NEW YORK — Anarchist literature and cardboard signs declared a small corner of Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan to be a “class warfare zone.” A handwritten placard warned “bourgeois tourists” to move along.
“Why not just do away with money all together?” asked Patronum Ignis, 25, a bearded bohemian who referred to himself as an “advocate of the peaceful fire.” He believes in class conflict, but recently told the Register that he was also sleeping in a tent at Occupy Wall Street to “love and be loved.”
“Jesus’ love has been paralyzed by the system,” he said.
Less than 30 feet away, Michael Stewart-Isaacs, a well-dressed, self-described entrepreneur comfortable in corporate boardrooms, held a sign plugging his hip-hop community nonprofit. He said he believed Wall Street can be reformed to benefit the common good.
“We want Wall Street to invest money into things that matter, into human beings,” said Stewart-Isaacs, 28, who predicts the decentralized, amorphous Occupy protest movement will develop into a political party and create a new global bill of rights.
“People have felt so undervalued. ... I want to make sure we don’t lose the message,” he said.
Nobody — not even the small central group of organizers trying to frame the movement’s narrative via the Internet — can predict what will ultimately become of Occupy Wall Street, which began in mid-September and has since expanded to more than 950 cities across the United States and internationally to Rome, London and Toronto.
The Occupy movement models itself after the Arab Spring uprisings, but unlike the Middle East protests, there are no organizing principles, such as demands that government leaders step down. Occupy Wall Street has no real leadership, no list of demands, and is incoherent in ideology, other than an overarching theme of attacking corporate greed.
Sacred Space
But Occupy Wall Street is growing, and it is gaining momentum. Declaring themselves to be the “99%,” college students, young professionals, working-class people and retirees are holding flags and marching together. Socialists who envision government control of large sectors of society converse with anarchists. Grandmothers hold signs next to young homeless people. Nearly all races and ethnic groups appear to be represented.
“This movement has roots in American society that run far deeper than any of the labor rights and anti-war protests I have been involved in,” said Mark Bary, 29, a member of Occupy Wall Street’s press team.
“This is the most significant social movement I’ve seen in my young 29 years of life,” he said.
“The people it’s attracting means this is something we will have to keep an eye on,” said Christina Greer, an associate political science professor at Fordham University in New York City.
Greer said Occupy Wall Street is catching on because many people are still struggling three years after the 2008 financial meltdown and are beginning to realize that a small percentage of the population has not been affected.
“People are angry that the vast majority of those who have put this country in its current position have not gone to jail for lining their pockets,” Greer said.
That anger is palpable walking around an Occupy site in any major U.S. city.
At Occupy Boston, located in Dewey Square, a literal stone’s throw from the Federal Reserve Bank Building, anti-capitalist signs calling to “End the Fed” and declaring “Capitalism Is Slavery” dot the small park in Boston’s Financial District. Red socialist flags, complete with images of the late communist revolutionary Che Guevara, are prominent.
An Occupy site is comparable to a small city. People check out books at the library tent and seek out medical attention at the “hospital” tent. Volunteers serve food — free-will donations accepted — in a kitchen area. There is no church, but a tent serves as a “sacred space” where people meditate. The sacred space often has statues of the Buddha, incense and literature extolling New Age spirituality.
Protesters introduce their own pet issues. There is graffiti demanding marijuana’s legalization, as well as calling for an end to fracking, a method of extracting oil and natural gas that critics say harms the environment and poisons drinking water. Anti-war, pro-Palestinian, pro-homosexual-rights signs are ubiquitous. Boston protesters also recently signed a resolution expressing their solidarity with indigenous peoples the world over.
Lack of a Coherent Message?
Libby Glenn, 23, of Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood who had spent a week at Occupy Boston, told the Register that the movement’s greatest strength was its lack of a charismatic leader or central organizing principle.
“We are learning to have conversations together. Everybody has a place here. If we had that dynamic leader, we wouldn’t have as much ownership of the movement as we have. We would lose that,” said Glenn, who studied philosophy, religion and international relations at Boston University. She works in advertising research and said her years volunteering in her Anglican church’s social ministries helped shape her political consciousness.
“The Kingdom of God is among us here,” Glenn said.
“Anybody is welcome here. It’s open to whoever wants to be involved. It’s a broad spectrum of opinions, and I think that’s okay. This is what democracy is,” said Danny Bryck, a 24-year-old theater actor in Boston. Bryck said the Occupy movement has a “manifold, complex” message.
“It’s a little messy, but that’s the give and take of it,” Bryck said.
However, not everyone in the Occupy site believes the decentralized model will work long term.
T.J. Jacobs, 19, who has been residing at Occupy Boston since late September, said the movement needs to focus its demands to produce a list of action items.
