During the rise of the tea party, I heard someone ask a conservative why--after years of soaring debt, two wars, and a recession--Americans were suddenly getting angry. Furiously, loudly, publicly angry.
That unanswered question stayed with me, and I also wondered why the government alone was the target for that anger. Tax rates, especially among the better off, are among the lowest ever, and the "job creators" don't seem to have held up their end of the bargain they made, a promise of jobs for low taxes.
In the past months, American anger has headed in a new direction, toward those who got bailouts and tax breaks. Minnesotans are part of this shift.
Last week, Minnpost Community Voices columnist Julie Schnell took stock of the shift in A movement is stirring for jobs and justice.
In increasing numbers, all across the country, Americans are taking to the streets for real action on jobs and to challenge the power structures that are squeezing the middle class. This swelling grassroots movement is the only way for working people to stem the tide of corporate greed and return to an America in which we all pay our fair share and we all get a piece of the pie.
We're seeing actions and protest across the country, from Boston to LA, the New York Times reports in Anti-Wall Street Protests Spreading to Cities Large and Small:
A loose-knit populist campaign that started on Wall Street three weeks ago has spread to dozens of cities across the country, with protesters camped out in Los Angeles near City Hall, assembled before the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago and marching through downtown Boston to rally against corporate greed, unemployment and the role of financial institutions in the economic crisis.
Monday's Star Tribune reported that the Occupy Wall Street movement has bubbled up in Minnesota, with an action beginning October 7. It's all incredibly exciting to see people standing up, and fighting back.
And next Friday, October 14, Minnesotans for a Fair Economy along with a broad partnership of organizations will gather for a free concert in downtown Minneapolis's Peavey Plaza, then rally and march at 3 p.m. We'll tell Wells Fargo and the Big Banks, "Don't Foreclose on The American Dream." RSVP here.
The occasion for taking to the streets on October 14? Congress's Super Committee report on solving the revenue crisis. We'll be demanding that Wall Street and the banksters pay their fair share to preserve Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Additionally, we'll be sending a strong message to them to fix the foreclosure crisis, practice fair lending, and to do their part to create jobs by investing in small businesses rather than sitting on huge cash reserves.
Learn more here. It's our time. I'll see you in the street.
Donna Cassutt is the Mobile Team Director of Minnesotans for a Fair Economy.
Crossposted at Minnesota Progressive Project.
