Forum Post: Why OWS was important this election
Posted 11 years ago on Nov. 8, 2012, 5:48 p.m. EST by geo
(2638)
from Concord, NC
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Using the words of MM:
"Finally, thanks must be given to the Occupy movement who, a year ago, set the tone of this election year by getting everyone to talk about the 1% vs. 99%. It inspired Obama and his campaign to realize that there was a huge popular sentiment against what the wealthy have done to the country and there was something wrong if just 400 rich guys owned more than 160 million Americans combined (all those moochers and bums). This led to Romney's "47%" remarks and THAT was the beginning of the end of his campaign. Thank you Mother Jones for releasing that secret tape, and thank you to the minimum wage worker who placed a camera on the serving buffet next to the candle. This morning's headline in the Washington Post says it all: "At Romney headquarters, the defeat of the 1 percent." ...
You may disagree with the source, but don't shoot the messenger... it's the message that is important.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/morning-in-america-a-note-from-michael-moore
Something is terribly wrong here. 98.5% of the 99% voted for the 1%'s candidates. Just 1.5% voted outside of the duopoly. Either the people all walk on cloven hooves or the results were tampered with. Did any of the U.N. voting inspectors actually inspect anything?
With over 50% of the eligible voters not voting, at best only 48% of the voters, voted for the duopoly.
Regardless, a win with only 26% of the eligible voters is not a mandate, no matter who won.
Although it was nice of Moore to acknowledge Occupy in his comments, we should remember that Occupy's main mission is that of relentless focus on the abuses of the global banking industry. OWS was, in fact, born for the very reason that abuses on the part of Wall Street contributed greatly to the economic collapse of 2008 and subsequent high unemployment, not to mention the fact that the biggest WS banks were bailed out. Many subjects are discussed on this forum encompasing a wide range of topics, and I am the first to admit my input to the recent election debate. However, I find it odd, for example, that banking abuses such as the LIBOR scandal, which was itself the greatest fraud ever perpetrated in world history, have so quickly faded away from public discussion as if it had never occurred. Perhaps people have simply experienced such repeated incredible abuses that they are no longer capable of being shocked and have become numb and incapable of outrage any longer. Regardless of the reason, Occupy needs to try to recapture that outrage that it displayed during its spontaneous creation from seemingly nowhere, and to relentlessly push for Wall Street reforms, election reform, campaign finance reform, and all of the other "money out of politics" reforms that it has repeatedly pushed for in the past. Occupy must never take its eye off of its primary mission.
It's a good thing that minimum wage worker gave that recording to Jimmy Carter's grandson. If he didn't Obama could have turned out to be another Jimmy Carter. Does that make any sense?
Some ideas just plain stick and resonate with the middle class.
Romney could not be trusted. His clown show proved that. We heard the real Mitt Romney, he was the one on that tape, unfiltered, true, sincere. We got lucky and found out who the real Mitt Romney is.
We dodged a bullet. Obama will go down as one of our great presidents even if we have to drag the whining Tea Party behind us as we embark on a better future.
We have moved the ball down the field. NOW--->We need to keep fighting, stay active!
Come Together NOW
Good to see you active dude.
Congrats on the election win. Now it's time to get into the street & protest all pols for change that benefits the 99%
Exactly, this was the problem last time. We eased back. We have to pressure congress to act more than ever. The crap game the repugs been playing must end. NOW...The people have spoken and we want to remind the clown acts still roaming Washington that we are done with them, for good. The TPer's need to be muzzled and sat in the corner until unelection comes for them.
We the people are everywhere, and we will keep coming back. Name the place and time, we will............ DO IT AGAIN!!!
Come Together NOW
Definitely. got some tp'rs out. more to go in 2014. Obama claims he will use the people to push the kind of progressive change we need.
We'll see. We gotta pressure all pols for progress.
