Forum Post: Wall Street Thanks The Politically Disaffected
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 29, 2011, 8:37 a.m. EST by aahpat
(1407)
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As long as you stay disengaged from the real politic of America you reduce the potential of the 62.2% of Americans, who voted in 2008, will be able to put responsible honest Americans in Congress and the White House.
OWS needs to confront politicians NOW, going into the primaries, with an OWS agenda:
Reinstating Glass-Steagall,
Ending corporate corruption of politics and
Campaign finance reform in the form of an amendment to overturn Citizen's United.
These are explosive issues with all Americans. If OWS flash action groups confront candidates for congress and make them express a position for or against it will have a major impact on how ALL Americans see these politicians.
We can make change happen NOW!
Flash action for winning in 2012:
Pass out voter registration forms at all OWS activities. Just the act of being politically engaged will make more politicians take OWS seriously.
Plan Flash actions of all primary political events by ALL congressional candidates from both parties crafted to get them to state a position on the three issues stated above.
If the politicians don't hear it from us they won't hear it from anyone!
All we have to do is continue to mic-check them - with the message of campaign finance reform, or whatever other initiative we want. If the initiative is popular, and the candidate is mic-checked with it, two things will happen:
In this way we do not ask the candidate for his or her position, we hand them their position. The trick is in getting follow through after election.
Voter registration is a great idea - you are absolutely right, the establishment will take note. We should also absolutely encourage voter participation with other measures beyond simple registration - we need to follow up, and maintain positive reinforcement for participating.
so . . . aahpat . . . when did you embrace our process of subversion?
Any action that is so assertive that it overshadows the issues becomes counter productive.
A slightly different tactic from mic check would be to have 10-20% of an audience at a town hall of a candidate be OWS and when it comes time to ask questions have each one individually get us and ask the same issue questions in different forms. Really nail down the politicians. Cheer or jeer as appropriate to their answers.
And carry voter registration forms everywhere. All the time. OWS activating politically scares the establishment more than anything on this planet.
I was suggesting an assertiveness that highlights the issues, overshadowing the politician, it's a question of focus . . .
but you may be right, in that within repelican or right leaning districts the media focus may turn to us rather than the message, in an attempt to create and capitalize on fear.
This too, can work to our advantage.
I have no problem with the media turning us into the issue for a moment as long as we stay focused on using that to turn them back to the real issues. Shaming the media for their personality cult distractions is very effective politics.
the utility of predictable behavior may be endless . . .