It's not fun writing this. I want to believe. I want to join in the hope and the excitement that's spreading across the country among the tens of thousands of people involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement.
For years now I've been perplexed as to why the American people hadn't rising in protest in the face of what I saw as a wholesale takeover of our government by Wall Street and corporate interests (on behalf of a tiny monied elite). And here we are. It has finally happened.
And as I've seen the movement spreading across the country like wild-fire, and more and more politicians, entertainment and media personalities joining the cause, I start to feel hopeful. Finally; a new day in America! The people have awakened.
But as I have been following, and participating in the movement, attending protests in different cities, interacting with people online, on twitter, here at Daily Kos, a nagging worry keeps coming to mind: The people in the movement (by and large) are decent, good people, hard working, innocent, what-you-see-is-what-you-get, idealistic.
Maybe I haven't looked hard enough, but I haven't found (yet) the Machiavellian SOB, tough, mean, brash, in-your-face, types that I believe have to play a role in the movement if it's to be successful. Although, I would also settle for the Gandhi-type leaders.
For the challenges this movement faces are very grave, serious, unimaginable to this point.
My main worry is that I believe that the vast majority of people in the movement fail to understand how truly evil the people we are rising against are, and the resources they have at their disposal, ready to put down the "rebellion."
I even see people within the movement going out of their way to justify police brutality, or making arguments about how authorities can come up with an increasing number of restrictions that if taken together, the main effect is to curtail citizens' constitutional rights of freedom of assembly.
So much so, that sometimes I think about how hundreds of years ago, in the time of Kings and Queens, even thinking about any type of harm befalling the ruler was considered a great crime, punishable by death.
As I see the protests spreading across the country, I keep thinking that if I was one of the top executives of for-profit private prison companies, I would have had board meetings full of excitement about the certainty that our prison beds were going to be filling up very soon. I would feel that the $6 million+ our lobbyist have paid to state officials, and the lucrative positions many of those state officials were jumping into after leaving politics, was about to produce a huge payout.
And about Wall Street, I don't have to guess what they would say. According to the New York Times, "Wall Street bankers dismiss protesters as unsophisticated." They see them as "fringe groups," as "people who have time to [protest]" because they don't have anything productive to do.
And about the politicians, "they need to understand who their constituency is."
Without a coherent message, the crowds will ultimately thin out, Wall Street types insist — especially when the weather turns colder. They see the protesters as an entertaining sideshow, little more than flash mobs of slackers, seeking to lock arms with Kanye West or get a whiff of the antiestablishment politics that defined their parents’ generation.
“There is a view that it will be a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing,” said one financial industry official.
But the thing that discourages me the most, is to see an increased level of police brutality against peaceful protesters across the country, and very little (real) outcry, other than chants of "the whole world is watching."
And at the same time a complete lack of hard-core militancy from any faction within the protest movement. Let me clarify that when I write "hard-core militancy" I don't (necessarily) mean having some guys organize and form an armed "liberation front."
When I make that statement, I'm referring to hard-core leaders that have a very clear understanding of what the movement will probably face, and have a clear strategy about how to take on those challenges as they come along. And people who are hard-core about not giving an inch regarding constitutional rights.
And people who understand that, at the end of the day, when all its said and done, a brutal crackdown by the government is not an option, and will not be accepted.
I know that it's counter-intuitive, but I think that that type of vision, discipline, planning, could actually prevent more violence, and police brutality.
Finally, who really owns the government? Why are we in the streets protesting? We all know: The government is owned by Wall Street. It is corrupted (nationwide, state after state). Our political leaders are on the take. Crime has been legalized. The rich and powerful have been able to commit crimes with impunity, and under the full protection of the government.
Notice something... Right now some in government are paying lip service to the movement. Some say they understand why; some say they "support" it.
But just like Wall Street, behind closed doors, they all think that come winter, it will fizzle away, and things will get back to normal: Being on the take and at the beck and call of their corporatist masters.
But if for some reason, the movement persists, and spreads, and it's eventually seen as a real threat to the status quo, the government will side with Wall Street, and their corporate masters. They will do it at the federal level; they will do it at the state level; they will do it at the city and county level. Why, because they are owned by their corporatist overlords.
Why? Because the status quo assures that each of the politicians on the take keep their money; keep their family members and close friends in the (lucrative) employ of their corporatist masters.
Why would they risk that by revamping the system, and not really knowing what would be the outcome?
Follow the money... Find out how many ex-government officials are landing in cushy lobbying jobs for Wall Streets, corporatist think-tanks, consulting gigs. Find out how many close family members of politicians are raking in big money in investments, and enjoying big favors from their corporatist benefactors.
The die is cast.
And finally, another nagging worry is the incredibly powerful Police State infrastructure that has been put in place during the last several years under the guise of "national security."
And how we've allowed the government to target citizens for assassination, extra-judicially. And how we've allowed it to curtail constitutional rights, like habeas corpus, unreasonable search and seizure, privacy rights, surveillance.
These are my worries. Of course, I wish I could get all that stuff off my mind, and be positive, and believe that the government and the authorities will eventually listen to the concerns of the citizenry, and properly address those concerns.
I want to feel part of the movement, and feel the energy of all these good people within it, and the belief that now that we have awaken, and because we are the 99%, we are going to be able to set the country back on the right course.
I really want to believe, and feel that. But I can't. At least not yet.
I do believe that the people will prevail at the end, but I think thus far people have no idea what its going to take to get there. We may be heading towards a monumental and mighty struggle.
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