Occupy Wall Street has shifted the public conversation to what matters: our obscene economic inequality. Not bad for a leaderless group. But will all that effort go to waste? As police dislodge Occupy groups, the conversation is shifting to First Amendment rights - a subject worth attention, but not what OWS is about.
One complaint about OWS is its lack of concrete goals. That was perhaps true earlier, but very specific issues and remedies have since been articulated. "Ten Things We Want" posted by Michael Moore is an excellent example. And that needs to be OWS's focus.
First, an obvious, important observation: The only vehicle available to address these issues is the government. Short of a revolution, only the Congress, state, and local governments can take the necessary action. You need to pass laws and amend the Constitution.
My second obvious point: Progress on that list of demands requires that Obama be re-elected. Obama has problems, many of which are his own doing. But the vast majority stem from an opposition that would sell the country down the river before seeing him succeed. Even if Obama is re-elected, unless there is a Congress that will act on progressive initiatives, we will face another four years of stagnation or worse.
So where does that leave us? If your anger motivates you to vote for the Republican nominee, a third-party hero, or sit out the election, you will throw away any chance of meaningful progress. As important, Obama must have a favorable Congress to work with. The critical 2012 races are for Congress. Even if reelected by a significant margin, Obama will continue to be blocked from a progressive agenda.
What does this mean for OWS? It means old-fashioned, labor-intensive political action. Every congressional district needs to have candidates committed to the OWS goals. So do those 33 Senate seats up in 2012. Sure, this sounds like one more "get involved in politics" sermon. But the result of not paying attention to politics has just crashed around us, the most expensive tuition that any of us will ever have to pay. Whether American society is just and lives up to our ideals depends upon getting money out of politics, and this will happen only by electing people committed to doing it.
So what does OWS do? Here is a three-point suggestion:
1) Stop focusing on rights to camp overnight. Break camp and take that energy into congressional campaign offices throughout the country.
2) Agree on a simple three-point legislative program that the country can get behind. This will be your litmus test for candidates, and if none of them sign on, find your own candidates. Go for three that do the most to address the financial crisis, eliminate the influence of money, and ensure fair elections with maximum participation - those most likely to gain traction with all Americans, not just the true believers.
3) Work like hell to get Obama and these candidates elected. Some may have pasts without 100-percent records on all issues. But if we can elect a Congress committed to the three-point program, we will have a fighting chance to get to where we need to be.
This is a tall order, a lot less thrilling than facing down injustice in a highly dramatic way. But the critical question is: Do you want to make a statement or do you want to achieve your goals?
It's almost 2012, time is short, and the opposition is powerful. Success will mean working with people who know how to get out the vote. It will mean finding people willing to stand for office. And if you need one more lesson on the heartbreak of beginning a revolution only to see it exploited by the well-organized, look at the recent results in Egypt.
NATHAN L. JASCHIK, BRIGHTON
Comments for "OCCUPY: An open letter to OWS" (6)
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Brandt Hardin said on Dec. 13, 2011 at 5:15pm
We are being subjected to a police state where protesting is not being tolerated. These evictions exemplify the suppression of our civil liberties including the right to organize, one of the basis rights set forth by our founding fathers. Police brutality is running rampant under orders from Governors who have their pockets lined with Wall Street and Special Interest monies. Stand up and lend your voice with these free posters I was compelled to design on my artist�s blog at dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/11/propaganda-for-occupy-movement.html
stephen weber said on Dec. 13, 2011 at 9:59pm
What would be nice is if the media would start competing for who is writting the Best Clark Kent Story about the Occupy Movement.
So far the media has spent two months competing with each other to predict which would be the last day. The media should come to a consensus too. How about if the media had consistently printed that the Occupiers wanted to be onsite at the protest site 24/7? No they printed endless goo about camping. The fact is that the Protesters have been marginalized by the Media. I think One irate citizen went to the bathroom on a police car and I had to hear about it 143 times spread out through the last few months.
The Occupiers are showing us a method of community that has been lost.
They aren't all of America. So media. Why don't all of you get off your duffs and start connecting facts and discover the real stories out there. You have a group with ZERO figureheads that just created a protest in all of the cities off the Western Coast of America, and you can write anything you like....
