Those ‘Occupiers’: Letting Leaders Know Just Who’s in Charge
- Print print this page
- Discuss 12 comments, Blog about
Advertisement
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is another of a series in which Moore County’s Republican and Democratic party chairmen address various political issues.
The United States has a broken system. People work hard, pay their bills and taxes, yet they continue to fall behind.
For decades, wages have been stagnant and are now falling. Unemployment remains at crisis levels and companies are discriminating against those without jobs. Family wealth is in decline, especially among African-Americans and Latinos. College students are graduating with escalating student loans and few job prospects. Home values are still falling and foreclosures show no sign of abating.
In the face of these problems, corporate America has never had it better; profits are at record levels, taxes are low, and they have literally trillions of dollars in the bank. With weak consumer demand, companies see no reason to hire or expand their facilities.
Wall Street investment banks, having been rescued by us taxpayers at huge cost, remain free to engage in the same risky practices that nearly destroyed the world’s economies just a few years ago, erasing trillions of dollars from our retirement plans and home values.
The government, which should be taking heroic measures to get the economy back on track, is paralyzed by an intransigent Republican Party in fear of its tea party base. Their sole objective is unseating the president, and the nation’s real problems take a back seat to that.
A small group of citizens, fed up at inaction in the face of these burgeoning problems, moved into a park on Wall Street a scant three weeks ago to begin a dialogue. Initially ignored by the media, this group is now enjoying wide coverage.
A bottom-up organization without formal leadership, this movement (known as “Occupy Wall Street,” or OWS) has inspired groups in every state to take up the cause and speak out about the inequities plaguing this nation.
As one might expect from such disparate groups, a bewildering array of opinions has emerged. But a few consistent themes have become clear, chief among them the idea that our system now favors the richest 1 percent of Americans at the expense of the other 99 percent.
The top 1 percent now owns 40 percent of the nation’s wealth and takes home nearly 25 percent of all income, a stunning increase. Forty-six million of us live in poverty and the middle class (long the bulwark of our economy) is shrinking.
It’s estimated that nearly a third of Americans being raised in the middle class will fall below it by the time they reach adulthood. We are raising a generation facing a worse future than the one before.
Standing squarely in the way of progress are our representatives of both parties in Congress. Beholden to corporations that give so generously to their campaigns, they are unwilling to do anything to upset that source of cash. Into this void comes OWS.
Unleashing the power of Americans to make their voices heard, the groups that make up this coalition are empowering all of us to restore our part in a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.” They are reminding those sent to represent us that it’s their responsibility to ensure the vitality of our economy. And they’re reminding them just who sent them there.
As the movement spreads, it’s instructive to see who fears it. At the top of the list are tea partiers who complain that the demonstrators are unruly.
That’s rich coming from a group famous for shouting down participants in town hall meetings to prevent discussions on health care, a topic of vital concern to all citizens. Increasingly unpopular among most Americans, the tea partiers are finding themselves and their unworkable ideas being ignored in the current debate.
It’s long past time to give up the tired slogans and catch-phrases that have substituted for real communication.
We claim to be one nation indivisible, but we haven’t been acting like it. We’ve allowed our differences to be used to divide us when the values we hold in common are much more important. We need to talk to each other again.
We’re told that government is the problem. It isn’t. Government is how we ensure a stable society. We’ve heard that the rich are “job creators.” They aren’t. Jobs are created in response to demand, but demand is weak. We hear that this president is raising taxes. He isn’t. He’s lowered taxes far more than his predecessor. We’re enjoying the lowest taxes since the Korean War.
And we’ve been pummeled with the message that our problem is the federal deficit. It isn’t. Our chief problem is a lack of jobs. Restoring full employment alone would erase a third of that deficit.
We cannot shrink our way to prosperity. We cannot run a vibrant economy on decaying roads and falling bridges. Eventually the rich will realize that it’s no fun to be surrounded by the poor and destitute.
Our representatives will continue to duck the important issues until we let them know who is truly in charge. The Occupy movement has already expanded into several cities and towns in North Carolina.
Look for it in Moore County. Take part, express yourself and help restore the American dream.
Jim Heim is chairman of the Moore County Democratic Party. Contact him at democrat@heim.us.
More like this story
Advertisement
Comments
terrynation 1 year, 7 months ago
When it comes to unemployment it’s been a tale of two recessions, with level of education playing an unprecedented role in whether you’ve been pink slipped or not. Getting a degree from "High Speed Universities" is the only solution
mmforeman 1 year, 7 months ago
The convoluted logic in this particular piece of journalistic fantasy is amazing. If we would just follow the lead of senor chavez, we could solve these OccupyMooreCounty issues (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chavez-to-seize-homes-and-hotels-for-the-poor-on-idyllic-los-roques-2367385.html). If the ones who have the answers (ala senor heim and his co-hort rhodes), would just embrace the tactics of seizing ALL of the property, cash,assets from those 1% SOBs, we could all be in koombaya heaven. [I do believe that was tried in 1917]
if the ones who have the all the answers, would just explain when the exact date of the "spend our way to prosperity" will occur, we will all FEEL so much better about that trillion and half YEARLY deficit. Mayhaps you feed your family on feelings? If the "pass this bill now" is added to recent fiscal insanity, then IN 2013 one of the largest TAX INCREASES in the history of the U.S. will occur.