“The slogans are not getting us anywhere,” said Jacobs, who added that he is not anti-capitalism. He also called several of his fellow protesters “hypocrites” for shouting someone down at a rally who had proposed presenting a list of written demands to City Hall.
“Nobody runs this. Everybody is in it for themselves,” he said.
The lack of a coherent message could ultimately undo the Occupy Movement, said Ray Nothstine, managing editor of Religion & Liberty at the Acton Institute, a free-market think tank.
“I’m hesitant to say it will bring about any change,” Nothstine said. “You have too many splinter groups. I can understand people are frustrated with the political status quo, and they’re mad about crony capitalism and government bailouts.
“But some of the demands that have been coming out of this movement, like a $20 minimum wage and across the board debt forgiveness, are very Utopian, and they’re really sort of economic disasters, as I would put it. They would create inflationary policies, create more deficit spending, and create more problems that helped to create the mess that we’re in.”
Skeptical That Reform Is Possible
Nothstine said he was not surprised to see labor unions latching on to Occupy protests. He calls the labor movement “partisan,” and warned that the unions’ involvement could sap the Occupy movement’s grassroots energy. He also said the protesters were directing their ire at the wrong target.
“Why is it focused on Wall Street? When I think, really a lot of the blame should be put on the out-of-control federal spending that caused a lot of the problems.”
But Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, an Illinois-based alliance of religious leaders dedicated to advocating for workers, said that Occupy Wall Street provides a “teaching moment” to religious congregations on the issues of social justice and workers’ rights.
“The core issues here are the growing inequality in the nation, the lack of responsiveness to that and the job crisis,” Bobo said.
“There is a growing frustration with what people have witnessed in Congress, which almost had a total meltdown this summer and couldn’t get anything done at all. People are just like ‘What are our options right now?’ We’ve got to get attention from our policymakers on these issues.”
Bobo said the Occupy movement was a “great thing” because it gives voice to the unemployed and underemployed who have been increasingly overlooked and ignored.
“In my opinion, only good can come out of this,” she said.
“Occupy Wall Street will get to a point where President Obama will have to address this and recognize this,” Fordham’s Greer said. “More people are realizing corporate greed damaged the American dream.”
Back at Zuccotti Park, Amber Yoder, 26, of Brooklyn, wore an anti-corporate greed sign. Yoder, a graduate student at Long Island University, said she grew up as a political conservative until the 2008 financial meltdown.
“I’ll be here as long as it takes. ... We’re in it for the long haul. This is just the beginning, the organizational phase of something much bigger,” Yoder said.
Next to her stood Bruce Smith, 49, a former corporate banker who left the industry during the deregulation of the 1980s.
“I’m angry about cronyism and our government being sold off to the highest bidder,” said Smith, a small business owner in Maine who is skeptical that reform is possible.
“We have a government incapable of effecting change,” he said.
Passing through Zuccotti Park, speaking through a din of beating drums, Herb Rogall, an elderly New Jersey man who grew up during the Great Depression, said he empathized with the protesters, though he did not know what would ultimately become of them.
“I think it’s like a hippy movement,” he said. “I wish it could take off, but when the cold weather and the rain come. ... We’ll see.”
Register correspondent Brian Fraga writes from New Bedford, Massachusetts.
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I am for the protests. I hope they will try to be civil and do it in a peaceful and non-violent way (Though I feel the cops are the ones that cause the violence). We need to have people become aware that the corporate way things are being handled in this country is unethical and evil—Plus our govt. is getting too big and they are not listening to the people.
My only problem is this has been going on for a few weeks, yet I am not fully clear on their ajenda and where they stand politically…
I feel that the protesters need to start doing more protests on the steps of the whitehouse and at statehouses. If they are going to protest the rich (and the immoral), they need to start doing these protests at some of these celebrity homes.
We live in a country no longer represented by the people but by the interests of major corporations and the money they use through lobbying to pay off our elected officials. These politicians no longer voice the opinion of the voters who put them in office but instead speak for the special interests which pay them more and more money to turn a blind eye to the destruction of our environment and the extinction of the middle class. How long will the occupations have to last before a SINGLE government official asks what WE the PEOPLE want changed? Visit my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/09/occupywallstreet.html to see my art for the movement and also see videos of the protests and police brutality as well as get other sources for coverage of the movement.
I would be interested to know what my fellow Catholics feel about the American Nazi Party’s endorsement of Occupy Wall Street. For me, it raises red flags about the movement. I hope I’m wrong,and that Occupy Wall Street isn’t the latest attempt to mainstream socialism, Marxism, and communism.
What you WON’T read about these incoherent hippie-fests: “Meanwhile, in a bold stand to truly identify with the 99%, Susan Sarandon has vowed to accept no more that $50,000 in any future movie deals she signs.”
