A word of warning:
Social protest is fun and exciting, but it packs a powerful counterpunch. Check your history books. All the Vietnam tumult—huge marches, the riots in 1968, Kent State, all of it, do you know what it really accomplished? It made Richard Nixon president. Twice.
Neil thinks the occupies should make realistic, achievable demands: scrapping the dollar bill, for instance, or exposing the GOP’s efforts to disenfranchise voters:
In more than two dozen states this past year, Republican-dominated state legislatures have restricted the right to vote, tightening ID requirements, limiting absentee ballots, all in a calculated effort to suppress Democratic votes in 2012. This isn’t vague Internet conspiracy theory—it actually happened, a real conspiracy almost unnoticed. Instead of thundering generally against banks, why can’t Occupy thunder against that? Then get busy educating voters while there’s still time for them to register and get on the rolls.
I support thundering generally against banks, but it would be great if the GOP’s coordinated efforts to steal the 2012 election were getting more attention. Neil’s entire column is worth reading.
You know what not doing shit during the Clinton presidency did? It made George Bush president. Twice.
Sorry Occupy hasn’t thundered enough for whatever cause some pundit/journalist want. But you know what the nice thing about the Occupy movement is? If you go down there and participate and coordinate and vote you can make it what you want. Also in talking with people and seeing them up close, you can actually hear the diversity, variety, and inter-connectedness of their causes and concerns. And you realize the occupants are actually trying to make this about more than the media’s myopic portrayal.
Or you can stand aside and harp in your newspaper about how its not representing what you want.
Steinberg’s screed assumes there’s a substantive difference between Democrats and Republicans – both of whom are supported by the exact same corporate and financial/banking donors.
So while Occupy should certainly stand for protecting our voting rights (to choose between these two corporate parties), their emphasis on the underlying financial influence behind both seems more essential right now.
Steinberg is right.
Set some clear goals that are attainable.
QUIT BITCHING ABOUT MEDIA COVERAGE. You sound worse than Tea Party folk.
Homer, revisit your history on what elected Bush.
There IS substantive difference between Republicans and Democrats too.
A shitload of them.
Abortion, for an easy start. Approaches towards taxes.
Gay rights. etc etc etc etc etc
Keep your focus on “underlying financial influence behind both” parties sure as hell sounds like an excuse for nothing to be done.
Those Greens and Progressives are itching for your money donations too. If they could get the financial backing of certain banks or monied interests, they sure as shit would take them too.
At first I thought your comment had to be a goof.
You do know that so-called socialist Obama received more Wall Street donations than McCain? I don’t mean to be unkind, but you can’t be that ignorant. Or are you?
The Dems already get their financial backing from banks and Wall Street. Which is why the Dems and GOP represent their corporate and financial donors equally.
This is just the basic info. Just as how social issues like abortion/gay marriage are used to smokescreen the fact that both parties support their corporate donors who ship jobs overseas while plundering taxpayers for bad contracts to financial and defense industries.
No wonder this underlying financial influence to both parties sounds like nothing to you. You really have no idea what’s going on.
Those ‘smokescreen’ issues, such as abortion or gay rights, that you casually dismiss, are products of the efforts of (sometimes) long periods of activism.
But unlike you, they had specific goals in mind to change and went about it in effective ways.
That’s why they have come to represent party platforms.
Why don’t you get your pals together and craft some ideas that attack this system and corporate donership, as every political party in this country is subject to, and make it work here in the real world.
But wait, you can’t agree to much more than ‘oh, being homeless sucks’, and have a cute little march.
How very brave. And enlightened too.
And now you’re just rambling about things no one mentioned. Cute marches and homeless and being enlightened? Perhaps when you’re already deep inside your hole, frankieb, you should stop digging.