I went to the first General Assembly meeting today of Occupy Gainesville. We're a bit behind the times, admittedly, but I was extremely happy to see things finally get kicked off here. Yesterday I also was one of five people to attend a meeting with GPD's Chief of Police to inform him that we would be meeting publicly in a peaceful manner and that we had no serious idea of how many people would attend (by my rough estimate, there were probably around 150 people at the GA meeting today; not bad before it even becomes a protest, imho).
While I was there -- and before that on the Occupy Gainesville facebook page -- one of the main tenets that was discussed was the abolition of the Federal Reserve. Something doesn't feel right to me when I hear this, especially since those who seemed most passionate were also the most outspoken Ron Paul supporters -- an automatic "dubious claim qualifier" if there ever was one. More post-squiggly.
Now, I very rarely post here, and when I do it's mostly just comments, but I am an avid DKos reader, and I appreciate that the majority of what is said here is substantiated by facts, logic, reason, and people who all-in-all have their shit together (at least when it comes to political knowledge; everyone's got other shit to deal with).
Therefore, I feel totally safe admitting that I really don't have any goddam clue if this is something I should support. As I said, it doesn't feel right, but then, I didn't know until today that the Fed is privately run (or so I'm told). So I'm asking you, my fellow Kossacks, to enlighten a young, liberal, idealistic information-hungry activist: what's the deal? I trust the opinions of the people on this board, so is this just one more message pervasive throughout OWS et al. that's off point -- an ideological and/or illogical pipe dream by radical libertarians -- or is there really something to it? What function does the Fed serve? And whom? The people? Big business? I've read a lot about it tangentially, but I've never really seen a good straight-up explanation of its role, and frankly, the only bias I want is from people whose biases tend to be based in reality.
Thanks in advance! (And I'm really sorry, but I'm just now getting sick, so I must go to bed before I can reply to comments. Rest assured I will join the discussion in the morn when, with any luck, I'm feeling better.)
Peace, love, and rationality to you all!
2:39 PM PT: I really appreciate everyone's thoughts! I actually ended up sleeping until I had to go to work (but I'm feeling better now, so hopefully it was worth it!), but I have read everyone's comments, and I just wanted to thank everyone who contributed on their insights!