the movement. I just think that at this stage, there are a lot of opinions running around....