Forum Post: You can do it if you do it right!

I am the 99%. I am 48, worked my way through college, did all the right things to get ahead. I have been downsized, outsourced, and bankrupted out of career positions repeatedly and I now work in a tech support call center at barely more than minimum wage. I am one emergency away from bankruptcy. At my age, nobody wants to hire me despite my management experience and strong IT background.

The right likes to spew nonsense about how the poor, the involuntarily unemployed, union members, etc. are lazy, of poor character, etc. That there are some who fit that description cannot be denied, but to judge an entire group by the actions of one is a suspect classification. We cannot allow ourselves to sink to that level.

Don't hate or protest the rich. FDR was rich, JFK was rich, Senator Edward Kennedy was rich, and Warren Buffet is rich. Not all rich people are evil because a few are. Protest the pulling up of the ladders on the rest of us! That is what most of us 99% are feeling and there will be no end to support if that is your message. The game has been rigged against us for over thirty years, and I am all about this movement! I have a mortgage to pay so camping out in a park is not really an option for me. Therefore; I want to share some things with those who can to help make it work.

Non-violent is a good start but it's not enough. When you occupy whatever, wear your Sunday Best. I remember the Vietnam protests; it was easy to ignore "long-haired, Hippy freaks." It was harder to dismiss people in suits and "normal" haircuts when they protested!

When you are arrested, don't fight and don't protest, be as nice as possible to the cops. The cops are also the 99% but they have families to support and a job to do. It is better to demonstrate that you are protesting for them, rather than against them.

Don't break laws, report those who do, and maintain a clean and orderly environment. Remember, you represent millions of regular people like me, who will support you, so long as you speak for us. We are regular, mainstream, working people. We are not revolutionaries, we do not have extreme positions left or right; we don't have time for that. We have bills to pay, kids to support, etc. If you start speaking for extremists, you will find your support evaporate as the Tea Party did.

Thanks