And you write that they should give this life up and return to trusting ballot boxes?
Have you looked at the future of America next year when the Euro goes belly up?
Get on your Clark Kent glasses and find a way to find the Correct Citizens to do what you outlined above. Don't try to change the path of the storm......
Mac McCann said on Dec. 17, 2011 at 9:30am
OWS will probably fade away. The movements primary interest seems only to be obnoxious to the community around them. Most of the supporters of the OWS movement are radicals that most Americans want no part of.
Americans are tired of the economic mess we are in and I think we can agree that we must change our path or ultimately fail as a country. I am a Tea Party supporter and I believe I may actually share some of the goals of the radicals. We both know that business has an unacceptable influence on our government but it doesn't stop there. Unions, both public and private, are almost exclusively a Democrat Party money pump. They have driven jobs out of the country and are beginning to bankrupt states and communities. Environmentalists seem to want to shut down the energy industries in America. The corruption of Congress and our state and local governments by special interest groups of all stripes has gone on far too long.
The brain-dead OWS zombies need to put their books down by Marx, Engels, Alinsky, Mao, Jones, Cloward and Piven, Bill Ayres and all the rest of the radicals that have NEVER created a working society. Go to the OWS website and read their demands. They call for the elimination of private property, ban home schooling, minimum wage of $18/hr and maximum of $90/hr, reduce age of majority to 16, ban gun ownership, forgive all debt, abolish the debt limit and the list goes on. It seems the one document these radicals have never read is the US Constitution. One of the greatest documents created by the minds of man and highly influenced by Judeo/Christian principles.
The first amendment states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” I support the rights of OWS to assemble and demonstrate peacefully because it is a quintessentially American exercise. I do not support any occupation or disruption of the society around them. I wish OWS would follow the example of the Tea Party and be extremely respectful of those around them and to have uplifting organized events with great speakers. I have attended events in Rochester and Tyler, TX and they have been impressive. They even pay their way.
Take the time to actually read the words of our founding fathers. Read them in the historical context of their times and not through the warped lens of the social/economic justice movement. The founders really believed in democracy and designed a system that placed as much governmental responsibility possible at the lowest level possible. They specifically tried to limit the federal government and we have spent 225 years moving away from those values. Now we have a federal government that seems to be unmanageable and unanswerable to the citizens. Why do we let businesses write tax code legislation, or the Tides Foundation write health care laws and unions write labor laws? Why is it legal for congress members to practice insider trading? The economy in the DC area is booming because of the lobbyists peddling their influence. Money is corrupting everyone.
The Tea Party is actually trying to solve some of these problems. High on the list is to reduce the size of federal government and the rewriting of the tax code. If all tax advantages were eliminated and a flat tax or simple graduated tax put in-place the IRS could almost be eliminated. Companies like GE which paid no taxes on $14B in profits last year would then have to pay. Rates could be adjusted to make America competitive again. If tax code advantages were eliminated and no longer allowed, the corrupting influence of lobbyist money might wither away. The rich, which actually do pay most of the taxes, might be willing to pay at a slightly higher rate because they would no longer need to pay so much to tax lawyers and accountants. Ways will still need to be found to eliminate the corrupting influence of the unions and other special interest groups. We may need an amendment to the constitution that bans political free speech rights and political spending by all entities. Only individual American citizens should be allowed to participate in the body politic.
The OWS movement offers nothing but noise to the conversation. The participants complain about school loans and foreclosures, cost of college, lack of jobs, Wall Street and the banking industry. Why should I pay for your school loan for a degree in underwater basket weaving. Our colleges are churning out millions of students with worthless degrees. Personally I would significantly limit student loans for liberal arts degrees. When my son got his MBA last year, most of the advanced technical degrees were achieved by foreign born students. Why can't we produce our own engineers and scientists? When I bought my home it was not an investment but a place for my family to live. I agreed to pay a certain price and was required put down a 20% down payment. Why should I subsidize someone's loan? If you can't pay for it you lose your house. Instead of protesting Wall Street you should be proposing solutions. How about banning Credit Default Swaps and Derivatives, break up entities that are too big to fail, eliminate sub-prime mortgages, stop collateralizeing mortgages and selling them off, reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, and create a mechanism to limit the total amount of money a person could borrow on their credit cards and the number of cards they can have. The OWS crowd should put aside their feelings and do a little logical thinking and identify the root-causes of our problems and not just make demands that cannot be met. Stop trying to create a utopia. It can't be done.