ANd progress is better than reverse. Maybe we can still wake up in time to save the planet after all. ANyway I look at it, one way or another I will be part of this movement. Come Hell, High Water, or a Hurricane. Rationality along with the evident truth that tags along will some day win the day. We need that day soon before it's too late. We may have already gone over the line with Global Warming. We just haven't realized it yet.
Good Luck! The struggle is worth it even if we lose everything in the end. This is IT!!!
Come Together NOW, see the LIGHT, it's US
Agreed.
Look sharp, Stay frosty. Keep fighting
Solidarity!
We continue to find the EVIDENT TRUTH.
Honor it and Respect IT!
And prove it, when it's true, it's evidence is abundant and is real.
Do you feel REAL? Show IT!
Let's do this, with the truth at our backs:
COME TOGETHER NOW !!!
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What's going to be importatnt to this election is just how things "aren't going to change".
So, get over it - learn to live making less then $25,000 a year and stop whining - you are the ones who voted for this dork so live with it.
before you go crazy - see what happens to the taxes paid by the 1% next year .
thats only if we accept minim wage jobs
I think things will get worse, much worse; and whoever is president has liittle to with it.
47 is an interesting number. Isn't that about the % of people that don't usually vote? Wait, was Romney talking about us? I'll refrain from name-calling because he lost. Way to go Romney.
And you know who released the 47% video to MJ?
the grandson of the republiclan's arch enemy -
Jimmy Carter!
justice may be slow - but sooooo sweet
The Carter grandson aspect was the sweetest part of it.
You seem to take pride in the fact that Obama likes to incite "class warfare". Well the stock market hasn't rebounded and all I have to say about him and what he's doing to this country is - the people who voted for him get what they deserve - no jobs, stagnent economy, bailing out companies that fail with taxpayer money and more people on welfare then the history of this country - great man isn't he.
He is now having talks with CEO's of large corporations to ask "how can we get the economy growing and jobs".
Why didn't he do that when he first came into office.
I'll tell you why - because he didn't and still doesn't have a clue as to what it takes to get the economy growing for if he did the GDP would be around 5 or 6 percent.
5 trillion didn't do a thing for the economy as can be shown by the 47%ers. -
Incite class warfare?
Class warfare was waged and won. The vast minority upper class controls most of the wealth. Do you need more evidence than that? There is no more equal opportunity with a playing field this askew.
$5 trillion didn't do a thing, $16 trillion didn't either... not when Wall Street has buried us in a $50 Trillion dollar hole through derivatives trading on real estate.
Why do you have a problem with the "upper class" when in fact you can become part of the upper class.
The funny thing is, you still believe that concept.
G-Day Builder. R U receiving the telethon broadcast?
Hi DKA. I've got a paddock full of longhorn cattle that are eating my mango crop. Just sat down for a bite before heading out to try and get rid of the pesky buggers, again.
The neighbour couldn't care less. Might have to knock one or two on the head to make a point.
Only fair - you get a bit of beef for your trouble - and crop loss.
I have no desire to part of the 'upper class', not that it was ever possible.
I would be much happier being part of a well paid 'Middle Class'... doesn't look like that will be happening either in the near term.
That's kinda fatalistic, yeah?
The middle class is fading away because of complacency and laziness.
Switch off the infotainment, and focus upon what is happening in political spheres.
There is nobody to blame if you sit back and wait for a mythical someone to do something.
The ball is clearly in your court.
"The middle class is fading away because of complacency and laziness."
It's easier to believe 300 million people are lazy than 400 people are thieves.
The ball is in my court but the game and rules has not so surprisingly changed. Equal opportunity no longer exists. Testament to this is the richest 1% captured 93% of the income gains.
"Switch off the infotainment, and focus upon what is happening in political spheres. There is nobody to blame if you sit back and wait for a mythical someone to do something."
You assume way too much.
Well if that's your attitude about life then so be it. But don't condem others for wanting to be succesful.