What completely inane, naive Baloney. These protests have no depth, no believability. The Vietnam Anti-War protests had depth, thoughtfulness and intensity… Yes along with a great deal of Baloney.
These protests are semi-transparent plastic, pre-planned/manufactured, the protestors are manipulated, and their message is the carefully scripted destruction of what is left of our Judeo-Christian civilization. I struggle to imagine the conversation between Solzhenitsyn, John Paul II, and Mother Theresa in heaven, regarding current events, without imagining them expressing anger and frustration at our blind stupidity.
The answer is not them, or they… the answer is us. Not more government but less, more personal responsibility, more integrity, more HUMILITY, more hard work, more faith in our fellow man and a great deal more faith in God.
For many years now, my work has brought me into lower Manhattan a few times each month. I have walked through the area several times on my way to and from the office since the protest began. Here’s a few of my personal observations. The crowd is a hodge podge mix ranging from people with legitimate gripes to people who are bascially anarchists. There are many 20 something year old college graduates there who have come to the hard realization that spending $200,000 for a bachelor’s degree in art history does not qualify them for many high paying jobs - and they are angry about it. Condoms have been handed out to the crowd. Colleagues who have stayed late at work report smelling marijuana when walking by the area. I’ve noticed a marked increase in the number of empty liquor bottles littering the streets around the protest. The odor coming from the park is not pleasant. One topless woman was holding a sign saying something like, “Pay attention to what I say, not my breasts.” People are waving Che Guevara and Cuban flags. Per a recent NY Magazine survey, 34 of 100 people in Zuccotti Park think the USA is no better than Al Qaeda. As an active Catholic, I am going to be charitable here and summarize the situation by just saying that you’re not likely to see these folks at Mass on Sunday. I’ll leave it at that.
I think these protesters’ message of “down with corporate greed” is akin to protesting the lack of a cure for breast cancer by carrying signs proclaiming “down with disease.”
Pointless is pointless is pointless.
The media should stop trying to compare the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) demonstrations to the Tea Party or to the Martin Luther King, Jr. civil rights marches. Review the file footage of the 1960’s “anti-war” demonstrations, including the “occupation” of the Columbia and Berkeley campuses, the draft card burning and “blood” tantrums at the Pentagon, the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention debacle, and John Kerry’s “Winter Soldier” sham. You will find that OWS has much more in common with those. The people involved, the organizations behind these demonstrations, the words and actions of the “demonstrators”, the use of phony victims and phony “vets”, the presence of those who are just there for the party, the overall radical socialist tenor of OWS, as well as the air of potential violence all bear a close resemblance to 1960’s demonstrations. They also have the same proclaimed purpose of bringing down the “system”. There is nothing legitimate about these mobs.
They have gathered a realisation of awareness, but then they have to put it into objective presentation. Otherwise they’d be standing outside all day…
The faux “no justice no peace” ex-ACORN community organizers crowd all over again ... hopefully they will not be subsidized by the USCCB this time around:
http://www.lookingattheleft.com/2011/10/occupy-denver/
Scroll down to see the picture of the befuddled Somali Cab driver and see what he has to say; may God bless him in his innocence as he wanders into the Obama Alice in Wonderland Zoo.
This movement is about corporate greed and the income disparity between the rich and the poor….the middle class is losing ground, through no fault of their own. It isn’t socialist to feel that tax rates should be what they were under Reagan or at the very least what they were under Clinton. We’ve been told we can’t raise taxes on the job creators. Well, they’ve had very low taxes for 10 years now, where are the jobs? Job creation isn’t a top down enterprise, it’s a bottom up. Doesn’t matter if your company is GE, Verizon or a small Mom and Pops store. If the middle class and the poor don’t have the money to buy your product, why would you hire more people if the demand isn’t there? Give the middle class and poor more money in their pockets, they’ll buy your product, increased demand will necessitate more hiring. I’m proud of the Occupy Wall Street groups.
The protesters need to GET A JOB!! Who do they think makes the jobs???? It is Wall Street! They are in the wrong place. They need to be at 1600 Pennsylvania and protest in front of Mr. Obama’s house, the man who has led America into the socialism of Europe, which he said he wanted to model America after, and he has. What a mess! If you want socialism, go to Europe, DON’T STAY IN AMERICA….the vast majority of Americans want the America we had!
Floyd Alsbach, you have done your homework. I agree with you 100%.
This movement is planned manufactured by the people who put Obama in office. I pray daily for my country and that more citizen wake up and see what is really happening before it’s to late.
I tell you these people are shooting for a new Calendar memorial day “Day of Rage” or what I like to call ‘Bastille Day part 2’.