The White House's economic logic seems to be that its new spending and temporary tax cuts will so fire up investment and hiring in the next 16 months that the economy will be growing much faster in 2013 and could thus absorb a leap off the tax cliff. HAS THAT WORKED YET?????
TreadLightly 1 year, 7 months ago
The claim that "our system is broken" by citing the results of failed socialist policies is absurd. The principle reason for the gap between the haves and the have-nots is their education/training and work ethic.
When you do not require students to do school work to get a diploma, yet some in public, private and home schools will bust a gut. I smell a gap coming between the haves and have nots.
Public assistance (state or private) is necessary for many sick and old people. When the state provides public "assistance" (sometimes called welfare) to able bodied people, it dulls their work ethic. (Business owners often work 60 hour weeks.) If a person does not like to do hard manual labor, welfare can dull his urgency to learn to read and write proficiently enough to do office work or go to night school for technical training of some kind.
When someone's work ethic is dulled, or his desire to upgrade his education or job skills is dulled, I smell a gap coming between the haves and have-nots.
Democrat and Republican "progressive" policies have caused these type problems. A frontiersman knew he would root hog or die. That independent spirit is killed by socialism. (Or that lack of individual spirit desires socialism.)
Mr. Heim, you are right. Our system is broken. The great wave of socialism from Wilson to Obama is not working. It is causing social unrest. It is causing a gap between economic groups to get larger. It is time to get rid of it, not double down on it.
justmyopinion 1 year, 7 months ago
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Yukonjohn 1 year, 7 months ago
mmforeman, we agree.
My Dad, very conservative, out of need, because we were poor, told me years ago:
If you split up all the wealth in this country equally, in short order the same people would have all the money. I believe him. It just shows, they know how to make money from work. I feel bad for the underemployeed/unemployeed, but life is tough. Hey, I have never been what I consider wealthy, but am comfortable.
We have these protesters here in Alaska, but won't for long. They don't protest too well when it is below zero!! Oh, and I fully support their right to protest, it is a cornerstone of our Republic!
madstork 1 year, 7 months ago
Heim's "state of the union" summary at the beginning seemed pretty accurate. He almost sounded as if he had been to a Tea Party rally for a moment. Now that he has stated the obvious, let's summarize.
Bottom line..."Occupy" theme is aligned with the democratic philosophy of a large gov't to take care of the masses. Snappy looking union shirts in the crowds. As Heim lists Occupy Raleigh as a facebook group, this article lines up as expected.
madstork 1 year, 7 months ago
The original launch of OWS was mentioned in a CNN Money article on 9/16. OWS was born in the hallways of the fine journal of social wisdom...Adbusters...Check the link...nonsense.
http://www.adbusters.org/about/adbusters
JeremyG 1 year, 7 months ago
Overturn Citizens United, Jail the banksters responsible for the economic crash in the first place, end the wars, and take money out of politics. The system has failed and the two party approach does not work. Both sides are bought and paid for (Yes this includes Obama).
JER 1 year, 7 months ago
Let us review: This is a country that is by the people and for the people. We elect individuals to represent our views and interests. We also hire people (lobbyists) to help promote our views and interests with the people we elected to represent or views and interests. We then "discover" that the whole system is corrupt, with our elected officials all being "bought and paid for". The one common denominator in the whole thing is us, we, the people. We are incapable of governing ourselves in the manner we think we should be governed because each one of us has "special interests" that are counter to the "special interests" of others. I agree that our system is broken and we can no longer compromise our views and interests with those of other people. We have met the enemy and it is us. Maybe it's time for a dictator who just tells us how it's going to be. Maybe it's time for the 50 states to become 50 different countries and we go live in the country (state) that best meets our requirements. Maybe it's time for us to realize that this system no longer works for everyone, which is what I believe the current set of protests is saying.
geoffcutler 1 year, 7 months ago
JER- "Maybe it's time for us to realize that this system no longer works for everyone, which is what I believe the current set of protests is saying."
Yeah, you're right! The system is especially lousy for those protesters who wouldn't work even if they were given a job. Real bottom feeders, these.
JER 1 year, 7 months ago
Geoff, the Tea Party held protest rallies because they were being "taxed enough already" in spite of the fact that tax rates are currently relatively low. They were complaining about contributing to the operation of our government, which I find to be a tad bit lower than a "bottom feeder". The Tea Party is a group of folks who represent the upper echelon of this country. The current batch of protesters represent a very wide, diversified segment of today's society, ranging from the middle class, the working poor, the unemployed, students, and, like in the Tea Party, a small fringe group of nutcases. You like to think of the Tea Party as an organization of patriots and you have cast the folks protesting today as the dregs of society. Things will always look distorted to you when viewed looking down your nose.
Phoenix 1 year, 7 months ago
Mr. Heim - Ok, I'll bite...
"And we’ve been pummeled with the message that our problem is the federal deficit. It isn’t. Our chief problem is a lack of jobs. Restoring full employment alone would erase a third of that deficit."
So what do we do about the other two thirds? Is there anything in your note about entitlement reform? Tax reform? We've got to stop pissing on each others legs over ideology issues and discuss the real problems. Follow the money and admit that it's going to hurt for all of us...
cheers, chris