Forum Post: The Occupation movement is not about redistribution of wealth; it is about a permanent redistribution of power from corporations and government back to the People.
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 1, 2011, 11:46 a.m. EST by catch
(1)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Let me be perfectly clear, the United States of America is a great nation, and anyone who denies this is no friend of the American people. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the nation has been led astray by the greed of corporations and of self-serving politicians. We are awakening to the reality that certain corporate entities and certain politicians have conspired to usurp control of this nation from the People. The People have been deceived, but we cannot allow the borderline treasonous actions of a handful of very powerful individuals to corrupt the ideals upon which this nation was founded.
Our politicians have revealed themselves to be incapable of performing their duty in the interests of the People; therefore, it is the duty of the People to take action, in order to protect those ideals for which our forefathers risked their lives. We have arrived at a critical point in our nation's history, and we must each ask ourselves whether we want the illusion of freedom or the real thing.
If we desire true freedom, we must act quickly, but we must first understand the strategic position at which we now find ourselves. Obviously, we have aligned ourselves against the interests of corporations, which means we have also aligned ourselves against the majority of politicians. We have no political recourse in the current environment for two reasons:
The Occupy movement is not a culturally, economically or politically cohesive group of voters, which means politicians have no need to integrate the demands of the Occupy movement into their campaigns. The 99% is a demographic scattershot of Americans. Therefore, neither Republican nor Democratic politicians will lose an election due to their refusal to acknowledge the issue.
Politicians understand that campaigning is impossible without corporate funding. They will not sacrifice their career goals for the demands of the people.
We understand these things, which is why the movement has supported a Constitutional Convention. However, we cannot rely solely on this outcome, nor should we be so naive as to believe such an outcome would solve the problems facing our nation, to do so would be a tremendous waste of the movement's momentum and the possibilities that it has created for us.
We currently have the means and resources to launch a campaign to create a new political party that more accurately represents the desires of voters. I recently outlined what such a party could look like in 'A Sincere Proposal'. We must remember that if we fail in our efforts to force a Constitutional Convention, and we do not have a 'Plan B', we may not be able to recapture the momentum the movement currently has.
The Occupation movement is not about the redistribution of wealth, as some fear-mongering media outlets would have us believe; it is not solely about the demands which we have made; it is about a permanent redistribution of power from corporations and government back to the people. This is what we are really demanding. As long as our political system does not allow for a viable third party, our politicians will continue to act in their own interests.
We do that by forcing our politicians to pass an amendment to the constitution that fully funds all federal election campaigns, and prohibits the use of private/organizational funds. Take the money out of the dynamic. Because of the first amendment and how it is interpreted by the courts, the only way to do this is to pass a separate amendment. This is the only way I can think of that will pull our government away from the monied interests and back to the people. Let's get to the root of the problem and deal with the "scatter-shot" issues later.
Those my friends are worthy and respectable goals, but if you try to use this organization, whose members or participants have, on countless occasions, demanded all money be eliminated, that all big banks be brought down, that every corporation is evil, that capitalism must be replaced blah blah blah, your words and wisdom will die a sure death like a troll on this aimless site.
<> Which people?? There are over 300 million people in America and no two of them agree on everything and most don't agree on anything. Greed is part of the human condition and the greediest people hide it the best, because it's not a trait of high value among most people. So should we weed out the greedy and give the government back to the people who have the least greed? How do we do that??
ETHICS AND CAPITALISM can co-exist.
http://alchemicalreaction.blogspot.com/2011/10/2011-occupy-america-peoples-official.html
"Inequality has been justified on many grounds..equality has been argued to lead to uniformity and monotony (the rich sponsor the arts and education), redistribution has a musty association with godless communism, and the original Ricardian defense was that the present system was ultimately inevitable, and any attempt to change it would only lead to short-run inefficiency which would make everybody worse off.
This attitude, that some amount of suffering is necessary in the current system, and that any major changes in it would be self-defeating, is what I call Sacrificing to the Volcano God. We have turned economics into a religion, where the mistakes are common, yet the fundamental assumptions it is based on is beyond question. Gaping flaws in logic are ignored, or even held up as unanswerable mysteries that laymen could never understand. When the Volcano God rains ash and lava upon us, it is because we angered the Volcano God with our sins of minimum wage laws, child labor laws, environmental regulations, and worker safety laws. More sacrifices are needed or the Volcano God will destroy us all.