The Media likes to compare the OWS to the American Revelution but it’s more like the French Revelution. Both are very different from one another.
while the French may have started with a message of the rights of the peoples, that message quickly got lost in the violence, beheadings via the ‘National Razor’(gullotine), de-Christianization (hacking priest to death if they didn’t take a loyality vow and denouncing their faith, church looting, rape and pillaging). No organization and chaios…
While the violence has escalated, not to this level (yet), it will get out of hand even more since the present administation is using it as an ‘election ploy’ (“we’re on your side”) mantra.
Catholics please steer clear of this…this is not Catholic Social Justice in any shape or form. This is a MOB! This is not a call for the ‘Common Good’. That is a pretense.
If Catholics had the same passion as these protesters abortion would end and the poor and disenfranchised would have work and health care.
The Catholic in name only cockroaches, racist john birchers and the fascist oligarchs have duly noted the discontent… which only magnifies their fear and hatred of the poor.
It goes around and it comes back around! I am sure that you will never read the reprise in the WaPo (Washington Post) of “Resurection City” and what it degenerated to become. New Yorker’s post pretty much summed it up. I believe that the only endpoint, if this movement is successful, will be the gulag for all of those “non-movement” believers, who will be forced to toil for those who would demand all of the free goodies.
The people have a right to protest but they don’t have the right to theft and distruction. They are a clear study of moral relativism…realized! To borrow a phrase… “They couldn’t pour pee out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel.”
As a 14 year old farm kid… I could run every piece of equipment, plant, tend and harvest all of the crops,fruits and nuts; and manage all of the animals (chickens (eggs), goats, bees, horses, and etc.. Most of these people would starve if the grocery store ran out of food. They are totally clueless.
When I went to College, I worked three jobs, took a degree in history (beacuse it fascinated me)and a degree in Chemistry ( because I loved it and to support me and my family to follow). I finished 2 degrees with NO debts in 6 years. I did not have the latest styles, walked or bicycled, could only afford the occasional beer, and did not participate in much of the college “experience” as most others did. I pend time with my family and donate MY free time and $ to the Public good where I choose. We keep a car for 300+K miles and live very much within our means.
I would hazard a guess that these “protestors” could not say the same.
Agree with Floyd ad Lea—I poo poo’d this at first, thinking it would lose gas quickly, but now just find an element of danger to it all - as they morph around protesting nearly “EVERYTHING”. It becomes the “in/hip” thing to do. The synic in me might propel that our current administration enjoys this—as it deflects the dismal performance of “BIG GREEDY GOV” as elections approach. Either way, I support one’s right to protest .... but get greatly concerned when those attack the very roots of what can help us all in the end.
Occupy Wall Street attracts a lot of different causes, because they’ve allowed anyone to join. But their primary concerns are perfectly clear: end the corruption of government by Wall Street, which has resulted in the shift in wealth - from the “99%” - to the 1%.
The richest 10% control 2/3 of America’s net worth. Between 2007-2009, Wall St. profits up 720%, unemployment rate increased 102% (note that’s not the same as 102% unemployed, of course - it’s the increase in RATE), and home equity is down 35%. Is it a coincidence that this income inequality (4th highest in the world, not seen since the 1920s) coincides with suffering poor and middle class people?
We have 1 in 6 children in poverty, millions unemployed and lacking healthcare. Are they all unworthy? Was every person who lost a job “stupid” or lazy? Did every college student choose an unwise major? Do those who can’t buy healthcare deserve what they get? Even if you don’t agree with all the protesters say/do (I don’t), I would say their effort to do something about suffering and inequity is far more Christian than some of the comments here, which seem motivated by pride, anger, and sadly, some dishonesty.
I wonder if people would type the same comments if Jesus were looking.
Oh, He is.
The fact that tiny political parties like the American Nazi Party (does it have even 100 members?) or the American Communist Party (c. 2000 members nationally) try to exploit the Occupy movement by jumping on the bandwagon should be seen as irrelevant. More relevant, I fear, and more disconcerting is the inclusion of the “gay” issue as one of the grievances stated in the NYC Declaration.
Ann, I don’t question the “social inequalities” that seem to exist. At any point in our rather free enterprise history ... this will exist. Today you can say 1%, ten years ago maybe 3% ... are you saying this ratio should be reversed? If not, what is an acceptable figure?
And though I have zero relationship to wall street ... who exactly are we mad at? Is is the brokers? The investors? The Buffets of he world? The Gates? Or just anyone who deems to have more money and power than we do? Heck, I would also advocate a Occupy Hollywood, Occupy NBA.
But I understand that the “rich” don’t take money “away” from others. Wealth isn’t a static element. When it is created (and it is created in many cases .. not just “redistributed”), my 5% gain is still a gain—even if Gates got 90% return. Too many folks thing wealth is finite. In the end, it’s still a better strategy than the alternative.
