The talking heads on T.V. cannot seem to embrace the fact that this protest, the Occupying going on all around America, has no specific agenda. It appears that, somehow, they have missed the point.
This movement is a Populist Movement. A Populist Movement is defined as, ‘political ideas and activities that are intended to represent ordinary people’s needs and wishes’.
This is the bottom 99% of America saying that we have the need, to stop being treated as disposable, by our government and big corporations, and we wish to see that change. We have decided that the problems within our country can ultimately be traced to a few, specific entities, within our society. Namely, the lack of regulation on capitalism by those we have put in office to represent all Americans, which has led to out-of-control greed and the near-destruction of our country.
Greed does not follow one line of thought, it affects all things it touches, and at this time, it is touching far too many different aspects of American society. The lack of regulation in the food industry has led to torture of animals within our processing plants, monopolization of our soy industry, massive debt within our farming communities and the use of pesticides and antibiotics that is dangerous to consumers. This is all made possible through lobbying, campaign contributions and the unethical marriage of politics and industry.
The lack of regulation in our banking industry has led to dishonest practices within our mortgage industry, massive rate hikes in our credit card industry, lack of loans to our small businesses, record bonuses to CEO’s using our taxpayer bailout money and ridiculous fees within our banking industry. This is all possible through lobbying, campaign contributions and the unethical marriage of politics and industry.
The lack of regulation in our oil industry has led to skyrocketing gas prices, record profits for oil companies, lack of safety regulations for our oil drillers and the constant attempt to keep America dependent on fossil fuels while destroying any real chance clean energy options. This is all possible through lobbying, campaign contributions and the unethical marriage of politics and industry.
Are you seeing a pattern?
Nevertheless, when you go on television and cry that this movement has no real basis in reality, because we are unable to provide you with a clear and concise point for you to deem false, make fun of or poke holes in, that is not a failure on our part, it is a lack of understanding on yours. What you are seeing on the streets of America, it is called ANGER, pure and simple.
Do you remember the classic movie Network? What was it he screamed at the television camera, sparking people all over the city to throw open their windows and shout into the night air?
I’M MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!
Now you can try to pretend that each of those street-shouters was shouting about the same thing, but you and I both know that each of them was actually screaming against their own battle. Not able to afford medication that is priced too high for profits, not being able to pay rent that is priced too high for profit, not being able to pay for food that is priced too high for profits, not being able to send their kids to a decent school, because those are priced too high for profit.
Every one of those people were screaming about different things, but they were all actually screaming about the same thing, simply, that the greed in this country is killing it’s populace. They were shouting that things have to change.
So here we are, by the thousands and the hundreds of thousands and soon to be the millions, who are marching for healthcare, safe water, better food, foreclosures, animal cruelty, poverty, low wages and whatever else we know to be wrongfully happening around us. It is a march against what we see, that capitalism has turned to the greed of power and money, and we have a government that is unable (or unwilling) to put a stop to how it is destroying its own citizens.
Therefore, when you mock the protest, call it disorganized and without a specific want, need or demand, you are only showing your lack of understanding in something that is beyond what you have seen in America up until now. What you are seeing is the population of your country finally realizing what We the People…can also mean. Today it means a massive group of citizens is saying to those they put into office, we do not think you are capable of making the decisions that are best for those who put you there. So here we are, to let you know, you are going to have to do your damn job better than the way you have been doing it.
Therefore, we march. We are not here to make speeches and campaign promises that we never plan on keeping, which is the way you do it and that does not seem to work. So instead, we are here to create a ruckus, to demand things change and to point fingers where they need to point.
We aren’t asking that you politicians step up and do the job we’ve been asking you to do for decades, we aren’t demanding that the barons of Wall Street sit down and ask themselves, ‘is this the way my momma brought me up to act?’. Instead, what we are doing, is telling you that we are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore.
I also find it curious that none of you tried to ‘figure out’ what the big corporations were doing with their greed. None of you sat on your Sunday morning shows and asked; what does corporate America hope to achieve with their destruction of the middle class? What drives them? What is their demand? You just accepted it as just the way things are.
