Here is your Thursday installment of CSS (Common Sense Stimulus – I think the initials definitely give us a “hip” look).
As you are all well aware, for the past two months, groups of protesters, initially in New York City, but now nationwide are staging “occupations” in various cities. The birth of this movement, the Occupy Wall Street sect, began as a protest against big banks and corporate greed. This movement loosely coalesced under the slogan “We are the 99%”.If you were unaware; the belief of the protesters and many Americans is that the wealthy 1% control the fate and lives of the remaining 99%. Sounds very “anti-capitalist” and would certainly draw disaffected persons to the cause. However, as the movement has spread across the nation, the goals of the protest have grown vaguer with each city that is “occupied”. This is not going to be a “bash the movement” post, but as always, a dose of Common Sense.
The group’s website www.occupywallst.org has an initial posting of June 14, 2011. This post, entitled “Who We Are” is actually rather sparse and doesn’t really give any information on the stated goal of the group other than to “occupy” a space in New York City for an extended period of time. It does mention, however, that the group’s inspiration was the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, etc. *Note* several of these “assemblies” have resulted in the overthrow of the government, often with violence involved. It is also disturbing to me, your humble author that the first response under this initial “Who We Are” post speaks of tactics to deal with the police. The spelling of the word “colour” and “armoured” indicated that the poster, screen name Ronin, are either British, or of British origin, as these are the English-English spelling of these words. *This is not a slam on the Brits, just an observation that the individual posting this is either of foreign birth or can’t spell.* Ronin goes on to elaborate on how to evade and confuse the police and refers to any encounter with the police as a “battle”. In America, we have the right to peaceful protest, but starting a movement and referring to actions as “battles” is not the way to garner peaceful support. I fully acknowledge that this is only one individual, but after watching the news, and seeing the actions of several different “occupy” groups across the nation, either Ronin can travel faster than a speeding bullet (no pun intended) or there are numerous instigators involved; I bet on the latter. The excerpt below is taken from Wikipedia (yes, I know Wikipedia is NOT as accurate as some would like to believe, but the facts presented here are cited for further examination): On Oct. 10 and 11, the polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland interviewed nearly 200 protesters.[40] Half (52%) have participated in a political movement before, 98% would support civil disobedience to achieve their goals, and 31% would support violence to advance their agenda. Most are employed; 15% are unemployed. Most had supported Obama; now they are evenly divided. 65% say government has a responsibility to guarantee access to affordable health care, a college education, and a secure retirement. They support raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, and are divided on whether the bank bailouts were necessary.[40] In the Wall Street Journal, Douglas Schoen wrote that the protesters reflect "values that are dangerously out of touch with the broad mass of the American people" and have "a deep commitment to left-wing policies: opposition to free-market capitalism and support for radical redistribution of wealth, intense regulation of the private sector, and protectionist policies to keep American jobs from going overseas," and that politicians who support them will be hurt in the 2012 elections.[40] However, other authors said Schoen misrepresented his results. When asked, "What frustrates you the most about the political process in the United States?," 30% said, "Influence of corporate/moneyed/special interests." Only 6% said "Income inequality" and 3% said, "Our democratic/capitalist system." When asked, "What would you like to see the Occupy Wall Street movement achieve?," 35% said "Influence the Democratic Party the way the Tea Party has influenced the GOP" and 11% said, "Break the two-party duopoly." Only 4% said "Radical redistribution of wealth."[41][42][43]
Citations for the above “facts”:
40. Polling the Occupy Wall Street Crowd: In interviews, protesters show that they are leftists out of step with most American voters. Yet Democrats are embracing them anyway. By Douglas Schoen, Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2011
41. Doug Schoen Grossly Misrepresents His Own Poll Results To Smear Occupy Wall Street By Judd Legum, Think Progress,October 18, 2011
42. Survey: Many Occupy Wall Street protesters are unhappy Democrats who want more influence, By Azi Paybarah, Capital New York, Oct. 18, 2011
43. Who Occupies? A Pollster Surveys the Protesters By Aaron Rutkoff, Wall Street Journal, October 19, 2011
The group itself listed a list of grievances and complaints against the banking industry and large corporations, but as of yet, have not posted a “This is what will make us happy and go home” list.
I can understand the dissatisfaction at the inaction of our governmental bodies. Who isn’t tired of the bickering on Capitol Hill? I can understand the frustration at corporate CEOs who receive massive salaries and “severance packages” (golden parachutes) while their company lets workers go left and right. What I cannot understand is why, if the above facts are true and that only 15% of the protesters are unemployed, the employed are upset that they are employed? Are they not earning a decent wage? If that is the case, then be upset, that is your right as an American. And it folds back into the argument here at CSS that our government should work for us, which in turn would let US work for us, and seize our piece of the American Dream. I also don’t agree with the statement that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure we have affordable healthcare, a college education, and a secure retirement. Let me clarify that statement. Healthcare and the associated costs have gotten ridiculous in this country. A significant part of this is due to the massive fees that doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other healthcare providers must pay for malpractice insurance. These fees are high because, people now-a-days are sue-happy. While I admit mistakes are made and those that make the mistakes should be held accountable, frivolous lawsuits have risen steadily over the last few decades. We’ll address that at a later date. But folks, if the government provides us with healthcare, that’s a form of socialism. Socialized healthcare doesn’t work in Europe, Canada, or anywhere else. Ask a Canadian if they are satisfied with their socialized healthcare, see what their response is. Here in America, the US military has socialized healthcare, it’s known as TriCare. Ask a military member if they are totally satisfied with TriCare, or better yet, ask their spouse or children. As far as the government providing us with a college education, I wholeheartedly disagree. I go to college because I studied and applied myself. I go to college because I want to better myself and am willing to do what is necessary to get into a good school. There are exceptions to this belief, such as smart kids who won’t get to go to college for lack of funding, but that, again, is another topic for another time. However, to state that the government is responsible for educating me is poppycock. You cannot rail against government “infiltration” in your life, but expect them to give you everything. As far as a secure retirement, I agree to a point. If you pay into Social Security, you are entitled to receive it when you retire. If you do NOT pay into Social Security, you are not entitled to it, point-blank period. The future of Social Security is in jeopardy because our administration has squandered the money on other ventures and programs. If your bank took your deposit every month and gave that money to someone who didn’t make a deposit, and then told you to “suck it up”, you’d be pretty ticked off, and you should be. The other issue that is hurting the future of Social Security, is that fewer folks are paying in, meaning A. there are fewer jobs (duh) and fewer employees (double duh) B. there are folks who are working and NOT paying in (another duh) or C. that money is going to support those who haven’t and aren’t paying in (one more duh). All of these factors jeopardize the future of Social Security. However, if you are a young to middle age worker and are counting on Social Security to provide you a good life after retirement, you are living in a fantasy world. But retirement planning on the part of the individual requires the ability to make a decent wage and not live paycheck to paycheck. It also requires personal responsibility. Just as we like to tell our children, YOU are responsible for YOUR actions and the results of those actions, we are ultimately responsible for our actions and the results of those actions. If you aren’t happy with your elected official, then vote them out. If you don’t vote, then you can’t complain. Your inaction has a result as well.
Ultimately, the Occupy movement has garnered quite a bit of attention, but hasn’t solved anything yet. I say yet, because I can’t predict the future. Does it have a chance; sure, that many people can effect change if they find a united voice and set reasonable goals. Will the violent instigators in the mix do more damage to the movement that the good the movement accomplishes; absolutely, but that is the price you pay when you start a “revolution”. We shall see what the future holds for the Occupy movement.
I’m sure this topic will be addressed again in the future as new developments occur.