Now ... is it perfect ... heck no. Does it need adjusting .. heck yea. But I just rather have the market forces to do that rather than my government.
Mr Alsbach pretty much nails it.
If this movement were genuinely against Wall Street corruption and government entanglement, they would be targeting Timothy Geitner, George Soros, Obama and other Democrats. I’m not sure how it has escaped common knowledge that Wall Street is attached at the hip to the DNC and other powerful left-wing figures.
@Ann: You’re too rich for most of the pharisees who’ve dropped their judgments on everything from the people in the part to Resurrection City. For anybody interested enough, Fraga wrote this very biased screed with help from a source in the so-called “free market think tank”...the Acton Institute which accepted $115K from the brothers Koch.
“Free market?” Isn’t that the “guiding philosophy” which led to bipartisan death of Glass-Steagall thus ushering in the rest of the unregulated hedge-funders orgies that eventually crashed Wall Street nearly killed off our entire economy three years ago? I, too, have learned something about the demonstration in Zuccotti Park from a young woman who works and lives in that general area and reported that yes, there are some wooley headed people, but by and large the crowd is NOT comprised of hard-core radicals, or even space shots completely oblivious to how capitalism works. She also reported that they were extremely polite. The person I’m referring to is a very close relative who is not politically engaged but she believes in capitalism.
Contrast this to the very raucous and downright nasty tone of many early Tea Party gatherings several years ago. Anybody remember what happened to a disabled man in Columbus, OH? Ah, he was just kicked and further taunted after he’d been knocked down while engaging in a peaceful counter demonstration two summers ago.
Did those Americanized brownshirts represent the real Tea Party? No. They were thugs, just as the more spacey kids at Zuccotti Park spouting some nonsense Fraga quoted represent the whole Occupy Wall Street movement.
If the biggest critics of OWS want to defuse its growing strength…that’s based in large part because of the wholesale looting of Middle Class America so that a few, a miniscule few could manipulate the economy to create a super financial elite which this nation has never witnessed in decades ... all these snotty suck-up wannabes and their enabling apologists to today’s “economic royalists” ... all they have to do is stop imbibing the Kochaid. Their eyes will have greater focus, their heads will operate more efficiently and (hopefully) their hearts will then take over, thus returning the full humanity the Lord intended for them all along.
@Steve, I visited Resurrection City and remember not only how messy it looked, especially after a very wet weekend, but more importantly, the reasons WHY it existed in the first place and the lessons its loudest opponents never managed to take the time to learn. Such lessons you’ll never find coming out of the Koch-owned “catholic” Acton Insitute. BTW, what did Lord Acton say about corruputon and power? Think about that when you reflect on Citizens United, the wide network of Koch-funded right wing front operations, and the deceitful notion that corporations are just like you and me, “people, my friend” and the more money one has, the more “right” one has to enjoy what used to be truly FREE according to the truly originalist intentions of the Founding Fathers.
The Founding Fathers of the Tea Party, and their suck-up enablers are making damn sure we never forget this. They can’t win on the strength of their ideas. So they have to amass enormous sums to buy what they consider a packagable “truth” and like Goebbels, repeat it over and over through their favorite media outlets, Fox being the tops, so that a benumbed and politically fatigued public just “buys it.”
Oh, yes, I can hear the keys clicking about George Soros. Compared to Dave and Charles Koch, Soros is a piker and a very laid back one at that.
Never mind the Resurrection Cities of yore. If the GOP succeeds in destroying the economy so badly (plus benumbing the public through its campaign of bought talking points and other rubbish/propaganda) the vast majority of Americans will look upon Resurrection City much as many people right now look upon their old homes that they lost and the gated communities where the economic royalists who are living off their ill-gotten gains.
Boy oh boy, if Cantor and his ilk thought the Occupy Wall Street was threatening a week ago, he ain’t seen nothing yet compared to the well-deserved wrath of a public that’s finally awakened to the biggest political scam job and economic coup now in the making thanks to the GOP and it’s friends, the Kochs.
If the recovery effort we’re going through now has been terribly and painfully slow to endure, what does anybody with half a brain think we’ll have to endure if the price of getting Obama out of office will only mean more unemployment and lost homes, personal fortunes, etc.? Oh, more tax cuts for the “job creators”? What jobs, more pilots for private jets to carry the last millionaires out of the country to Switzerland, the Caymans, Singapore and Bermuda?
What kind of hatred drives such thinking? What depths of unpatriotic notions will this new power caste stoop to next?
For every article like Fraga’s above, I hope people will take the time to intersperse their reading with FDR’s famous campaign speech in Madison Square Garden just before he was re-elected in 1936.
Steven, wow. You seem pretty angry. Specifically, what is (are) your proposed solution(s)? What laws should be passed or removed to help fix the problems? I’m sincere. I’m not saying this to be a wise guy. I’m all ears and you have the floor.
