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Forum Post: Occupy's Message 1.1

Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 26, 2012, 7:16 p.m. EST by jrhirsch (4714) from Sun City, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

"We are individuals aligned with this common purpose, to expose and remove the causes of the unjust disparity of economic and political power in the United States.

We consider those corporations, special interests, and wealthy individuals that unfairly influence our representatives through monetary contributions and other compensation as a grave threat to our Democracy, and the means by which they further increase their unjust and immoral control of our government.

Instead of a government by the people, we say it has become a government by and for the rich and powerful. With the reigns of Democracy stolen from the people, our liberties continue to be eroded, reducing us to servants, while they are free to further impoverish the people by legislation until we become slaves.

We demand that all organized financial influence of government cease, and instead be limited to individuals only on an equal basis, regardless of wealth or power. Only when the reigns of government are taken back into the firm grip of the people, can we again proudly call our nation a Democracy!"

How do we accomplish this task? We have for decades voted out corrupt politicians from government only to have them return with new faces, and new promises, but hiding the same lies. It should be no wonder, since we are asking the corrupt to remove their source of their power, corruption. Asking congress to do this is like asking the mafia to give up their machine guns. Congress has intentionally failed to enable any meaningful reform, and will continue to only if we allow them to.

It will take force directed not through congress, but directly at the source of funds, the corporations, the special interests, and wealthy individuals. The key is to remove the money, the mothers milk that feeds this corruption. The weapon is our wallet, and the bullets our dollars. We must boycott every company, organization, and individual who unfairly influences our government until they end their tyranny.

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[-] 1 points by LSN45 (535) 12 years ago

Well said! Keep your ear to the ground on this - a grass roots movement is growing for a constitutional amendment addressing this.

Here's my 2 cents:

There are a lot of improvements that need to be made. The list of reforms Americans want to see is long and varied depending on who you talk to. That said, I believe there is one reform that would provide the American people the best chances of seeing other meaningful reforms actually happen - that is REAL, loop-hope free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM! I have seen others on this site calling this the "fulcrum" or pivotal issue. Right now the current legalized bribery, pay-to-play system of campaign donations and paid lobbyists has disenfranchised the American voter. Until this is fixed, any other reform the politicians may try to placate us with (be it a change to healthcare, clamping down predatory school loans, new financial regulations, etc.) will be about as effective as a farmer putting a new roof on his CHICKEN COOP, but still letting the FOX guard it.

We need to go back to the original political currency. Instead of the current system of who can collect the most money from corporations and special interests it should be who has the BEST IDEAS to EFFECTIVELY RUN THE COUNTRY (we don't need "Wealth Redistribution," what we need is "Political Influence Redistribution")!

For the sake of our children and future generations of Americans, we need to take back our democracy from the rich and powerful who are using their vast sums of money to "speak" as if they represent millions of Americans. This "Corporate Personhood" that has crept into our laws is allowing them to manipulating our policies in their favor at the expense of the average American (the recent "Citizens United" Supreme Court ruling is a miscarriage of justice and must be reversed. The $50 or $100 a normal American may give to a political campaign becomes meaningless when corporations or other special interests are handing our millions to buy political access to the decision making process.

For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!