Shayneh, the expansive policies of the Obama administration and our Federal Reserve DID prevent much WORSE from happening to innocent folks who did not deserve to be hurt. However, the rightful place to address long-run economic policy is NOT at our Federal Reserve. Our Congress needs to cut its Gordian knot of its own straitjacket to handle fiscal policy properly. Monetary policy addiction is as bad as any druggie can tell you. The Obama administration is limited in what it can do under our Constitution but a part of it certainly had been treated as Charmin by the current administration. The slow recovery is due to our different parties "not playing balls." Do you remember that Obama NEVER invited Scott Brown to a basketball match at the White House?
You seem to take pride in the fact that you're a dupe of the ruling class parasites who own America! Go peddle your shit, apparently the entire content of your head, at some den of nitwits who watch Fox news or whatever conservative propaganda mill fills your head with offal.
Hey, you can spew your negativism all you want but if you don't have the desire to succede you won't.
That is why you have a problem with what I stated and that is why I have no problem with people becoming "evil rich and wealthy".
I know how to succede - do you?.
If the definition of success is to have ten times the average net worth [wealth], what is the maximum percentage of the population that can possibly succeed? Presume that all but the elite [successful] class have zero net worth. In fact, that stipulation is required to maximize the number of the successful. They can have even more if we have negative net worth. But that wasn't the negativity your specious declaration refers to. Was it? By the way: negative net worth means more debt than assets.
If you can't do the math, then I suggest you repeat the fourth grade.
"succede"? Is it intended to be a pun for what our state of Texas may clamor for? Oh, I looked it up -- it came from Middle English "succeden," very interesting and apt for describing the inclinations of Texas.
You know how to "succede - " Really??! Yesterday you couldn't even spell succeed!
What does "spelling" have to do with success?
The spelling led me to test your intelligence. I'm not surprised that you failed to even respond to the question above:
". . . what is the maximum percentage of the population that can possibly succeed?"
lets make a wager - I will be willing to put up $1000 against your $1000 that I have much more knowledge, intelligence and job skills then you when it comes to being successful - Care to take that bet?
You don't even have a clue about success when you say "definition of success is to have ten times the average net worth" I guess you read that somewhere so it sounds right.
Your proposal of a wager proves your ignorance. If you could do fourth grade math, you wouldn't need to be evasive in that way. Worse, it's obviously yourself that you fool with that crap! Remember how Mitt embarrassed himself with a proposed wager? It didn't stop the 47% of Americans who're fools like you from voting for him.
Vos combibo Mitt scriptor irrumabo!
Yah, I knew you wouldn't take the bet - bye!
On November 6th, 2012, the American people said "We'd like more of the same please!" And nothing changed. 4 more years just like the last 4. Yippee!
It was the lesser of two evils....again. That being said OWS deserves recognition for opening the national dialogue on the vagrant class warfare that was perpetuated against the majority by a tiny minority. In 1776, we fought elitism, and nobility... but there is a noticeable number of people who support this most un-American of ideals.
'We hold these truths to be self evident that ALL men are created equal'
... not some more equal than others, or grossly unequal opportunities for to majority to improve our conditions.
Romney was revealed to be a real life Gordon Ghekko, the leveraged buyout king, a sociopath.
The Revolutionary War was the direct result of an over-reaching government attempting to suck money out of the colonists in order to pay for the debt of war AND to enforce the idea that the colonists were SUBJECTS of Britain.
Maybe you should read the REST of the Declaration of Independence instead of just one little snippet as if that alone supports your argument.The document is declaring the right and reasons for, throwing off an oppressive government and "dissolving the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them"
http://historycentral.com/documents/Decindependence.html
The "American" spirit is one of independence of the citizenry, NOT one of dependence on the government. The American Spirit revolts against government control and taxation. The American Spirit demands that citizens have the right to take up arms and defend themselves FROM their government when it oversteps it's bounds.