Start with Obama’s Job Act that he’s now had to break up in pieces no thanks to the GOP. In fairness the the GOP, it’s not alone, i.e., if one is so willing to naively take the Tea Party at its word that it’s a separate entitity. (Sure, and try explaining that your favorite baseball team doesn’t have a minor league system as well. LOL)
Keeping Obama in the WH is crucial for a lot of obvious reasons. One alone being that if the Hill goes Republican on both sides, he can still jam them up administratively by instructing his cabinet secretaries to make sure whatever the GOP passes moves like molasses in the middle of a deep January freeze.
Of course, the best of all worlds to prevent the GOP and it’s more radicalized and oftime less-controlled TP members, from messing everything up is to make sure they get swamped with so many very inconvenient, yet nevertheless real facts about what they’re really up to well ahead of the election. Why give these guys a free ride till next Fall? After all, they’ve already provided beaucoup reasons why people should avoid them and their scandalously self-centered ideas, etc.
Ex.; recall what I mentioned about the GOP’s plans to make life so miserable for the nation economically speaking” Economic treason. Today the GOP’s top senators are whining about Harry Reid’s assertion that the GOP is conducting what amounts to a “scorched earth strategy.” (My words.) It seems so unreal that a Senate Minority Leader of either party would pull such a stunt. And it is unreal. The Democrats, for all their dismay with Reagan, never wanted to pull the nation down just to get Reagan or even the Bushes out of office if it meant killing the golden goose of private sector. Not once.
For another instance, I found this terribly interesting actual Tea Party website found through http://www.thinkprogress.com about the Tea Party and its role in spiking jobs to help keep Obama out of a second term and in general, Democrats/liberals out of any elective office.
( http://www.teapartynation.com/profiles/blog/show?id=3355873:BlogPost:1566647&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post )This story is as close to a smoking gun, bloody knife, bottle of poison pills—“choose your weapon” (LOL).
Pass a Constitutional Amendment outlawing all forms of outside money flowing into our campaigns from corporations, “super pacs,” and the like. If individuals want to donate, the limit should be no more than a hundred bucks. No more of what Thom Hartmann loves deriding with his saying, “Corporations aren’t people and money isn’t speech.” The Amendment has to be passed to undo Citizens United wherein the Supreme Court did for corporations seeking to dominate politics what pro-Roe advocates sought from the Court 40 years ago. Whereas in Roe, the concept of “right to privacy” was stretched to its most illogical boundaries to allow for legalizing abortion; the Court stretched the concept of corporate personhood to its most illogical boundaries so as to allow huge conglomerates and outfits like Koch Industries to pump in as much money from any source on the planet sans any disclosure of the who, how much, wherefrom and most importantly, the WHY concerning these campaign funds. Ironically, the Court managed in two separate ways to demonstrate how easy it’s become to debase the very word “humanity” even further than previously imagined. Some “achievement.”
If money is indeed the “mother’s milk of politics,” and history’s proved this every year, the only way to reform the system is to dry Bossy Big Bucks up via the injection of a Constitutional Amendment or more to get the job done.
Ever wonder why so many people don’t get out and volunteer their time in retail politics, the good old fashioned door-to-door word of mouth kind of politiking where the candidates couldn’t fudge their switcheroos, unexplainable flip-flops or just outright stump lies? T E L E V I S I O N.
Read Edwin O’Connor’s classic novel, “The Last Hurrah,” about the late and legendary Boston “Mayor of The Poor,” James Michael Curley. Then read Tip O’Neill’s “Man of The House” and “All Politics Is Local.” Pay close attention to the first chapters and Epilogue from “Man of The House.”
No thanks to television, a candidate can cover a huge district or state, not to mention the nation and distance himself with both the cover of understandable campaign logistics; or worse, the importance that comes with political celebrityhood. It’s political cancer and dangerous to any free society. It invites arrogance to feast at a candidate’s soul as if it were a five course meal. One of the most significant passages in Speaker O’Neill’s book had nothing to do with the Kennedys, Nixon, Carter, Reagan ... not at all. It was a simple suggestion given by the elderly Curley to a much younger O’Neill: “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
Maybe I’m stretching the point here, but perhaps it’s not out of the question to wonder if our means of politiking has taken the nice-ness out that comes from person to person meetings between the politicians and voters. So many already puffed up “important” bigshots (no thanks to the media) seemed last summer even more hell bent on demonstrating how important they and their ideas are or were to the fate of the world, so it seemed than in finding ways to keep the nation from careening off the cliff like Thema and Louise.
