Saturday, October 08, 2011

Occupy the USA

I've been contemplating these fantastic demonstrations the last week or so.
Someone mentioned the other day that it was sometimes hard to take these people seriously who are taking aim at corporate America and the most wealthy 1 percent because there is video of them using a laptop or standing in line to buy a cup of Starbucks.

And of course, the fact of the matter is that most Americans DO contribute (and it's hard not to) to the greater corporate machine, but we are also all part of the 99 percent that DON'T have a say in policy anymore. Starbucks isn't the problem, Apple isn't the problem, Chase and Citi are.

I don't think faulting the entire world of corporations is really an issue for the movement as a total. The real issue is WE would like to have a say for once in the last 30 years..

I have to admit, most people that I know and my own little family of me, my wife and the dogs are very fortunate for what we have and could very easily dismiss this movement IF we had no empathy for the very real struggles of many of our fellow Americans.

That's the goal of the corporate media right now (particularly Fox). To dismiss this and to get other working Americans to dismiss this whole thing as a bunch of hippies who should be at work.

Rather, the real issue is that we've all had our pockets picked and we are in danger of becoming a third world nation with nothing but two classes. The power to decide policy and the gap between the rich and the rest of the USA has radically changed for the worse in the last 30 years. I think that's what this is about.

These people, mostly pretty young and the bulk of the rest of gen x like us are in the middle of a recession/depression for the first time as working adults and it's scary.

But the scariest part is that it was avoidable, it was deliberate and we have no way to stop it, fix it or compel those WITH the power to do something to change their policy. I think that's why people are marching in the USA. They want a real voice.

3 comments:

jadedj said...

That is precisely what it is about. Spot on!

Coire Walker said...

Well said.

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