Forum Post: on VIOLENCE and the movement in its current form

The Occupy movement gets violent in Oakland again. It got violent in NYC, Albany and elsewhere; each time, clashing with other 99'ers (the police and state troopers). 99 vs. 99? really? How does it make any sense to fight with cops instead of going door to door getting signatures on petitions to make changes to tax and finance law? Organizing voters is far more effective (as the tea party proved). Let's wake up. We may be the 99 but we can't support a movement of frustrated immature thugs throwing rocks at union members. It's damaging to the social fabric of the country and counterproductive. As a union member and officer I reject the Occupy movement in it's current form.

And I encourage other union people to realize the disingenuous nature of the current Occupy movement. A real movement for change starts with understanding the root cause of the problem. It’s Apathy! Citizens and voters don’t care. We have relinquised control of the government to the people who have the most to gain or lose; the rich. When was the last time you turned off Survivor or Biggest Loser and wrote to your Congressman about the capital gains tax rate on millionaires? Or used your smart phone to dial his or her office instead of texting your friends? If everyone who spent one hour or more a day watching TV, instead spent 10% of that time demanding changes to the tax code, or CEO pay, then we wouldn’t have radicals in the street throwing rocks at their neighbors. We wouldn’t have lobbyists controlling everything. We would have politicians who feared losing their jobs if they didn’t do the bidding of the 99%. We unfortunately have the government we deserve, because we stopped caring. It’s our fault. We stopped demanding accountbility. We let lobbyists takeover. We need to stop blaming the rich for our failure to practice government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We MUST take responsibility to take our government back!!!

Corporate Boards determine CEO pay and our representatives in Washington determine the capital gains tax rate. Shareholders elect the Board of Directors and voters elect Congress. All sorts of investors, domestic and foreign, hold shares and their ranks are as diverse as the voters of America. So Occupiers, where do you start? That's a tough question to answer. You need to be thoughtful, organized, and communicate effectively. That’s not easy – nothing worth doing is ever easy; but throwing rocks at union represented police officers (part of the oppressed 99%) I'm pretty sure, is NOT the answer. Throwing rocks because you’re mad is easy, but it doesn’t really solve the problem. We need to do this RIGHT!!

It’s gonna take some work. We need to educate ourselves abuot history, economics and politics. Does any Occupier know the incentive structure of CEO pay that maximizes profit, employment, and overall domestic economic growth? Does any Occupier know the tax rate that generates enough revenue for federal expenditures (and maximives production/GDP) while minimizing dead weight loss? You might want to figure it out before you start throwing rocks!