Television and slick mass-media marketing has distanced our pols to such an extent that it wouldn’t hurt to make the old “no taxation without representation” slogan worthy of using again. I’ll tip a tri-cornered hat to the Tea Party for this. Had they been more like the rebels of western Massachusetts who fought under Daniel Shays just to keep themselves…and their families, too(!) out of debtors’ prisons and their very hard-scrabble farms, out of foreclosure, they would’ve earned far more respect from the voters.
That would’ve required breaking from the clutches of the Kochs,and its puppet Americans For Properity, founded for use by the GOP to widen its ranks and outflank the Democrats last fall. That they wouldn’t more than they couldn’t have, is all the more telling. With this webpage taken from one of their own websites, calling for a jobs lockout/hiring strike…what does that say?
After all, has anybody from within the Tea Party taken the guts or time to bother asking the Kochs, de Vos’ Amway family, and other Daddy Warbucks outfits working within GOP circles what they could’ve or would’ve done to help out so many people who have already lost or still find themselves at risk of losing their homes, shirts and yes, a heckuvlot of personal dignity?
The answer to that question was given 70 years ago and the same kinds of folks with the same kind of economic philosophies are still holding to their cold-hearted “I’ve got mine, too bad you couldn’t have kept yours” mindsets. They would even turn on their own if they thought it’d make ‘em a profit.
It’s said by some “that if some banks are too big to fail, they’re just too big and need breaking up.” Perhaps so. What I’m more sure of is this; if the hearts of the leading captains of capitalism, the financial services industry ... where loans and mortgages are “packaged” as “products” (instead of things Americans used to physically make more of for consumers to buy at their local stores) plus their enablers on Capitol Hill and government in general, are too hard to see the damage they’ve wrought uppon their fellow citizens, then they simply are too damn hard-hearted to trust in any major leadership capacity.
I used to be pretty conservative. Age and life’s way of buffetting us with its battering rams of incontrovertible truths does a wonderful job of “mugging” us with the truth about the myths underpinning conservative economic theories. Having one’s head full of von Mies,’ Hayeks or Milton Friedman’s “monetarist” ideas might look good on a person’s resume; but it doesn’t do anything to help his spouse when she just found out that half of the winter’s fuel assistance has been cut (by either party), the rent has been increased and the kids’ teachers are asking for help to buy pencils and crayons…(which property taxes used to cover!)
A couple of last thoughts: Go to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ official Senate website and click the button for “Stuggling Through The Recession: Letters From Vermont.” If you find yourself becoming emotional, it’s okay. It’s a very healthy sign.
Steven, that was fascinating. I have to admit that I had a hard time following everything you said. But, I did catch the part about the need to keep President Obama in the White House as being “crucial”. Keeping in mind that this is a Catholic web site, are you familiar with what Illinois State Senator Obama did regarding the Born Alive Infant Portection Act (BAIPA)? According to State Senator Obama, a child born accidentally during a failed late term abortion does not deserve to be saved and can be discarded in a soiled linen closet, left to expire on his/her own. This is factual, not internet rumor. You can research the Illinois state senate voting records. Now, I have to ask you, what type of a fellow thinks this sort of thing is OK? And, why would I want a man like this to continue to be my president? His actions on this issue display such a profound disrespect for life, that I frankly don’t care what he has to say on any other topic. A person which such extreme views should not be president. You can say whatever disparaging comments you would like about the tea party movement and the Republican Party as they are certainly not without sin. But, most of these folks have enough sense to know you shouldn’t put a baby in a closet to die. Now that you know about Obama’s history with regards to BAIPA, do you still think he should remain as president, and if so, why?
@ew Yorker: Thank you for your kind and thoughtful reply. I fully understand how troubling it must be for you. I’ve been there before (concerning the political decision-making part, i.e. candidate picking.)
However, when I look over at Obama’s Republican opposition and its thoroughly sleazy orchestration of the Planned Parenthood funding matter, and how all that DID NOT have anything whatsoever to do with what the GOP/TP promised voters the previous fall, I couldn’t help wondering if they themselves are truly serious about ending abortion. I find President Obama’s record on abortion, especially late term partial birth abortions very troubling.
Take a look at the track record of Obama’s GOP opposition in the House and all the genuinely pro-life social programs they have cut or promised to put a machete to, including the many good things contained in Obamacare, such as no more “pre-existing conditions” used by private health insurers to justify within their own private death panels to deny life saving treatment…and for what reason? Keeping the Wall Street bulls happy. Think of all the home heating assistance programs slashed in half; meals on wheels for the elderly and well-baby nutrition and WIC programs slashed. Wow, that’s some “prolife” legislating on the GOP’s side.
I’m not a Democrat. I left and find myself far more comfortable as a democratic socialist Independent voter. At least I don’t have a party to answer to. Yes, I have God and I’ll do my best with Him. Deep in my heart, I trust the Lord is far more understanding and knowledgeable about the state of my heart and soul than many of the most die-hard ideologues on the Right who support those elected officials who shout out how “prolife” they are when in fact, the overwhelming majority of their recorded votes indicate a much different picture.