I agree with the authors step #1. We must concentrate on our congress members. On step #2, maximum election participation has never been more possible but we must be sure each participant is legal so I think ID must be shown. As far as Step #3 goes, Obama must go. He has become the most divisive president we have ever had.
Tom Janowski said on Dec. 17, 2011 at 11:28am
I think Nathan L. Jaschik is confused. While he seems to get the point of Occupy Wall Street, he then surprises me with an invitation to work my butt off to get Barack Obama re-elected. I worked for President Obama the first time around, but never again.
Immediately upon taking office, he surrounded himself with Wall Street insiders. The same people who helped the markets crash became the foxes watching the hen house. Have I trusted Obama from that point forward? Absolutely not. Did those early appointments of President Obama exhibit any bit of change? Absolutely not.
The writer's opinion shows that he, along with most of America, casts votes based upon a good amount of rationalizing. It doesn't seem to matter if voters have ideals and convictions because we are constantly warned that certain people cannot win, therefore we must alter our choice to the lesser of the remaining evils. As long as voters continue to do this, there can be no credible threat to the status quo. Obama won't feel any need to change if he knows Nathan is going to vote for him.
I want my vote to make my statement. My statement being one of no compromise and no surrender. There are other choices out there. And those lesser known choices are so much better. My vote in 2012 will be going to Green Party candidate for President Dr. Jill Stein.
Until the Republicans and Democrats feel the threat of a 3rd party nipping at their heels neither party will change to better serve us. And in the end, Americans may just find out they don't need Republicans or Democrats at all.
Nathan Jaschik said on Dec. 31, 2011 at 9:06am
I thank Stephen Weber and Tom Janowski for taking the time to respond to my open letter to OWS. I respect their views and agree that the Green Party probably has more positive policy proposals than the two major parties. But - and this is my point - the next President of the US will be either Barack Obama or whomever emerges from the GOP race - most likely Mitt Romney since the money will not allow any of the flakier candidates to win. So given this reality what is the likely scenario?
If the GOP wins, you will see the immediate repeal of Obama's Health Care effort, the elimination of the Consumer Protection Agency, the elimination of what is left of the Dodd-Frank Bill, the permanence of the Bush Tax Cuts, and the gutting of the social safety net. And the real kicker: There will be one or two Supreme Court vacancies to fill in the next 4 years and they won't be Thomas and Scalia. By the time the GOP gets done with filling the Supreme Court, even if Move to Amend is successful and gets an amendment passed, they could well deem the amendment unconstitutional.
Obama may not achieve everything we want - though with pressure he could make significant progress - but he certainly will stand in the way of the nauseating scenario I just described. So Tom and Stephen, I certainly hope you feel clean and pure for standing above the fray while the country goes to Hell. But, choosing between Obama and the GOP is the ONLY choice you have right now that may actually influence what happens.
tom Janowski said on Dec. 31, 2011 at 2:19pm
I lived through 8 years of Bush and will survive a term of Obama. Therefore, I'll stay true to my convictions and cast a vote for Dr. Jill Stein--because that is who I now truly believe in.
Sadly, the more I know about Obama, the less I know about Obama. His healthcare plan is a poorly crafted piece of legislation that was further ruined by compromise with Republicans. Having lived 48 years without as much as a visit to the emergency room, in recent months I've put both health insurance and our healthcare system to the test and let me say this: it sucks. Obama's promises of a green/clean economy are no where to be found unless you want to talk about Solyndra. Obama just doesn't seem to have much that he will stand on solid ground for.
And Nathan, your explanation above is the example of rationalizing away your vote that I spoke of. I'm not taking part in that ever again. If everyone stopped it, we would see results instead of mere words.
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