In my latest post "How Can We Keep Going" I asked: "Why aren't we out in the streets in our tens of millions demanding some sanity?" Well, we still aren't out in the streets in our tens of millions, but some of our fellow citizens are out in the streets in their thousands demanding some sanity. The "Occupy" movement started on Wall Street, the symbolic home of our corrupt and broken financial system that benefits only the wealthy and is driving tens of millions of the rest of us into poverty and homelessness. The movement has spread to virtually every major city in the country, including Seattle, the large city near my home in Washington state. The ruling powers are reacting as they always react. In New York and other cities peaceful protesters are being arrested by the hundreds for minor breaches of minor laws, like marching without a permit. So far the reaction by the powers is mostly (if not completely) nonviolent; but we know that those ruling forces have no reservations about resorting to violence if they think they need to do so to preserve their hold on power. If you doubt that just remember Selma, Alabama, and Chicago, Illinois, in the 1960s. We can be pretty sure that the police will use as much violence as is necessary to stop the protests. We can be absolutely sure that the corporate media will do everything they can to minimize the Occupy movement and denigrate its participants, as Fox News, that most obvious hand puppet of corporate power, is already doing.
Some commentators are drawing parallels between the new Occupy movement and the somewhat older Tea Party movement, and there are indeed similarities. Both of them are movements of people who are fed up with the status quo. They are movements of people who quite rightly perceive that they are losing all voice in the governing of their nation. The participants in these popular movements see their country changing in ways they reject, and they see no hope of the established political parties addressing their needs in meaningful ways. The two movements have that much in common. The difference between them lies mostly in the way they identify who their enemy is.
For the Tea Party the enemy is big government. Those folks perceive big government intruding on their freedoms and failing to remedy the economic problems from which so many of them are suffering. Unfortunately, they also see cultural changes that they can't accept--a Black president, gay rights, and so on. Because, among other things about the government they don't like, they can't accept a Black president, and because in some places at least the government is trying to stop them from discriminating against people they don't like, they identify government as the problem. The Occupy movement on the other hand identifies Wall Street as the problem. That is, they have focused on a symbol of the way the economic and political structures of our country have come to operate for the benefit of the wealthiest one or two percent of us as the target of their protests. These people see the financial system and the power of the very wealthy that it functions to perpetuate and even expand as the problem.
There simply is no doubt which of these two popular movements has correctly identified the cause of the social, economic, and political problems we face in this country today. Government is not the problem. Indeed, if it were ever to function as in theory it should, the government could be the one institution in the country large enough and powerful enough to bring about some economic equality and thus a decent standard of life for all Americans. The government is the one institution that has the potential to create a social safety net adequate to protect vulnerable Americans and see that all have shelter, food, and decent health care. The government is the one institution with the power to protect the environment from the ravages of the greedy. The government is the one institution with the power to enforce equality and provide a legal sanction against discrimination. One of the major flaws in the Tea Party movement (apart form its radical social conservatism and even racism) is that it has misidentified the enemy.
The Occupy movement, whatever its failings and shortcomings may be, has at least the virtue of having properly identified the enemy. Of having properly identified the root cause of most of the problems in our country today. The enemy is greed. The root cause of most of the problems in our country today is the corrupting influence of money in our political system, money that buys politicians of both major parties and prevents the passage of any meaningful legislation to benefit the people rather than the wealthy. That much at least the Occupy movement has gotten right.
So let us stand with the Occupy protesters. Let us pray that their protests remain nonviolent, for violence is always immoral and would only play into the hands of the powers that seek to discredit the movement. The Occupy movement isn't big enough yet to force the politicians to pay attention. Its specific demands and policy positions, if it has any, are unclear. Still, maybe it's a beginning. Maybe it is the beginning of the American people finally waking up to the real nature of the problems in our country. We can at least pray that it is.
Some commentators are drawing parallels between the new Occupy movement and the somewhat older Tea Party movement, and there are indeed similarities. Both of them are movements of people who are fed up with the status quo. They are movements of people who quite rightly perceive that they are losing all voice in the governing of their nation. The participants in these popular movements see their country changing in ways they reject, and they see no hope of the established political parties addressing their needs in meaningful ways. The two movements have that much in common. The difference between them lies mostly in the way they identify who their enemy is.
For the Tea Party the enemy is big government. Those folks perceive big government intruding on their freedoms and failing to remedy the economic problems from which so many of them are suffering. Unfortunately, they also see cultural changes that they can't accept--a Black president, gay rights, and so on. Because, among other things about the government they don't like, they can't accept a Black president, and because in some places at least the government is trying to stop them from discriminating against people they don't like, they identify government as the problem. The Occupy movement on the other hand identifies Wall Street as the problem. That is, they have focused on a symbol of the way the economic and political structures of our country have come to operate for the benefit of the wealthiest one or two percent of us as the target of their protests. These people see the financial system and the power of the very wealthy that it functions to perpetuate and even expand as the problem.
There simply is no doubt which of these two popular movements has correctly identified the cause of the social, economic, and political problems we face in this country today. Government is not the problem. Indeed, if it were ever to function as in theory it should, the government could be the one institution in the country large enough and powerful enough to bring about some economic equality and thus a decent standard of life for all Americans. The government is the one institution that has the potential to create a social safety net adequate to protect vulnerable Americans and see that all have shelter, food, and decent health care. The government is the one institution with the power to protect the environment from the ravages of the greedy. The government is the one institution with the power to enforce equality and provide a legal sanction against discrimination. One of the major flaws in the Tea Party movement (apart form its radical social conservatism and even racism) is that it has misidentified the enemy.
The Occupy movement, whatever its failings and shortcomings may be, has at least the virtue of having properly identified the enemy. Of having properly identified the root cause of most of the problems in our country today. The enemy is greed. The root cause of most of the problems in our country today is the corrupting influence of money in our political system, money that buys politicians of both major parties and prevents the passage of any meaningful legislation to benefit the people rather than the wealthy. That much at least the Occupy movement has gotten right.
So let us stand with the Occupy protesters. Let us pray that their protests remain nonviolent, for violence is always immoral and would only play into the hands of the powers that seek to discredit the movement. The Occupy movement isn't big enough yet to force the politicians to pay attention. Its specific demands and policy positions, if it has any, are unclear. Still, maybe it's a beginning. Maybe it is the beginning of the American people finally waking up to the real nature of the problems in our country. We can at least pray that it is.
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