As usual, Bill Maher nailed it last night and will infuriate a certain number of lefties while doing it. His point was that Occupy needs to take on the system by working and getting into the system. This business of camping, marches and singing folk songs just won't change either Wall Street or Congress. They probably look down from their lofty heights and chuckle because when that's happening, nothing real will be done to change anything.
If you have time, watch the video. It's, as always, worth viewing. Anybody who disagrees with it, please come back here and tell me how camping will change things while getting our own 60 some members into the House wouldn't.
I don't know what it will take to get lefties off their duffs and finally realize this is a battle for the direction of this country. If we lose it, the wealthy will grow wealthier and our grandchildren will have very little chance for the kinds of lives we believed we could have just 50 years ago. It is not too late. Someday, sooner than we think, it could be! One more far rightie Supreme Court Justice of a young age, and you tell me how long it will take to eliminate our remaining rights, and when there will be any chance to get them back.
5 comments:
I am having concerns about all the voter registration issues. Many will find they cannot vote. In some places people lost their vote because the poll workers sent them to the wrong place, they voted, and the vote didn't count. No recompense. Now there will be people who are told they are not valid and by the time the poor souls get the right paperwork the election will be over. We had robocalls in our state last year that told people the election had been decided and we no longer need to go to the polls if we hadn't voted!!
Yes, they do that and tell them that a provisional ballot will be counted when it won't be. Voter registration has to be a big deal this year to get people out and registered now. They can't wait until election day.
In our Southern California Inland area the problem isn't getting people registered, it's getting them to vote -- there are more Dems. than Repubs. registered, but more Repubs. than Dems. actually voted in this Primary. What does this portend for the Nov. election?
Registration IS a problem in other States, I've read. Would seem where the emphasis needs to be is quite varied, so one approach all over the country may not be the solution. Important to know the situation in every district in each State.
Also, I have reservations about all voting other than at the actual election center, but even that may depend on the system being used.
I don't agree. There's an interesting comment over at your Maher link from Orestes Ippeau that says some of what I think about it. Occupiers are mostly young and the young are naturally rebellious and nonconformist. We need that. We need them to explore all the ways we can possibly go up against what is wrong in our society. We need them to voice the complaints and get outraged about it. Frankly, after an adult lifetime of voting and supporting the kind of politics that might move us in a better direction, I am not seeing a lot of progress, I am very sympathetic to those who would just drop out of the conventional political way of doing things. We have tried all the things we are supposed to be doing and apparently we are not making a lot of headway. Why is that? And why shouldn't young people try new and different ways? Yeah, a lot of it looks useless, but in the spirit of leave no stone unturned, I am for it. Those of us who have not given up on the political system should definitely vote and organize and all that good stuff. But those who have given up on it need to be doing what still inspires them, and apparently all that "camping out" is doing just that.
It was not a bad thing to begin with, Annie, but what if anarchy comes next with their need to express themselves? How come when they all get together to try and work out what they do what besides to camp and sing kumbayah they can't come up with any cohesive plan for what would satisfy them?
The tea party did this same thing with getting into groups and expressing their rage but then they got organized, took over many moderate Republican and Democratic seats in Congress and began blocking any actions besides blocking Obama on everything, cutting taxes for the wealthiest, ending regulations of any sort, and every program that wasn't military. If the left doesn't work to get its agenda through, then we will face more like Walker where unions lose the right to bargain, women can't get abortions, gays can't get married, the rich grow richer and everybody else poorer, and our environment is so shot that it impacts the world and not just us. That's what will happen without this occupy energy exercising the power that is still there.
IF Occupy turns to anarchy, there will be suppression and it will be worse for everyone. Our country still has a place to vote and a way to do it. If we don't use it, we will end up with the biggest, meanest power ruling it all. Revolution always sounds good but looking at any revolution in history and it leads to a very bad time for a lot of people until things get sorted out. We do not need a revolution here. We need responsible citizens running for office, supporting responsible leaders, and voting. Sitting in a park or blocking people from getting into a bank can eventually lead to violent actions as it has in other countries. Usually when that happens, ordinary citizens are the victims, not the ones they terrorists would like to impact.
The registration and then getting people to vote is a big part of it, Joared. They are scaring them off in some states with calling and telling them either they don't need to (robocalls) or that they could be arrested when they vote. In the case of voting rights from the right-- you are guilty until proven innocent.
The states being targeted are those that are likely to decide the election. Which is why they are so aggressive in Florida over this even to the point of not worrying about legalities. Given who their governor is, that's not a surprise.
Thom Hartman on his radio show has been good on this. If people don't get him, I imagine he is online somewhere. He is nailing some of what you don't hear even on MSNBC. Corporate media is still owned by the wealthy even if they seem to be left wing with their commentators. I only listen to talk radio when driving somewhere but do like Hartman whenever I hear him for how he explores ideas and for his guests which can be righties as they argue the issues.
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