And yet, you revile and shout accusations against those Americans who are speaking the same things today that the rebels were speaking 20 years BEFORE the Revolutionary War began. it's apparent which side you'll be on when and if the "American ideal" finally gets tired of your crap and rises up again. Good luck with that.
"The "American" spirit is one of independence of the citizenry, NOT one of dependence on the government. The American Spirit revolts against government control and taxation..."
That's taxation without representation..... not that the American Spirit revolts against taxation. Now who is cherry picking words?
"The American Spirit demands that citizens have the right to take up arms and defend themselves FROM their government when it oversteps it's bounds."
It's an empty right. Try to take up arms against the US Govt if you dare and see how far it gets you. There isn't a thing the US citizen can do against the power of our military. Tea Partiers and their guns all look great but will do nothing to start a real Revolution.
And did the early American govt/military slaughter & scatter Native peoples, take their land and distribute it to earliest American citizens? Wouldn't that be the individualistic, independent American citizens DEPENDING on the govt to clear, & provide the land?
Can you say govt hand out? I guess those hand outs are ok cause the recipients weren't brown?
There were MANY early Americans who fought AGAINST the govt/military slaughter of Native peoples. There were also many early colonies who respected their Indian neighbors and had productive treaties with them. The Indian Removal Act was bitterly fought over in congress.
You're the one who is all about taking things from certain people and giving it to others. If the Natives, the minority, had "all that land" and the new immigrants had none, and the natives refused to "share", then according to you, the government SHOULD have stepped in and divided it all up and redistributed it. Or were those hand outs NOT ok because the recipients were white?
You don't speak for me. I'm against the genocidal treatment of natives peoples by European "explorers".
So the govt hand outs that the rugged individualist early American citizens took were wrong.
I am against handouts today as well. In fact I support a helping hand up. Not a hand out.
When did I say "take things from certain people, & giving to others"?
I believe in justice, fairness, shared sacrifice, equal opportunity. & hard work.
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"So the govt hand outs that the rugged individualist early American citizens took were wrong."
Then so are the govt hand outs being taken by American citizens today.
Forgive me for assuming that you agreed with the vast majority of OWS members who post here supporting redistribution of anything from the haves to the have nots.
Sorry, Betsy, You were outvoted, again, on Tuesday. The 47 percent united for more equality better distribution of income. Not even your founding fathers would agree with your interpretations.
http://mobile.alternet.org/alternet/#!/entry/the-founding-fathers-believed-in-redistributing-wealth-why-do-tea,5084554ed7fc7b5670271a11
http://www.patternliteracy.com/655-redistributing-wealth-upwards
http://people.uncw.edu/pricej/teaching/socialchange/Why%20Societies%20Redistribute%20Wealth.htm
http://people.stern.nyu.edu/nroubini/INEQUALI.HTM
http://www.nber.org/digest/dec08/w13982.html
You guys are so used to manipulating the facts it is now second nature http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/business/questions-raised-on-withdrawal-of-congressional-research-services-report-on-tax-rates.html?_r=0
http://wweb.uta.edu/ssw/delliott/5303/Poor%20Laws%20History%20of%20Social%20Welfare.ppt
http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195389678/obo-9780195389678-0075.xml
I am against the redistribution of wealth from the 99% to the1% over the last 30 years.
I think it is the 1% plutocrats who get the hand outs (tax loopholes, havens, shelters, corp welfare, subsidies, weak regulations)
So I support correcting that injustice, but that isn't a hand out or taking from one for another, redistribution. That is JUSTICE!
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It's only JUSTICE if you can prove, with unbiased evidence, that something that belonged legally and lawfully to one person(s) was taken by someone else. JUSTICE cannot be based on assumptions, or accusations or theories or even "I think". JUSTICE requires facts, and laws to judge against, and a jury of peers, and a judge.
JUSTICE is BLIND for a reason. And only what can be placed on her scales can be weighed.
Yeah sure. As long as we get a jury of our peers I think it will easily seen.
Peace