I am so proud of our youth. I love what they are doing on Wall Street and in cities all across America. I will join them when I can, and throw my support their way with this blog post, an extremely modest contribution by all accounts.
Occupy Wall Street
Many, many people are frustrated by the status quo. Initially the Tea Party tapped into this sentiment and won a lot of protest votes in the mid-term elections because of the people's frustration. It did not take long to realize that the Tea Party IS the status quo, on religious steroids. Ugh!
For the last year, I have been telling all the teenagers in my life that I have put my hope in them. Maybe they can bring the troops back home, end welfare for the ultra-wealthy and the corporations offered by our current tax code, create jobs in America, secure freedoms for everyone (including the ones religious people don't like!), end the insanity of the drug war, welcome courageous immigrants wanting to be a part of the American ideal and make America once again the land of the free and the home of the brave.
They started earlier than I expected. God bless them. God prosper them. Watch the video on the home page of this link. Pray for these kids, that nefarious forces don't takeover their genuinely populist movement of LOVE and PEACE!
(These kids are talking about LOVE- the Tea Party rallies are filled with anger. What a contrast!)
The mainstream media has ignored these kids for two weeks. Big money interests are demanding a negative slant on all reporting, as they own the media.
Who are these police protecting? Who are they serving?
Notice that the police grab people who are doing NO WRONG, drag them under and behind the police barricade and arrest them. I saw one officer flop down on the backs of the legs of a passive protester who was not resisting in any way, and was already down on the ground, cuffed. This is unbelievable. These peaceful protesters were not violent. All the violence was on the side of the NYPD. I cried when I saw the girls get maced. I have asthma and getting maced could kill me. Those girls are behind the police barricade and making no attempt to cross it when they were maced. Unbelievable.
Move over, Tea Party. Looks like there is a new option for people who are unhappy with the status quo, and it's not "status quo coated in religion", which is what the Tea Party has turned out to be.
The Tea Party is pro-big government (proposing new laws everywhere they've been elected, laws that further restricts the rights of everyday Americans, especially women and homosexual citizens), pro-corporate welfare, pro-war, anti-working class, believes people in need of public assistance are just lazy, ignores the contributions that so-called "illegals" make to our country every day- the Tea Party is unbelievable mean-spirited and pro-staus quo.
The 99 per centers are idealistic, but we need a good dose of idealism. They want to tax the elite wealthy, who (according to Warren Buffet) don't need the coddling the Tea Party offers. They want to create jobs in America. They want to make room for the "illegals" who, guess what, are people too and are already here. They want the government to seriously look for alternative clean energy, not support the carbon-based status quo. They are against letting people starve or die from lack of health care because they are under- or un-employed. They want basic civil liberties for even the ones religious people don't like (safeguards that are only necessary because religious people who don't like them won't treat them fairly without being forced to do so!). I hope they will also end the prohibition against marijuana, release those imprisoned for non-violent crime, get rid of the death penalty or at least make it so difficult to apply that it takes more than a conviction "beyond reasonable doubt" and requires absolute, irrefutable proof of guilt with forethought.
And finally, bring our troops home! Surely the damage we did to the infra-structure in Iraq is repaired by now. We got Osama bin Laden, our reason for invading Afghanistan. Bring our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers home from foreign soil! Enough is enough. It's been over ten years. Let's call it a win and walk away. It's time.
There you have it folks, an alternative to the status quo. Way to go, 99 Per Centers! I support you.
God bless the 99 Per Cent.
Police appearing to escort protesters to the Brooklyn Bridge, where they are corralled and arrested (700 arrests), Wall Street mnions sipping champagne and laughing at the sight? Wanna bet they know what's about to happen?
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Good post! I hope the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow!
ReplyDeleteMe,too, Kristen. If you are near DC, this is an outgrowth protest happening soon:
ReplyDeletehttp://october2011.org/
I want our troops home so badly! I think we have rebuilt Iraqs infrastructure by now, and we got Osama bin Laden. Since those were our reasons for staying so long, can we come home already? Ten years is a long war...
Thanks you, thank you!!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate older people (as in people older than me ;-) ) who don't blame young people for all the ills in the world. I met plenty of them in fundy-dom and it frustrated me to no end.
http://thenewinquiry.com/post/10995237203/a-bridge-to-somewhere
ReplyDeleteglad to know someone of my friends is supportive of Occupy Wall Street. Everyone I know is disparaging the effort as "just like the 60's", and "hippy nutjobs" and "young people who need to grow up"
I am so totally behind this amazingly peaceful (as these things go) movement to demonstrate our communal angst with the status quo, as means to have a voice that says "this system isn't working. We hoped but nothing changed." The protesters may not know what it will take to "make it right" but I adore that they are standing up to say "it's wrong"
Thanks for the link Sandra!
ReplyDeleteI am totally supportive. I am so proud of these young people, and all of those putting their stories on tumblr "We are the 99%".
I especially love your last statement. No, the protesters may not know how to fix the problems, but pointing out the problems is the first step to figuring out how to fix them.
I am praying about this diligently. Props go out to my young friend in the Catholic Workers Union, you know who you are. I know your prayers are with mine.
My generation has already proven to have nothing unique. The Tea Party is my generation, still playing the same old song that actually meant something novel when Reagan first started singing it. Back then taxes were high, and it made sense to lower them.
Now? Taxes are negligible for the 1%, and corporations are getting the equivalent of welfare from the US govt, and using all the profit to indulge the 1% and invest overseas where they can stick it to foreign workers even harder. My generation sucks.
My generation made that gawd-awful movie "Sex in the City 2" in Dubia- built by slave labor!!!!!! Yes, a whole effing city built by slave labor and the US makes a movie about wealthy socialites wearing haute couture and lounging around in luxury enjoying the fruit of all that slave labor. Ugh.
Nope, we aren't even acknowledging the problems in my generation. They think the problems are same sex relationships and birth control, not slavery and starvation.
The last four paragraphs of above comment are meant for Ilovemyflora!
ReplyDeleteThanks Shadowspring!!
ReplyDeleteI hope that my generation (I'm in my mid 20's) does better. I've found there is a deep-rooted distrust/cynicism in people my age. While I think it's somewhat justified because of all the corruption, I hope it never goes so far that we think our efforts to help people will be completely wasted.