"Occupy Wall Street" Needs Our Support

You've probably heard about the demonstrations in New York that have been going on for the past couple of weeks, but I imagine all you've heard about them is that the demonstrators and the police have had some differences and hundreds of the demonstrators have been arrested. That's the story the mainstream media is reporting, but that's not the important story. The real story is why those demonstrators are trying to "occupy Wall Street" and why the demonstrations haven't died out in the face of serious police pressure.

We can get a clue as to who these demonstrators are and what they want from their website, where they say:

We are the 99% who will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%.

Then they go one to say:

The participation of every person, and every organization, that has an interest in returning the US back into the hands of it's individual citizens is required.

Our nation, our species and our world are in crisis. The US has an important role to play in the solution, but we can no longer afford to let corporate greed and corrupt politics set the policies if our nation.

We, the people of the United States of America, considering the crisis at hand, now reassert our sovereign control of our land.

They definitely have a point. The people of the United States have lost control over their government. Our democracy (rule by the people) has degenerated into a plutocracy (rule by the wealthy class). The richest 1% of people in this country have bought too many of the Washington politicians, and they now control the government and make the laws -- to the detriment of these other 99% of Americans.

Some of you might think I'm picking on Republicans when I say that, but the truth is that far too many politicians of both political parties have been bought and paid for by the richest 1%. I really see no difference between a corporate-loving blue dog Democrat and a corporate-loving Republican. Both groups have sold themselves to the rich and care little for the other Americans (except to make promises they have no intention of keeping so they can get votes).

And it looks like Americans might finally be starting to wake up to the fact that their country has been sold to the rich. I say this for a couple of reasons. First, the demonstrations have strengthened instead of dying out, and have even spread to some other cities. Second, the demonstrations have participants from both sides of the political spectrum. Both leftists and teabaggers are participating. When is the last time these disparate groups have gotten together for anything?

But this movement (and I do believe this has the makings of a true grassroots movement that can appeal to both sides of the political spectrum) must grow. The politicians are not going to pay attention to a few hundred demonstrators, or even a few thousand. Change can only occur if millions are willing to put aside their personal politics and join the movement. After all, it doesn't matter if you are conservative or liberal, you have no power currently. The rich have the power and they don't care about either political belief. They just care about one thing -- their own greed.

I have some ideas about how we can begin to dismantle this plutocracy and begin to re-institute a democracy. Maybe you have some of your own. If so, I would love to hear them. This is the time to put all the ideas on the table and discuss them to try and find real solutions. Here's what I think:

* We must establish once and for all that the rights in the Constitution are for real human beings, not corporations, unions, or any other special interest group. If this needs to be done by passing a constitutional amendment, then we need to do that.

* All corporations, unions, and any other special interest groups should be prohibited from donating to political campaigns or political parties -- whether they are on the left or the right, or claim to be in the middle. This includes PACs of any kind.

* All federal campaigns should be publicly funded, and those campaigns should be prevented from raising or spending any monies outside that public funding (and this would include rich candidates who self-fund their campaigns).

* Mainstream media should be required to cover federal campaigns on an equal time basis. And that equal time should be extended to any candidate in a national election for president that gets on enough state ballots to theoretically have a chance of winning 270 electoral votes. Equal time provisions should be required to be extended in congressional races (federal Senate and House races) to any candidate who gets on the official ballot.

* Professional lobbyists should be outlawed. Anyone who wants their voice heard should be allowed to testify publicly in Senate or House hearings held on a proposed bill. But the buying of lunches, giving free airplane rides, taking lawmakers on working "vacations", or giving of gifts of any value at all should be outlawed and strictly enforced.

* All income should be taxed on the same basis. "Earned income" and "capital gains" are both just income and should be taxed the same. It makes no sense to tax the income of workers at a higher rate than the income of the rich.

That's what I think. I'd love to hear what you think. And saying to just vote for Republicans or for Democrats (or any other party) is just dodging the real issue. We can discuss which of those is best after we have taken our democracy back (and then the people can really decide, instead of just the rich).

It's time for democracy-loving Americans of both sides of the political spectrum to take a stand. Are you for freedom and democracy, or are you happy to be just another corporate slave working to make the richest 1% even richer while you struggle to get by. It's up to each and every one of us.