After marching with over 30,000 people from Bryant Park through lower Manhattan yesterday, a Daily News reporter suddenly asked me what I thought America could learn from this march.
Images of hundreds of signs I’d seen that day passed through my head. I quickly tried to think of which one to talk about. Almost all of these concerns are deeply connected. Was there a way I could sum them up in my own words?
All I could say was what popped into my head. That I don’t think people should be ashamed of being poor, unemployed, hungry or homeless. Or working two jobs and still not being able to pay the bills. Join the club, it’s a big one. 150 million of us are struggling with poverty in this country right now. I think the first step towards working to solve this problem is to acknowledge it and talk about it.
Coming out and talking to other people about their challenges has been tremendously empowering and humbling. Marching with this huge crowd and talking to people individually was one of the most moving things I’ve ever done. Knowing that hundreds of May Day marches were taking place all over the world involving hundreds of thousands of people gave me a deep sense of international community.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Rich-And-Rest-Manifesto/dp/1401940633/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336062655&sr=8-1
I agree that we do not have the political will to fix what is wrong particularly debt spiraling out of control. Unfortunately raising taxes will not be used to pay down the debt. The additional short term revenue will be used for additonal reckless spending by our spineless Congress.
They are all socialists.
europe implemented a unified currency and infrastructure in the 2000s. they invited nations into that currency who weren't stable, and followed some of our nonsensical financial "products" into the abyss. you haven't explained how we're "following the path of europe," exactly, but we've socialized quite a lot for quite a long time now: schools, police, fire protection, war debt--and our currency is traded worldwide, just as the euro is. stop blaming a concept you have no understanding of for our country's woes. we simply prioritize badly by creating wars and cutting taxes on the wealthiest without worrying about paying for either. that "success" other countries celbrate? all part of the same whole: protective labor law and organization that brought prosperity--even to our country. in this climate of making unions wrong for every ill, it's important to remember that organized labor provided a few generations a decent income and a robust consumer economy. that's what may day was always about. ask why those jobs don't exist.
*Phil Donohue: When you see around the globe the maldistribution of wealth, the desperate plight of millions of people in underdeveloped countries, when you see so few haves and so many have-nots, when you see the greed and the concentration of power, did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism? And whether greed is a good idea to run on?
---Be careful what you ask for, you'll probably get it! ...........OCCUPY!
Thank you brother/sister Frank T, for your important question...........OCCUPY!
You can fast forward to a recent example of that and the operations in Libya last year; NATO nations began to run out of munitions suppressing Khadafi's thugs and had to (once again) call on the United Sates to help. It should be worthy to note that the European nations could not sustain and air campaign against a third world dictator with minimal air defense, what chance do they have of defending themselves from other more aggressive and powerful countries. I am sure Chine, Russia, Iran and others took careful note.
Remember, fellow patriots, our country took birth ONLY for the courage of Radicals like Paul Revere, Nathan Hale, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams, the list goes on and on. You know them. They are the The Radicals, the Traitors, the Resistors, the Protestors, the Demonstrators, the Marchers, and the Fighters who fought for the Radical idea that the people should govern themselves. Don't believe for a second, Jaguar-Guy, that your freedom is guaranteed without your participation in your democracy. Like the Radicals who have so courageously gone before us, and in their honor, we must rise to equal levels of 'Radical' to preserve the precious gift they have entrusted us to protect. Today, the government of our dear country is owned and operated by rich and powerful corporations. The government of our country is responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent civillians in many parts of the world. This is not the country I want. I trust you feel the same way, Jaguar-Guy. Remember, Jaguar Guy, the admonishment given to us by a fellow patriot, Edward Abbey, "A patriot must always be prepared to defend his country against its government". The Occupy Movement is the People's Movement, Jaguar-Guy. If one must be radical to defend ones country, then so be it...........OCCUPY!