Occupy Wall Street Explained

This was the other post that I received some flak over, albeit for a different reason. Like with Columbus, I hope I can clarify my thoughts.

Occupy Wall Street has a lot that I and I’m sure a lot of mainstream Americans can get behind. I believe Americans are more fed up over Wall Street greed, deregulation, and the growing wealth gap than they are over “government is out of control” fear mongering. Hell, my self-described Republican father supports the movement and will most likely vote for Obama. This is something that should have a lot of support. But you have to turn it into meaningful change and an actual movement. Organize!

The Tea Party started as a “leaderless, unorganized” movement. I thought it would be a phenomenon of 2009 and would die. It didn’t. It stuck around because it started to organize. There are local organizations around the country that hold meetings. They might not exactly have a big national organization dictating orders to all of the groups, but they don’t need too, because they have a somewhat coherent message on limiting government power. I understand clearly what the Tea Party wants because they have effectively sold its message to the people.

They were able to achieve their goals because they latched onto a major party, the Republican Party. They got their members into the GOP and overthrew rank and file members to get Tea Party Republicans into the House, Senate, and various Governor’s Mansions. I was really hoping that it would split off, so it could divide the Republicans (like in 1912!). Conservatives are very good at sticking together and backing the Republican Party. Ron Paul could be running for the Libertarian Party ticket (as he did in 1988), but he knows he’ll have more traction if he runs as a Republican, even if his views don’t match up. Liberals? Not so much. Yes, I have qualms about Democrats and Obama. I think Democrats are weak and ineffective. They blew their chance when they had power. They aren’t perfect. I never said they were perfect. They shouldn’t let Republicans and conservatives dominate the voice of this country and immediately let a debate start from the far-Right. But instead of outright dismissing them and hating them with the same passion as Republicans, try to fix the problems within the party to make it better. I’m not advocating blindly supporting the Democrats. (Apparently, nobody saw that post that was posted along the same time as my one on the Wall Street Protests). But don’t abandon them at a drop of a hat. The Right focuses its attention on hating Democrats. The Left divides its attention between hating Democrats and Republicans. It took conservatives six years to start distancing themselves from Bush, but it only took about a year for liberals to outright abandon Obama. A liberal is like a child who doesn’t get their way; they cry and whine and storm out of the room. Are you really surprised that a politician didn’t deliver on his promises? Maybe if we didn’t build Obama up to be the next messiah, the Left wouldn’t be so upset.

If you want to be taken seriously, create a better “manifesto”. How would the Declaration of Independence look if it were written like this?

When things get bad, we have a right to change them! God gave us rights and stuff and no one on earth can take them away!

We’re all equal as humans. We have a right to do things because of God or something. Like Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness! Thomas Paine said in his pamplet (really brave Tom!) that England wasn’t serving in our best interests. King George has dropped the ball on us and we have a right to say no and let us rule our selves. Patrick Henry said “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!”

King George has done the following things to us that aren’t good

[Look up and complete list later].

We really like being English, but we tried. You wouldn’t listen to us.

With that said, we are now free.

I wouldn’t take this Independence movement very seriously. PR is very important.

Also, this movement needs to stay focused and focus on Wall Street and reforming our financial structure. Gay Rights? Wars Overseas? Animal Rights? They need to take a back seat or else they will isolate potential supporters. I’m sure that there are pro-war people who might be turned off, or anyone who doesn’t like PETA, if you bring this into the equation. Would the Civil Rights movement have gained traction if it was overtly anti-war and supported gay rights? NO! Those should be separate movements (even if gay rights are very intertwined with civil rights). Cement your goals. Narrow in and focus on Wall Street greed, the fiscal crises, and the deregulation that let it all happen. And have a real goal besides “lasting for 25 days”. It’s like someone setting the bar so low that it will be impossible to ever fail so they will never be disappointed. Pathetic.

While I’m also talking about “don’t isolate people”, this movement really needs to distance itself from the far-Left. When I see these posters:

I am turned off. Anyone with any sense of intelligence who sees these images is going to be insulted and turned off. Calling people who don’t think like you “sheeple”, complaining about walking on the sidewalk, and brining in the “New World Order” to the mix, makes you look crazy. 99% of Americans are crazy? I would rather be in the 1%, thank you very much. Do you think Martin Luther King Jr. would have done everything that he did if he called white people “ignorant pigs”? Smugness and pretentiousness will only isolate potential supporters. Acting as if you are the only beacon of enlightenment in a sea of darkness and refusing to educate people in a clear, concise, and non-conspiratorial way, will only serve to isolate potential supporters.

I feel like the Left wants immediate change and results. That can’t happen. I have mentioned time and time again that sudden radical change creates a knee-jerk reaction. Radical Reconstruction led to the KKK and segregation. 1960s Liberalism gave us 1980s Conservatism. Change is a slow process. The Civil Rights movement took decades. Grassroots organizations from the 1890s and on. A few baby steps forward, desegregating of the Federal Government and the Army. Then came some successful court cases. Then boycotts. Sit-ins. Marches. Civil Disobedience. By the 1970s a lot of goals had been achieved. I know things aren’t perfect and we still have a lot ahead of us, but it was a process of slow gradual change that convinced Americans that segregation and discrimination were ridiculous and un-American.

I keep hearing that not having any order or structure or leadership is so beautiful and this is the new way forward for Democracy! No, that is anarchy. And anarchy doesn’t last because it is natural for humans to join together and organize and set up rules and order. I am not a democrat, I am a republican. Notice the small “d” and “r”. I do not like direct democracy. I think it is dangerous because people have a hard time thinking about the common good. People are selfish and driven by emotion. I don’t like popular referendums. I like the Electoral College (kind of). I don’t like giving people more power over the laws. See: Prop 8. Gay Marriage has been legalized by state legislatures. It has been banned by popular vote. This is why we are a Republic. We have a system of representatives to make choices for us. Yes, that doesn’t always work, the system is flawed. But it works less when informed and caring citizens don’t vote.

I am saying these things as an outsider to the movement. I am saying this because I want to help this movement become the check on the Tea Party that we desperately need. I want to hear people finally calling out the hypocrisy of the Right and the real class warfare waged against poor and middle class Americans. This is just my honest to God opinion and observations of the movement. I find that liberals want to work outside the system because the system is so corrupt and broken and etc. The system was corrupt and broken in Egypt and street protests were the only way to do anything. IT IS NOT THAT BAD IN THIS COUNTRY. This is not Nazi Germany. You can still participate within the system and you should. The Left is too idealistic and irrational. It is dominated by emotion, closed minds, and crazy conspiracies; just as bad as the Right. I feel like I am trying to argue with a coffee table. Have I still not gotten the point across or will it never get across because too many ears are permanently shut?

Don’t call me ignorant but then fail to educate me. Please explain to me how this unorganized, unfocused movement will accomplish the goals that I’m not sure exist. If your goal is to show this country that the Tea Party is not the only voice of popular frustration with the system, Mission Accomplished. If your goal is to show that there are people who view Wall Street and corporate greed as the major source of the problem and not just “out-of-control government” and we need government to change fix the financial system, good job. You have gotten the hopes up of Democrats in Washington that the liberal voice has not been silenced and that there is a group of people they can rely on. But it’s going to mean nothing if it doesn’t actually translate into electoral power. But it’s not going to work if you blindly hate the political system and refuse to participate. Why do liberals want to break down and destroy what we have instead of working within the system to try and fix it from the inside?

If you still don’t get what I am saying, read this, because it'll do a much better job than I can. It’s sad when a comedic article makes so much damn sense.