The Power of Occupy

this is from “Gina,” originally published as a number of posts on an occupy group page, compiled by me.

The number one thing we need to keep in mind is that we realize now more than ever the need for direct, participatory democracy.  This is what is modeled in the general assembly meetings and consensus building is the result.

We have many issues that need addressing: money in politics, bank regulation, campaign finance reform, etc.  The core problem is not any of these issues.  They are symptoms of the disease.  The disease is that our voices are not being heard.

The core problem is that we have a “representative” government.  It is not a direct participatory democracy.  Having a representative government would be fine if those who claim to represent us acted in our best interests, but we have seen how easily they have been bought out and corrupted.  Having 500-plus people attempt to represent the interest of hundreds of millions of Americans is giving those 500-plus people too much power over us and has been a grand failure.   You see the situation that we are in now.  Our system of government was set up this way out of fear, not fairness.

We live in a republic, not a democracy.  One reason a republic government was set up is so that the land owners (the minority) could maintain control of their property and affairs out of fear that the “common” people (the majority) would bring about conditions of greater income equality and resource sharing if they were able to participate directly in political affairs. Thus, the founding fathers designed the system whereby the majority of people could not participate directly in their own government affairs but have “representatives”.  Thus, the system is flawed and created out of fear of losing power.  We see how this way of government has led to the mess that we are in.

The primary message that #OWS sends is the need to have a direct participatory democracy and this is modeled by #OWS in the general assemblies and consensus building.  #OWS has not focused on any specific “demands” because that is not where the core problems lie.  By operating within the current system, direct participatory democracy will not be achieved because the system is not set up to operate that way.  Until we have a government of true direct participatory democracy where our voices are truly heard, we will continue to have the problems that we face.  We cannot continue to operate the same way and yet expect a different outcome.

The power of the Occupy movement is that occupiers ARE the change.  Occupiers model the new behavior. There is direct participatory democracy, no hierarchy, transparency, and it is leaderless [or better yet—leaderful].  ”Our” current government does not exhibit any of these characteristics.  By the general assemblies and consensus building, occupiers are showing the government, our nation, and our world the better way of governing ourselves.  As a result, occupiers know that our government cannot be changed by working within the system because the system does not have the characteristics needed to achieve what we want which is a true democracy—a direct participatory democracy.  This is why we model and are the change that is needed to bring about a true democracy.  This is why occupiers gather together and talk with one another.  Everyone is heard.  Everyone has a voice.  They have direct participation.

We need to go beyond getting an amendment to reverse Citizen’s United.  We need to put limits in place to prevent this sort of thing from occurring again.
Our Supreme Court justices are suppose to be neutral, objective, and reasonable in their decision making.  However, we see that they are hand picked to uphold and make laws that satisfy a particular political party.   Thus, there is not always neutrality and objectivity.   All of this is shown in recent court rulings such as Citizens United v. FEC.  Now we have to work to get an amendment which in itself will take a tremendous effort.  Yet, the same judges who made this ruling will continue to sit on the bench although they have shown us that they have allegiance to the party that put them in their seat and not to upholding justice and Constitutional rights.  We cannot permit them to stay on the bench.  They have shown us how much damage they can do and have done.  We also need to set term limits for being on the Supreme court bench, as well as, create a more expedient way to get a ruling overturned or reversed in the event we have another ruling that is damaging to our rights or does not uphold the Constitution.   We have work to do!  These justices are not being bought out with money.  Their pockets are not being lined by corporations, yet they have made this horrendous decision.

Our work goes beyond just getting money out of politics.  We need to revolutionize our system of government.