We are no longer willing to accept it as just the way things are.
And if you seriously willing to mock a large (and growing) portion of your society, that is so angry at the way their country is heading, that they are willing to sit out in the cold and risk being pepper-sprayed or arrested, you don’t really understand what is happening out here on the streets of America.
And if you keep wanting to pretend this gathering somehow doesn’t have any value because they have not put their demands into a neat, little box that you can deconstruct and analyze, then you don’t really understand what Freedom of Speech actually means. We are mad and things need to change. It is that simple. Now get to work.
@Chris
I’ll address some of these, even though I understand I am taking the bait. The original article is a bit naive, but then again, so are you, Chris.
“We live in a center-right country. This is a decidedly leftist movement, so essentially a little more than half the country disagrees with them.”
Begging the question. Economically center-right? Maybe. Socially center-right? That really depends. What regions? What age groups? what voter participation percentage? Also, which version of the left and the right?
“Who is treating them as disposable?”
Technically, no one. Businesses can’t GET big (or officials elected) by OPENLY treating customers and constituents as LITERALLY disposable, but free markets are remarkable easy to subvert, once they have enough resources. Simply change the rules of the game by throwing resources in the right directions. Win “friends”, influence people. Continue to pay lip service to “customers”, “competition” and “compliance” while happily colluding and changing the law to make it easier for yourself to win with the least effort. Eventually, customers/constituents are less important, and NEARLY disposable, because they can’t/won’t/don’t know how to go anywhere else.
“Who is greedy? When makes you get to declare when the intentions of an entrepreneur’s heart are greedy or humanitarian?”
Since we are allowing your romantic notion of “human” business, it’s easy: judge their actions. When a business does something that is not necessary and proper to continue operations, clearly takes (or does not increase) real or potential value from the customer, and only increases its own advantage or profits in the marketplace, it is greedy. One can assume the “heart of an entrepreneur” meant to do it.
Now, in the real world, large businesses are composed of people. The most important people are the shareholders. They care most about increasing their own value (often measured by stock price), which increases revenue and profits. These increases allow a business to remain in operation and improve. When this works, and it very often does, they invest in pleasing customers and competing well, but many have discovered there are much easier ways to win. See previous.
“Are you kidding? We literally have thousands upon thousands of pages of regulations…”
I’m not. The problem with the regulations in place is that they are clearly not doing their job: preventing abuse of the people, marketplace and government. Many of them were ineffective in the first place, others have been weakened. Also, a lot of enforcement of what we have is crap.
This has led to companies in some industries having few taxes to pay, and/or few rules they REALLY have to follow. So we need to solve that problem. Some regulations should be tossed out; others should be strengthened, expanded, or reinstated. Many are attempting to solve problems that no longer exist.
Still, all businesses and individuals that can afford to pay them should pony up a fair share of taxes vs. profit. That’s FAIR. Entities should not be allowed to ABUSE public resources and public money. That’s FAIR. Entities with large resources should not be burdened unreasonably just because they have them. That’s ALSO FAIR. Government money collected in taxes should be invested in securing opportunity for people willing to work and risk for it, and in securing our infrastructure so that these workers and risk-takers can build upon it. Literally everyone can profit this way.
“This is very short-sighted.”
And again, so are you. You are only looking at small or growing businesses and simple economic impacts. You are ignoring entrenched entities that have the power to direct markets. Please don’t pretend that price-fixing, lockouts and collusion only exist in the government and not in the free-market.
“And if the people of this movement conducted themselves like the Tea Party…”
Then all of the conspiracy theories about Occupy Together would become instantly true, because it would be dominated by a few old and some newly entrenched interests. Populist movements are rarely united, except on a few broad issues. If they focus on some cute soundbites, it’s easier to co-opt the movement and turn it into someone’s political platform. In its current form, it remains free while sacrificing apparent broad focus.
