Forum Post: Voice, Purpose, Leaders

The 99 Percent: Inarticulate, uncoordinated, and leaderless. As the 99 percent, you do not matter. Sure, the media likes you, and the various politicians will use you as a talking point, some people might even parrot your slogans to get elected, but at the end of the day you won’t change anything. You can’t. Now, the notion held by the movement is that you can’t make this change because you don’t have the money, and the money is the power. This notion isn’t completely wrong, money, when applied in the right place at the right time, can grease the wheels of power. Lobbying is an honored American tradition in acknowledgement of this fact. But, it’s not the root of your irrelevance. Money is only a tool, and it only makes a change when used in the proper way. To use your money properly, to really get the wheels of power turning, you need to have three things: a voice, a purpose, and a leader. You have none of these things, and until you get them, you will remain meaningless.

Voice Right now, you are inarticulate. That’s not to say you can’t speak, you certainly have proven that you can make a lot of noise when you want to. The problem is that you don’t have ONE voice, one thing that you all want to say to the world. You have no demands, you have no plans, you have not even fully articulated your grievances. The 1 percent? They have a very loud, very booming, and very unified voice. That is one of the reasons that they have more power than you. They are able to speak up, and to tell their leaders what exactly it is they want. Now, I get it. The 99 Percent are, by definition, a large bunch. This bunch is made up of all sorts, and it’s hard to pin down any one point to agree upon. Well, that’s just tough. Until the movement is able to articulate itself, it will always be drowned out by the unified voice of the 1 percent. I could tell you what my demands would be, maybe someday I will, but for now you need to think about what is important to you, what you want to see done, and then start talking about it. Talk with each other, figure out what you all want, and then start talking together.

Purpose A voice is not enough. Saying something is one thing, and doing it is another. You need to have a purpose guiding your voice, otherwise you’re just shouting into a gale. A purpose is not some amorphous thing. A purpose is not what you have right now. Occupying Wall Street, rallying against corruption and unregulated capitalism, and protesting around the clock... these things are nice, important even, but they are not a purpose. You need a viable and structured plan of action for each issue you plan to address. You cannot just say what you would like to happen, and expect it to get done, you need to craft solutions to the problems you see. Start drafting possible legislation that effectively deals with the problems you see, send it to your representatives, let them know that this is what you want, and that this is the best way you can think of to handle it. The 1 percent has been doing this for years, and it has served them well.

Leadership The 99 percent is a crowd, and crowds are great at certain things. Crowds get the attention of the media, they hold some nice protests, and they certainly capture the moral force of any problem to which they apply themselves. Crowds are not as good at accomplishing specific goals. It’s a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. This is where leaders come in. Leaders can focus the will of a crowd, they can utilize their skill sets to do things that a crowd cannot. Leaders can be the people sitting at the table negotiating, the people with the eloquence necessary to articulate demands, and can be the people with the knowledge needed to crack the more difficult problems. You need to find them. 99 percent of you are out there, and amongst you are the people who have the gumption necessary to lead this movement, to tighten it up, to make it into a well-oiled machine of change. The 1 percent has always had leaders to focus its will, to articulate its goals, to plot out its plans, and it’s why they are the 1 percent.

The 99 percent need to get their act together. I don’t say this to be mean, by my calculation I am part of the 99 percent, so that would be self-mutilation on my part. I say this because this movement is the first real chance for change this country has had in a long time. It is important, so goddamn important, and I hate to see it flounder about without the tools necessary for its survival and success.
I doubt I’m the first person to say this, or the last, and I know I’m not the most eloquent. But I needed to say it, because it is one of the only shots I may get to matter. I am the 99 percent, let's start to matter.