I believe we can resolve the concerns regarding the future of OWS by focusing on the one key problem and by having a clear vision of a workable solution.
The one key problem is the concentration of political power among the top 1%. This is key, because no other problems can be fixed until this first problem is fixed.
A workable solution involves getting a large percentage of the population actively involved in publicly supporting a movement to solve the key problem. I believe when enough people get involved, then solutions will start to emerge and the political clout will be great enough to make those solutions a reality.
When this key problem is fixed, then we will have a functioning democracy, with which we can use to tackle other problems like the concentration of wealth.
The Key Problem and a Vision for Solving the Key Problem
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Our nation is stuck, because our democracy is broken. We cannot fix a broken democracy through voting and petitioning, because these traditional democratic methods only work in a functioning democracy. In fact, we cannot fix any problem until this first problem is fixed.
Here is one vision for solving the key problem that people can rally around:
1) Get a growing number of people involved in publicly expressing their belief that our democracy is not working.
2) Get a growing number of people involved in developing and communicating a better understanding of the details of the problem.
3) When some critical mass of people get involved, then ideas for solutions will emerge and the political clout will also emerge to advance these solutions.
In order to get a really large percentage of the population involved, we have to focus on only this one key problem, because if the OWS movement includes other problems, then the additional problems will serve to divide people.
And we need a large percentage of the population involved, in order to amass the political clout and the understanding to push for effective reform.
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The Importance of Developing a Clear Understanding of the Key Problem
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Having a good understanding is important, because the problem is complicated. In addition to campaign contributions, there are other ways that lobbyists peddle influence. We need to fully understand all of these levers of influence. It will take time to acquire this understanding and communicate to everyone. For this to happen, we need many people involved and interested in gaining an understanding of exactly what is wrong with the system.
In the following interview, the former lobbyist Jack Abramoff divulges that political influence involves more than just providing campaign contributions.
Nov 6, 2001 - 60 Minutes - Jack Abramoff: The lobbyist's playbook
CBS News: ...... the "best way" to get a congressional office to do his bidding ... was to offer a staffer a job that could triple his salary.
Abramoff: When we would become friendly with an office and they were important to us, and the chief of staff was a competent person, I would say or my staff would say to him or her at some point, "You know, when you're done working on the Hill, we'd very much like you to consider coming to work for us." Now the moment I said that to them or any of our staff said that to 'em, that was it. We owned them. And what does that mean? Every request from our office, every request of our clients, everything that we want, they're gonna do. And not only that, they're gonna think of things we can't think of to do.
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Abramoff: At the end of the day most of the people that I encountered who worked on Capitol Hill wanted to come work on K Street, wanted to be lobbyists.
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Abramoff: The reform efforts continually are these faux-reform efforts where they'll change, they'll tweak the system. They'll say, "You can't take a congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a hamburger or a steak of something like that." But you can take him to a fundraising lunch and not only buy him that steak, but give him $25,000 extra and call it a fundraiser. And have all the same access and all the same interaction with that congressman. So the people who make the reforms are the people in the system.
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CBS News: He says the most important thing that needs to be done is to prohibit members of Congress and their staff from ever becoming lobbyists in Washington.
Abramoff: If you make the choice to serve the public, public service, then serve the public, not yourself. When you're done, go home. Washington's a dangerous place. Don't hang around.
In addition, the information we get is distorted by the moneyed interests. Many of the news websites that people visit are controlled by major companies, not to mention the traditional sources from TV, radio, and print. Even experts in think tasks and universities are influenced by big money.
The Globe and Mail - 10/15/2011 - Economics has Met the Enemy and it is Economics
Indeed, economics may be the dismal science, but there is nothing dismal about the payoffs for those at the top of the heap serving as advisers and consultants and sitting on various boards. Unlike some disciplines, economics has no guidelines governing conflict of interest and disclosure.
OfTwoMinds.com - 10/20/2011 - Semi-Random Notes on the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Movement
The key to understanding Washington is to understand that the whole place is for sale. It's not just politicians. It's interest groups (right and left), media, foundations, lobbyists, etc.
Companies/foundations/labor all essentially manufacture "public opinion" from thin air simply by routing money to the right mouthpieces -- public interest groups, non-profits, academics & universities, analysts. It's hugely sophisticated and the budgets are enormous.