The High Priests of Economics never explain exactly how these sacrifices will fix the economy, nor do they mention that the sins in question might be their own. Yet we still rush to offer up our children's futures through unpayable debts while never considering that there might be better alternatives."
Stop Alienating the 1% - WE NEED THEM. It is the wealthiest corporations that are the enemy, not the Jimmy Buffets and Michael Moores of the world...
We need them like we need the drug cartels.
WE DO NEED the lower 1% BADLY. WE do not need the .001% who are running this whole parade of puppets around the chessboard. This is not about money, or communism. This is about Ethics. ETHICS.
It is about redistribution of wealth..Rothschild,Rockefeller,Bush 1,2 control 500 trillion dollars of hoarded wealth,for generations,by hook and crook,amassed vast fortunes,creating wars and depressions with financial manipulations that would make al capone blush..Seize their assets,charge them with high treason,extortion,bribery,murder,theft of trillions..distribute the wealth to all people,and we will stimulate the economy..
Wow, 500 Trillion. Let me think about this.
1) The US economy is only 13 trillion in its entirety 2) the US debt is 17 Trillion which means we are over 100% in our debt to GDP 3) China only has the equivalent of 1 trillion in reserves (that is money they have in the bank. We have debt, they have cash).
So no, I don't think I will believe you.
We also have to reverse the CEO-favored laws- see: http://fuzzythinker.WebStarts.com/ows-_fighting_points.html
Agreed.
If they won't give our government back, we'll take it back.
OWS has been wakening a sleeping giant.
When Dr.Jonas Salk found the polio cure He said,'There is no patent." "Could you patent the sun?'' What happened to doing good things for the sake of helping mankind?
Malpractice insurance happened.
Is greed really good?
Doctor discovers cure and prevention of AIDS. Sells discovery for $5,000,000,000,000. Same doctor discovers cure and prevention of heart disease. Sells discovery for another $5,000,000,000,000. Same doctor discovers cure and prevention of Alzheimer. Sells discovery for another $1,000,000,000,000. Breast cancer. Brain cancer. Skin cancer. Bone cancer. Colon cancer. Pancreatic cancer. Cervical cancer. Ovarian cancer. Testicular cancer. Banks cover all related investments by the health care industry. Nobody stops to consider that the lower 99 percent combined could never afford such expensive cures. The richest one percent agree to purchase the bulk of material assets along with millions of unsold homes for ten percent of market value. After a two year spike in revenue, the health care industry tanks. The vast majority have gone bankrupt in a desperate attempt to cover those incredibly expensive cures. The profits made in the first two years were nowhere near enough to covering the $20,000,000,000,000 doctor payoff. The largest debts in world history go unpaid. All major banks fail miserably. Followed by every major industry. Unemployment spikes to 90 percent in all of the G20. The global economy tanks. Chaos breaks out worldwide. Meanwhile, the richest man in the world by far, buys an island and hires a small army to protect his $20,000,000,000,000 fortune. 5000 jobs are created. More as the richest one percent worldwide hire additional security. Unemployment drops to 80 percent across the developed world. Widespread chaos remains. Entire cities burn to the ground. The masses finally converge on the richest one percent in every corner of the world. As the bodies pile up, disease breaks out worldwide. When the dust settles, and the bodies rot away, only a few hundred million remain worldwide. Those few hundred million survivors must find a way to get along and rebuild. Hopefully, with a more reliable and ethical system of economics.
The answer is hell no. Greed kills..
As all Christians (or churchgoers) were told: The love of money is the root of all evil. Time to fall out of love, folks.
yeah I remember when we discovered a cure to polio and only gave it to the CEOs. Or was the the entire world...I mix the two up.
Salk was a hero in my book. But that was a different era. Long before greed became the worldwide epidemic it is today. Nothing like that will ever happen again.
Not even with malaria vaccines?
Like, I don't know Bill Gates funding it across the world. I bet HE is the last one ever.
GSK is a partner. They are in it for profit. Gates is in it for PR.
Your point being...
Speak for yourself. I'm here to address the single greatest underlying cause.
The relentless concentration of wealth. It will eventually cause the fall of modern society.
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 politicali 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, sanitationi 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.
Wow, that is a wall of text, if I've ever seen one.
The concentration of wealth is a direct result of the concentration of power. If you don't address the concentration of power, you will never see any change.
I agree Mr. Catch, although I am not convinced a constitutional convention is required, although I am not a lawyer.
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