Sunday, November 13, 2011

A Summary

I have written a number of posts about the Occupy movement by now. I find it a fascinating subject because of the reactions it has received. I find it interesting that conservatives who have always been proponents of the first amendment are taking such a negative attitude, even many liberals have taken a negative approach.

My reaction is slightly different. I think it is fantastic that the youth of this nation are participating in the political discussion rather than sitting at home playing online video games. Lets tell the truth, we are leaving them with less than we had and they don't like it. They shouldn't like it, heck, who does like it?

Is there anyone who thinks this nation is better off than it was ten years ago? Is there anyone who thinks that having millions of homes in foreclosure and millions of people unemployed is the sign of a healthy nation? How can anyone applaud the Tea Party and not applaud the Occupy movement, they are merely two sides to the same coin.

Politics has become a complete sham. The TARP bill, the stimulus bill and the Patriot act were all passed by a congress where none of the members even read the darn things. What kind of nation have we become when we no longer allow people to peacefully assemble and complain about conditions that we have to live under?

I have read too many times that some of the protesters are communists, don't they get to protest too even if I disagree with them. Didn't we used to believe that we might not agree with people; but, we would give our life for their freedom of speech?

I would hate to be a police officer right now. Their job is to protect the rest of us and instead they are being used to suppress peaceful demonstrations. Their alternative is to refuse to follow the commands of politicians that they know are corrupt and lose their jobs.

Lets say that all of the Occupy encampments are taken down, then what? Is that the end of the protests or will they merely take on another form. History says it will morph into something new, not go away. Does anyone really think that if Ron Paul gets elected anything will change? Your congress is owned by big money and lobbyists.

Consider Obama, he made all sorts of promises and nothing changed for the better. Solyandra was a joke, hundreds of millions in bad loans with nothing to show for it. Almost a trillion dollars in Tarp and stimulus money and nothing gets any better. Much of it was given to foreign banks, that is insanity.

What is the message to today's youth, our children? The message is that we messed up, you will have to work longer and get less than we did. Oh, and by the way, we don't to hear your complaints about it and there is nothing you can do about it.

I don't expect the Occupy movement or the Tea Party to change anything for quite awhile. The corruption within our political system is so ingrained that it will just continue to be more and more removed from the citizens. As the voice of the system continues to be dismissive of the citizens, it loses more and more moral authority and validity. It promotes people ignoring the laws and that will only cause a further degeneration of our whole society.

Some might think that I am overstating things; but, really, look around you, read the news. What kind of nation tolerates it's local and federal police being involved in drug running and gun running to gangs and criminal cartels? Let us consider what has happened in Italy and Greece. Their leaders passed laws that take even more from their people and then immediately leave office. Hey, that is the exact same thing George W. Bush did and you can expect Obama to do the same.

None of this is unexpected. Think tanks, such as the RAND Corporation, are tasked with predicting these things. The truth is most of us would like to see things go back to the way they were, we like comfort and stability and there is none given and none expected.