They are all competing (and paying) to either get the government to screw their competitor or convey some government benefit to them.
The voice of the electorate -- the real "grassroots" -- gets completely lost in the din. As soon as a "movement" picks up steam (e.g. Tea Party, MoveOn.org) it becomes completely co-opted... Tea Party becomes about "Guns, God & Gays" as Denninger rightly points out. Huge sums of money are dangled in front of the movement's leaders and the original purpose of the movement is transformed into something that the status quo can tolerate.
There's no room in this town for anyone who challenges the status quo -- be that a Ron Paul, a Dennis Kucinich, a Noam Chomsky, etc. (Republicans ridicule Ron Paul just as much as Democrats do... It's NOT his ideas that they are afraid of, it's that he's a huge threat to their power and perks.)
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The Key Problem is Heavily Ingrained in Our Democracy
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Another significant aspect is that this problem has been around for much longer than forty years. It has been around for more than a century, which means that it is heavily ingrained in our institutions, regulations, laws, and judicial interpretations of the Constitution.
Here are some relevant quotes:
* In 1931, the philosopher John Dewey wrote that "... politics is the shadow cast on society by big business". ["The Breakdown of the Old Order". March 25th, 1931. New Republic.]
* In 1876, the president Rutherford B Hayes said, "It is a government of corporations, by corporations, and for corporations". [The Hidden History of Corporate Rule]
Our nation was founded, in part, as a reaction to corporate power, but it did not take long for the seeds to be planted which allowed corporations to gain control of the U.S. government, as they had the British government. The citizenry will need to "reassert the convictions of our nation's founders who struggled successfully to free us from corporate rule in the past." ["Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States" - www.ReclaimDemocracy.org]
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The Importance of Growing the Movement to Encompass a Large % of the Population
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The OWS protests were a spark, but the active support has not yet been at the level that can demand change. As of now, less than 1% of the population have been holding signs that read "we are the 99%". Although it's true that polls show that somewhere between 1/3rd and 1/2 of Americans support OWS, there needs to be public expression of this support in order for the movement to grow.
Also, creative ideas need to emerge to allow people to express themselves in other ways than occupying a public place. Although that is a good tactic, not everyone is going to do that, especially in the winter.
Here is an idea that I came up with. It is probably not a good idea, but I wanted to come up with some idea to provide an example, so that we can start brainstorming better ideas. The idea is that we start a campaign to photograph groups of people holding signs that indicate support for OWS and reclaiming democracy. Perhaps, we can have billboards that show local people holding a sign that shows a link to a website that would list names and show photos of their neighbors expressing support for OWS. It would also describe the problem that OWS is trying to fix and the game plan for how to fix the problem. Then, it would encourage visitors to join the movement by publicly expressing their support.
If people don't even have the will or the nerve to publicly call for reform of our democratic system, then it probably will not happen. To amass a powerful movement, there needs to be an energetic, public expression of the conviction of a large percentage of the citizenry.
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A Clear Vision that will Help Motivate People to Get Involved
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It is hard for many people to be enthusiastic about a movement that seems to be just about growing without there being any concrete action to advance ideas that will actually solve problems. For this reason, there needs to be a clear vision that explains how this movement will work. Here is my clearest conception of a vision:
1) Grow the movement until at least 50% of the population is publicly expressing support for democratic reform.
2) While the movement is growing, activists need to gain an understanding of how wealthy interest groups control our government. Also, activists will need to communicate this understanding to their fellow activists and the population at large.
3) As an understanding develops of the problem, ideas for solutions will naturally emerge and then be discussed among activists. A few best ideas will emerge as the most popular.
4) When 50% of the population is involved, then we will advance the best ideas to our state and federal governments and they will become enacted in law, due to the overwhelming power of energetically expressed popular opinion.
The actual number needed may be less than 50%, but I am guessing that if we got to 50%, then that would be sufficient. Also, it helps to come up with a specific number, so that people can see what the goal is. In other words, the 50% number makes it clear that there will come a time when the movement will have grown large enough and sophisticated enough to switch to focusing on advancing solutions, rather than just growing. And that time is when 50% of the population is involved.