Let’s all pray we can resolve this issue soon, and by that I mean conclusively soon and on a final Federal level, none of this piecemeal “states rights” nonsense promoted by Romney and Paul. All life is precious whether its in a “red” or “blue” state ... and all states, regardless of their respective political colors are integral and undivided members of the United States of America.
Whoa there ... though many problems existed that tanked the finanical society .... not the least was the near gov regulated requirements to provide loans to those who could not repay them as things moved south (and markets always move south). This “everyone deserves a house” illusion was fed by both parties who crafted stupid financial laws which eventually lead to countless home loans in poor areas that fell into foreclosure. On the other end, it folks like some of us here that fell into a greed trap of bigger and better homes, often moving into ones beyond our means—placing a bet that home prices always go up. Bankers aren’t innocent in this problem ... but there’s enough blame to go around the block.
Steven, I agree that the Republican Party has not done enough to end abortion. But on the other hand we elected a president who is OK with putting a child in a closet to die. He actively worked against the passage of BAIPA in Illinois. Stop and think about that for a minute. It’s rather profound and it trumps all the other issues you brought up. He was also a co-sponsor of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), which would eliminate parental consent laws for underage girls seeking abortions. Are you OK with that? It would also force Catholic hospitals to provide abortion services and threaten the rights of conscientious objectors. Again, you can say what you want about how corrupt the Tea Party and Republican Party is, but they, while not fighting hard enough to end abortion, are not promulgating the expansion of the culture of death. By Planned Parenthood’s own numbers, there have been over 50 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. So we have lost not only those 50 million, but we also lost the children they would have had because by now they many would have been of child bearing age and would have had children of their own. This has profound negative impact on our economy as we are barely producing enough people to replace the current population. In 1936, when social security first came out, there were 30 workers supporting one retiree and the average life expectancy was only about 63. So most people died before collecting. The typical family had six children. Now there are about three workers supporting one retiree and people live to roughly 78. There are now only between 2 and 3 children per family on average. Our economic problems are more accurtately tied to demogrphic trends rather then banks, governments, etc. There’s no way to sustain our social systems with the current demographics. More money will need to be diverted to support social security and medicare, measning that there will be less money for other government programs. There’s never been a prosperous society in human history where the population was stagnant or in decline. Whether we want to recognize it or not, there are consequences for aborting a significant chunk of our population. And, while we’re on social issues, I’m not happy about his decision to not defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Anyway, it’s very easy to point a finger at generic “boogey men” like “Wall Street”, “the big banks”, “fat cats”, “the government”, “the democrats”, “the republicans” etc. But, I have seen the enemy….......and he is us.
Steven, I agree that Republicans have not done enough to stop abortion. However, Obama’s opposition to BAIPA should be profoundly disturbing. Anyone who believes that it is OK to put a child (born of a botched late term abortion) in a closet to die is simply not of the right mind to be president. This profound lack of respect for life trumps all the other issues you raised. In my mind, the Republicans’ lackadaisical opposition to abortion is extremely disappointing. But that does not justify voting for a party that actively seeks to expand the culture of death by supporting the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), Planned Parenthood, etc. Doing so is like going from the frying pan into the fire. By Planned Parenthood’s own numbers there have been over 50 million abortions in the USA since 1973. This probably has a more profound negative impact on our economy than anything else. Profound disrespect for life, along with its negative impact on demographics, and the rampant immorality of it all is the root cause of our problems.
Social Security is solvent and NOT the big boogieman the right wing wants the public to quake before.
Yes, Steven. It is solvent NOW. Checks will not stop coming, so you are correct in that sense. However, the demographic trends are troubling. Social Security relies on a larger population replacing the current population. With only about 2 children per family these days versus 6 in the 1930’s, the whole underlying premise is challenged. Believe me, I don’t like it any more then you do, but going forward this is not sustainable with the current birth rates. By the way, European families are even smaller then their American counterparts with on average less then 2 children per couple. Their populations are actually poised to shrink. A shrinking population means fewer demands for goods and services and fewer jobs - a downward trending economy. So the younger population is pressed to pay more and more of their salary to support a social system which will likely not be there for them when they get old. There are secular reasons why abortion and artificial contraception are bad ideas. Ultimately these result in a shrinking population and, correspondingly, in a sinking economy. No matter who is elected president, we’re going to continue to have a sagging economy because not one candidate understands these problems. Even if one did, he’d have to tell people to live according to the Bible (no more abortion/use natural family planning only)and that will not go over very well. I recommend checking out the secular video “Demographic Winter”.
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