Forum Post: Realictic Progress

Unfortunately the majority of Americans are either apathetic or dismissive towards the movement due partly to the fact that they derive their worldviews almost entirely from the media or their environment. We should be attempting to gain popular support by making cohesive, logical, and empirical arguments against the people that work so hard to keep the populace distracted from the blatantly obvious corruption of government. Education should be the priority; informing our fellow citizens, through unbiased facts, via the mainstream media. I know the naïve revolutionaries might have a difficult time with this, however, it is absolutely necessary to appropriate traditional methods of protest, which include designating certain individuals to speak for and represent the movement; eloquent and moderate individuals who embrace democracy rather than outright revolt. A suit and tie, believe It or not, is much harder to ignore than dreadlocks and occupy patches. These people must be the most educated amongst us, and be ready to defend against criticism, and retaliate with concrete and relevant information that, when juxtaposed against the opposition’s base arguments, will show Americans who they can really trust. In conjunction with a lengthy period of planning between all chapters of the movement, we might be able to come up with some genuine ideas for protest en mass. Organization is key, and while some insist on wasting valuable resources on a continued occupation that has not yielded results, the rest of us should find a way to broadcast our message and build momentum so that, come election time, the candidates will have no choice but to acknowledge us or risk losing however many votes we manage to accrue. If the Tea Party can rally their uneducated masses so can we, albeit for a much more benevolent purpose. To do so however, we need a banner to rally under and a platform to support. Realistically speaking all we need is reform in government, not the total overhaul that proposed demands would entail. If we begin in campaign reform, for example, everything else is likely fallow. The current system where money wins elections is the biggest flaw in government because it is assumed that when a group pays for your victory you are indebted to that group and therefore protect their interests. However, if campaigns were publicly funded our representation would have no choice but to cater to the public’s interests.