Forum Post: Reaching across the aisle.

This is an open letter from an Occupier to those who believe we have nothing in common. Who believe that I am a socialist, communist, leftist, unwashed and unemployed person. I want to make it clear that we are friends, allies, and neighbors. That while on the surface it appears that we have disagreements on what exactly is at issue, I am here to say that our problem is a shared one: The government is restricting our rights as American citizens by violating the Constitution. They propose and pass legislation that was bought and paid for by large, global companies. Our politicians have stopped hearing the pleas of their constituents and started listening to investors, both foreign and domestic. Forsaking an oath to uphold the constitution, our elected representatives’ will break it for a pittance paid by lobbyists who only look after themselves, and not their community or country as a whole. This makes them less a public servant, and more a mercenary. The land of the free has been sold, and our rights have been discarded. We do not get to pick and choose which amendments to respect or allow. Those are inalienable rights as Americans. Then why does our government walk over them? All in the name of “security” and “protection”? But from whom? Our politicians talk of partisanship, and how each side is terrible and it is of no use talking to one another, and our media personalities reinforce this. Each side calls the other crazy and that we the people have nothing in common. I say that if we are all crazy, that that is one thing we have in common. Being an American is another. And a strong mistrust in our government a third. What other commonalties will we find if we simply talk face to face, as opposed to yelling at our televisions? You know that if the media lies about one particular group, isn’t it logical that they would lie about another? Why do they stir up animosity between any group that is critical of the government? It’s almost as if they don’t want us to talk to each other. They create this division on purpose. By distrusting one another, we ask the government to protect us from ourselves. The longer we are at each other’s throats, the more time they have to prepare. We need to get over any insignificant differences and unite under the belief that all men are created equal. By uniting our respective groups, we will no longer be described as a “fringe” movement or a minority opinion. We will be exactly as we are; the people of the United States of America. You’ve seen students getting beat with nightsticks and pepper-sprayed for sitting down and old-women get tear gassed. But this is not Egypt or Libya or even England. This is America, and this type of oppression did not stand 236 years ago, and it will not stand today. We need your help. Ours is a young movement, filled with idealistic people. We are disciplined, and motivated, but we are preyed on by our government and others who seek to take advantage of our plight. There are people in with extremist views who are put on display nationwide in hi-def, to paint a terrible misrepresentation of who we are. This has happened to you as well, and we realize it. We have outreach committees willing to communicate. The Gadsden Flag is flown in our camps to show unity among our groups. We acknowledge the same problems, just from different perspectives. This can be used to great advantage if we work together, but will be the undoing of us all if we continue to fight amongst ourselves and not the common enemy. Let us come together and create the unstoppable force to meet their immovable object.