October 5.
I have seen many Obama supporters on this website who praise and participate in the Occupy movement. I have also seen many on this website who oppose a great deal of his policies, likewise praise and participate in the Occupy movement. This is very encouraging.
I heard a prominent Democrat in my home town make an interesting comment about the Occupy movement. I don't know if he is happy with Obama's policies (it wasn't discussed), but he thinks the Occupy movement should make Obama do the right thing. I will list some things I think would be a good down payment on the president beginning that path, but first I would like to address the philosophy of it.
If a nonviolent populist rebellion can change the insane course America is on, why not use Obama as an agent for real change? Many will disagree as to whether Obama needs redemption. But most would agree, I think, that President Obama has often publicly invited pressure from below to drive him to do the right thing. The Occupy movement clearly indicates that many people believe America is on the wrong track and that the political process requires a major change of direction. Below is a link to a poll taken before the Occupy movement even started gaining traction. The Occupy movement is solidly in the mainstream in this “wrong track” sentiment.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/10/us-usa-poll-idUSTRE7794EX20110810Certainly the wrong-track sentiment held by a super-majority of the American people is not inconsistent with a belief in the president's need for redemption. In my view Obama has an incredibly difficult road in that regard, but that kind of reversal would not be unprecedented. Bobby Kennedy launched his political career as a hack for the red-baiting Joe McCarthy. Yet he became one of the most progressive candidates for president since FDR.
The Occupy movement in the US is not about either re-electing or voting out Obama. It is about stopping and changing the course of America. It is about being part of a burgeoning global revolution of empowerment. Empowerment meant to take on the real enemy. Transnational corporations know no boundaries and act with no regard for 99% of humanity. A smaller and smaller group of transnationals possess and control ever greater amounts of wealth. This is a matter of scientific fact.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/333389/title/Financial_world_dominated_by_a_few_deep_pocketsThis trend is heading us toward global economic collapse. It has to be stopped in part by reversing the massive transfer of wealth to the 1%, as well as changing or at least altering politically and economically oppressive regimes, rampant on every continent but Antarctica. In that process of resistance and change, if the current American president can be forced to recognize reality in his policies and rhetoric, that should be very welcome to everyone but the most myopic individuals in the 1%. If the president isn't found fighting for one of the last seats on the Occupy bandwagon, perhaps he can redeem himself politically as well. So I hope the possibility of instilling sanity in political action and debate will be a source of unity for an ever growing part of the 99%. When we quarrel amongst ourselves, we provide comfort and cover for the true enemy: the 1%.
Let me preface the list by stating that the phrase “the Occupy movement” may be too narrow a description. For example “October 2011” goes hot in DC very soon.
http://october2011.org/That could change the dynamic as both heads of the beast in the U.S. (i.e. Wall Street and Washington) are simultaneously confronted. It could be a “force multiplier” in this decentralized, yet powerful movement.
Here is a list which might be a good faith start for the White House.
1.Bring our troops home. Not all service members can be withdrawn over night. But massive troop withdrawals should be undertaken immediately, starting with Afghanistan (aka The Graveyard of Empires). A proposal for troop reductions in Iraq, South Korea, Germany, et al., is also indicated. A realistic shift from hard power to soft power in Pakistan and around the globe should be part of this policy realignment. The bloated military budget needs to be largely re-directed into productive uses, rather than the massive human and economic waste now resulting from the current military budget. We simply can't afford this level of waste.
2.Realistic policy on jobs. National employment is increased by hiring people for meaningful governmental jobs. FDR proved this. When the federal government lays people off it increases unemployment. Small businesses need access to capital, but capital is not currently being provided by bankers who were recently bailed out with the people's money. Debt relief for small businesses and other forms of stimulative assistance are necessary to produce more American jobs in the small business sector. Corporations should be tax penalized for relocating jobs offshore and receive tax benefits for hiring unemployed American workers. Obama should provide leadership to Congress on legislation to significantly increase taxes on the rich and use some of the revenue raised to help small businesses hire, especially for clean energy jobs. If the bills can't be passed immediately, Obama needs to use the bully pulpit and let the American people know who is obstructing.
3.Financial reform. The Department of Justice needs to quit a multitude of stupid policies such as harassing medical marijuana dispensers, where they are wasting so much time and hurting our tax base, and focus instead on breaking up financial and other corporations which are too big to fail. Breaking up monopolistic corporations is just as good an idea now as when Republican President Teddy Roosevelt began doing it over a century ago. Americans are tired of the too-big-to-fail welfare kings black mailing us when their unregulated schemes of incompetence repetitively fail. Glass-Steagall needs to be put up for re-instatement. There are a host of other things needed in the way of financial reform, including meaningful mortgage fraud prosecution of banks at the federal level and debt relief for mortgate holders, students, etc.
4.Realistic climate crisis policy. The Copenhagen climate conference in 2009 would be a joke if it weren't so dangerous. America needs to lead the world in addressing the ever-worsening climate conditions around the globe, which affect our health, wealth and food supply.
5.Reversal of repressive policies. Torture must be stopped. Habeas corpus must be re-instated and constitutionally mandated civil liberties once again respected. The wide spread spying on American citizens must cease. Homeland Security should be abolished and our security needs should be addressed without the massive and duplicative bureaucracy and hysterical anti-liberty policies which make us less safe, not more so. Al Qaida has been winning ever since 9/11 because we have become ever more reactionary. It is time to reverse this and defeat the aims of Al Qaida, by reverting to the Enlightenment principle of respect for the individual, upon which our republic was founded and has evolved.
6.Perhaps most importantly, Obama should simply go to Liberty Plaza and listen to the people. As a citizen and as president, he is also entitled to address the people. His well known power of oratory could be used to great effect, but more so if he were ready to immediately back up his words with deeds.
Perhaps these types of actions would be a good start on redeeming America and placing it in a role of moral leadership in the world. Perhaps this type of action could remind us of the unifying spirit of idealism and hope so evident on Inauguration Day in 2009. Regardless, a global movement of resistance and hope is growing. This leaderless phenomenon is providing common sense to a nonsensical political system. All the sacrifice has come from the 99%. It is time to demand meaningful sacrifice be shouldered by the 1%.
These initiatives would certainly be characterized as radical by, say, Fox News. But I believe that the tenor of these changes is much more in tune with the majority of the American people than the policy proposals from either major party. And the political climate is shifting as the Occupy movement becomes visible even in the ostrich-like corporate media. Change is in the American autumn air. The frame of political debate is moving as more people and groups endorse the Occupy movement. What is legislatively possible in the near future may become dramatically different from the hogwash currently in vogue. Now it is time for American political leadership to join this struggle on the right side, or start to experience ever greater consequences.
America is on the wrong track. If you don't believe that, you are simply far outside the mainstream. The movement to change course is growing stronger every day. We should be unified in that quest.
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