On Sunday, October 2nd, I went down to Liberty Plaza to see the Occupy Wall Street movement firsthand and stayed for about 5 hours. What I found more than anything else was democracy at work and a "General Assembly" of people who in a lot of ways are more mature than our elected representatives in congress.
The movement has drawn criticism for not having a clear list of demands or solutions, but those critics are missing the point. We are faced with many complicated problems, and the solutions that will work will likewise be varied and complex. Our leaders have had several years to come up with solutions, and theirs have not been simple and the results continue to be lacking. The Occupy Wall Street movement is structured 'horizontally' meaning that there is no defined leadership per se, which makes the movement more open and inclusive and everyone's opinion is welcome.
The people I encountered at Liberty Plaza ranged from Columbia Economics Professor Joseph Stiglitz to employed and financially/politically savvy professionals with strong opinions on what can be done, to others who can't put their finger on what they think is wrong, but simply know that something is wrong and want to make things better. All were friendly, curious, and willing to listen to a myriad of viewpoints.
It is wrong to be critical of fellow Americans who are peacefully exercising their rights under the Constitution. People came to have a voice in a public forum, work together and learn. How can you criticize someone who wants to be engaged in a true democratic process? How can you criticize someone who says that they don't know something but shows a genuine eagerness to learn about it? I have seen people write that the protestors are lazy, spoiled and naive, and should get jobs. I will tell you that these people are none of those things. If they were lazy and spoiled, they would be at home watching TV or playing video games, if they were naive, they wouldn't be forgoing comfort to search for a better way and to say that they should be working is to tightly close your eyes to the economic reality around us.
Obviously the viewpoints were as varied as the people, but by and large most were willing to work together and compromise, and most realized that this is not about being either or, black or white, capitalist vs. socialist vs. communist or a poor vs. rich battle nor anti-government or anti-corporation. All were interested in making things better. In a time when establishment politics continues to try to divide people who have very similar core goals, the amount of togetherness, patience and understanding was impressive and refreshing.
There were core themes which most agreed upon and most of them centered on restoring fairness of opportunity to the system, eliminating or reducing corporate control over government, and promoting peace, health, and education.
As an example, when the country shifts from a banking system which was supposed to be capitalistic where gains and losses are privatized to one which is worse than either capitalism or socialism; where the gains are privatized and taken out of the system by the few, and the losses are privatized on the backs of the ever-shrinking middle class, that is a huge problem. That bankers received $1 million+ bonuses on top of $200,000+ base salaries after being bailed out by teachers making $50,000 per year is ridiculous. The contract of capitalism was broken, the institutions literally gambled and lost their rent money and got the government to pay for it with minimal repercussions.
Additionally, there is the issue of the incredibly skewed tax code which puts most of the burden as a percentage of income on the middle class. The fact that a dollar made from an investment held for a year or more (and there are accounting tricks to recharacterize almost anything to fit that bill) is taxed at a max rate of 15% while income made from working at a job is taxed at up to 35% plus an additional 5.65% for social security and medicare is ludicrous. Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world recently wrote in his New York Times Op-Ed piece:
"If you make money with money (investments), as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot."
I don't hate the rich, in fact I like most of them that I've encountered, and I am happy for their success, but there should not be any way that they pay less taxes per dollar earned than anyone who makes less than them. The systematic concentration of wealth into fewer and fewer hands is not only unfair, but it takes a great toll on our nation and society. Issues like this must be corrected immediately to avoid further destabilization. This is not about class war, only about everyone paying their fair share. I can see no reason why a dollar earned by making an investment should be taxed less than a dollar earned teaching or building something, or performing surgery.
The above only begins to scratch the surface, but illustrates that there are many clear issues to work on here. Those two above issues alone should be enough to necessitate a protest, but why think small and impose limits when so much can be accomplished?
Most participants are steadfastly committed to maintaining the protest in a peaceful manner, do not want to get into altercations with police, and actively strive to keep things safe and courteous. There has been $0 of confirmed property damage sustained during the movement. When one man climbed into a tree above the crowd, the crowd began chanting "please get down", the majority wanted to avoid giving the police a reason to disrupt the General Assembly meeting, and wanted to ensure the safety of all.
Although the police do at times step in to assert control even when things seem to be going smoothly. I saw a young woman standing next to a bike having a conversation for over a half hour in full view of the police. They arbitrarily came over and asked her and a few other people to move a few feet toward the park over an arbitrary line because she was "obstructing the sidewalk" even though foot traffic was light, she wasn't slowing any pedestrians down, and it was fine for her to be there up to that point, they decided to take issue with her. When she refused to move and locked herself to the bike, the police called for a truck with a power demolition saw which they used to saw the bike in half and arrested her. When one or two people in the crowd began insulting the police, others said "no, don't do that". After the arrest, a facilitator came to encourage people "not to be distracted" and to come back to the General Assembly where people were about to share their accounts of the incident on the Brooklyn Bridge.
After listening to the accounts of the bridge and dropping some pizza off at the food station, I headed home thankful that a large group of people decided to ensure that more voices are heard and that we as a society are not defined through our silence by the voice of a few.
1 comment:
Fantastic write up, Eric.
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