“Blah blah OBAAAAMMAAAA Blah blah”
Yes, it is wrong to solely blame the Democratic or Republican parties for this mess. Hell, we’ve got 30 years of good, bad, and ugly economic decisions to blame. They are spread among 2 Democratic administrations, 3 Republican administrations, and 16 Congresses.
Occupy Together are loosely organized groups of people frustrated with OUR government and OUR free market failing US in critical ways, some of which are noted throughout this post. They can only share so much common ground with any one political unit because they are populist, and therefore are composed of a lot of VERY DIFFERENT people. Still, in aggregate they are right. Individually? Who knows.
“If the people of this movement conducted themselves like the Tea Pary, they wouldn’t be at risk of arrest or pepper-spraying.”
By ‘like the Tea Party’, are you referring to the racism, the ignorance or the mispelled signs? The lack of understanding that the ORIGINAL Tea Party was a group of people who were tired of being taxed by a government that didn’t give them representation (of which our TPers seem to misunderstand that they were not being taxed, nor are they ‘not represented’ by their government’. Or are you referring to the fact that when Occupy says 99% they mean 99% of ALL Americans…when the Tea Party says 99%, they are referring to the fact that their fake, grassroots movement is encompassing ALL of Americans, when we all know that it is actually 99% white and 99% conservative.
Sorry, after that bit of logic on your part, I really can’t take anything else you say seriously on here. If they were more like the Tea Party…HA! Good one. Cheers!
“This is the bottom 99% of America … ”
How does this movement represent the bottom 99%? We live in a center-right country. This is a decidedly leftist movement, so essentially a little more than half the country disagrees with them.
” … saying that we have the need to stop being treated as disposable, by our government and big corporations, and we wish to see that change.”
Who is treating them as disposable? What big corporations got big by treating their customers as disposable? What politicians–liberal or conservative–got to be in power by treating their constituents as disposable?
“We have decided that the problems within our country can ultimately be traced to a few, specific entities, within our society. Namely, the lack of regulation on capitalism …”
Are you kidding? We literally have thousands upon thousands of pages of regulations on businesses and corporate interests. The vast majority of public programs are funded by tax revenues that are taken out of incomes made possible by corporations and businesses. If these businesses are continually burdened by even heavier taxation and regulation, what will that do to their productivity? What will it do to their employment numbers? What will that do to income tax revenue? What will that do to the social programs you are probably so supportive of?
” … by those we have put in office to represent all Americans which has led to out-of-control greed and the near-destruction of our country.”
Who is greedy? When makes you get to declare when the intentions of an entrepreneur’s heart are greedy or humanitarian?
“Not able to afford medication that is priced too high for profits, not being able to pay rent that is priced too high for profit, not being able to pay for food that is priced too high for profits, not being able to send their kids to a decent school, because those are priced too high for profit.”
This is very short-sighted. You’re acting as if businesses can charge whatever price they want in the greedy, disgusting pursuit of wealth. Why doesn’t McDonald’s charge $400 for a hamburger? Why doesn’t Apple charge $10,000 for a laptop? Why doesn’t a landlord in Santa Monica charge $20,000 a month for a studio apartment? Easy–because they wouldn’t get it. Businesses ONLY become successful by 1) offering a desired product or service and 2) offering it at a reasonable price. If there is no profit to be had, why go into business to begin with?
And if the people of this movement conducted themselves like the Tea Party, they wouldn’t be at risk of arrest or pepper-spraying.
So you know what? BE mad as hell, but at least aim your anger at the right people. Remember that big $780 billion bailout? The one that was supposed to be for shovel-ready jobs, but really just went to all the banks? Not ONE SINGLE REPUBLICAN in the House voted for it, and only THREE moderates voted for it in the Senate.
And there’s Obama, using the movement into his little pawn so he can frame himself as a man of the people, nevermind the fact that no president in HISTORY has taken more Wall Street money in campaigning.
So quit the rhetoric. If you don’t start focusing on a message that actually makes sense, you’re not going to win any more followers, nor will you deserve any.