Forum Post: Open Letter to the President

Dear Mr. President,

Apparently sometime after being elected president or perhaps long before you declared your candidacy you realized that real change in America can no longer be achieved through the ballot box. It is clear now that process has been corrupted, controlled and manipulated by the 1% that own and control this country. Many of us suspected that to be the case but we didn’t want to accept it. We held onto a thread of hope that the will of the people might become the law of the land. You realized that it was absolutely necessary to completely dash that hope before we could move forward and begin to affect real change. You campaigned as though you understood our frustrations, fears and desire for a better more equitable America. You promised to bring us change we could believe in. We flocked to you. We elected a bold decisive leader. You became a weak cowardly politician. Brilliant!! Had you fought for legitimate health care reform, had you attempted to bring a few Wall Street crooks to justice, not escalated and extended our misadventure in Afghanistan, had you forced the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share, had you closed Guantanamo as promised, had you done almost anything you promised, we likely would have remained docile, detached and complacent.
Yes Mr. President it is you, perhaps more than anyone, that is responsible for encouraging people to take to the streets While history will quite likely dismiss you as another Wall Street lackey, you are a hero. It is you that provided the catalyst for Occupy Wall Street. Thank you for inspiring change we can believe in and helping us to realize how to achieve it.