Forum Post: OWS and the 99% seriously need to go political
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 25, 2011, 2:33 p.m. EST by DKAtoday
(33802)
from Coon Rapids, MN
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Contact the White house: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Contact the senate: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Contact Congress: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
Contact the house of representatives: http://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep?ZIP=55433
We all have concerns for our country hence the birth of Occupy WallStreet. Now we have a web-site where we can talk to each-other and exchange ideas and discuss issues freely.
But We also need to take action. Any and All actions that will get our concerns out in the open where they can be worked on. Protest Demonstrations are good because they show that there is widespread concern. Concern enough to get people from all walks of life to take to the streets.
We need also to go on record with our government and the web address's listed above will let you do this directly. It is good to let WallStreet know that we are well and truly pissed off, but we also need to take the power given us as citizens to instruct our representatives in Government that they work for all of Us not for business's. We need to voice our concerns not just to each-other but directly to our current group of elected officials. Let them know without any doubt that the system needs fixing and that if they are not willing to do their part on "OUR" behalf that they can and will be replaced, even possibly RECALLED. This is not just a Federal issue but it is also a State issue and there are web-sites that will give you direct access to your state representatives as well.
Until OWS can consolidate into a unified voice and present a unified list of demands to State and Federal Governments. We as individuals need to express our own and let them know that we support the OWS movement and it's goals to repair our society. Even if all you can manage to do is vent then vent at those in Government that need to hear it.
Hell contact the Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourt.gov/
Here is an issue that we could all start with: http://occupywallst.org/forum/lets-get-focused-and-bring-back-glass-steagall-act/
I've spoken on this many times; I feel like organization is chronically underrated by people who love ideological purity but aren't willing to understand the complexities of implementation. It's quite easy to declare that a system is severely damaged and/or corrupt; what I want to know is what people would propose to do about it and how they would go about implementing it. Simply refusing to participate and/or backing Ron Paul is out of the question; all that does is fully cede power to people who disagree with us. Violent revolution and complete disposal of the existing infrastructure is likewise a fool's remedy; even if you succeed (which is doubtful) what will you put in place as the new system and what kind of infrastructure do you plan to put in place to make sure that it too doesn't come apart?
There are a number of decent progressives in DC; Barney Frank is when you let him be, and Al Franken would definitely fall under that banner (and that's just in the Senate). They'd be harder to find in the House because of the 2010 elections, but they exist. Even if there aren't that many right now 2012 is the perfect opportunity to put them there. There are a number of seats in both the Senate and the House occupied by fairly crusty incumbents that we might have a good shot at beating in the primaries if we as an organization make an effort to do so. Honestly speaking, we need to do something in the political arena, and we pretty much have our work cut out for us. Take the case of Charlie Rangel:
Despite voicing public support for OWS, Charlie Rangel turned around and voted for a free trade agreement which is most likely going to ship even more jobs overseas and runs contrary to the founding principles of the movement. This is despicable, and a fair number of people on here ought to be pretty pissed. Here's my question to those of you who don't want to see this sort of behavior continue: When's the next round of Democratic primaries, then? And which OWS organizers are in Harlem and willing to locate and get behind a challenger for Rangel's seat? This is why we need our own slate of people running for office. If we want to get real change then we're going to need to offer real people willing to run for office and able to win; we can't trust people like Rangel to vote with their constituents and the general election offers us a choice between lip service and outright hostility. If, however, we unseat Rangel in the primaries, then we can probably put our man through the general election with little opposition and we'll have our very first OWS'er in DC. Rangel's also the perfect one to start with; there's little or no danger of a GOP candidate taking the district, but Rangel himself has been publicly called out on the House floor for corruption and I don't think people are going to forget that any time soon.
The thing is, if we try this for Rangel and succeed then it sends a message to the rest of DC that they have to start taking us into account if they want to keep their jobs. The Tea Party did it, the Populists did it, the Green Party does it on occasion, and generally speaking it works. Citizens United allows us to build and fund an OWS superPAC, partially from all that donation money nobody can seem to figure out what to do with, and use it as a war chest that we can spend on our candidates across the country. Now, we'd obviously not start soliciting corporate funding for it because that goes against everything we stand for, but imagine the power that an independently aligned national coalition of small donors would have to influence this country during elections season. We could throw our people (actual OWS'ers with community organization/activism/legal backgrounds or OWS sympathizers in that category) into Democratic and Republican primaries across the country, and even if we only take one or two seats most legislators will think of what happened to the Republican establishment post-Tea Party and will be willing to listen.
Excellent input.
Copy your reply to me and post it perhaps titled. Guiding your Representative's or Influencing Government or something.
We need to contact those who have stated that they are willing to help and let them know how we feel they are doing. What has been good and what has been wrong and what has not been broached that needs to-be.
The problem with government has always been access. We now have a powerful tool the internet. Now we all need to use it on a regular basis to keep in contact with each-other and most importantly with our Governments.
Lets give public credit to the things our representatives get right and give public criticism or condemnation to the things they get wrong. Lets name names.
All of this needs to be communicated to the source as it happens -
Contact the White house: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Contact the senate: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Contact Congress: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
Contact the house of representatives: http://www.house.gov/htbin/findrep?ZIP=55433
Contact the Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourt.gov/
But also copy your communications and to whom they were sent to the media. Let them cover it or not but then they can't say that we have no agenda.
Keep-up the good work and keep spreading the word.