First off, a disclaimer: having grown up during the volatile 1960s and early 1970s, I have a soft spot in my heart for protestors. I dreamed of joining the John Lennon/Yoko Ono peace rally in Toronto, if only I were old enough … That’s why I’m cheering on the Occupy Wall Street movement, but with some reservation. I have to wonder about their goals and why they aren’t gathering where it really matters — in Washington, DC. Are they coming together for lack of anything better to do, or do they have a point?
Our nation’s capital is surprisingly quiet, I would have expected to see people demonstrating in front of the Capitol Building by now — and noisily. I would venture a guess that the unemployed can’t afford the travel expenses they would have to incur to demonstrate anywhere but where they live. I know I couldn’t. At least they are raising their voices in an attempt to be heard above the useless chatter that is Congress. Congress needs to stop coddling the rich or at least penalize them for shipping jobs oversease by denying the offenders their tax breaks. Something! Obstructionist Republican tactics that serve only to divide the halves and have nots even more sharply than they already are threaten to drag all the innocent unemployed bystanders down with them.
I say, all the local Occupy Wall Street groups should hold a joint conference call to establish common goals and get out there in their cities to yell at the top of their collective lungs, louder and louder and LOUDER and in larger numbers until Congress has no choice but to acknowledge them. Those who can, picket in front of their representatives’ offices or DC residences — but peacefully and on the street. Don’t trespass. Don’t incite violence. Flaunting the law won’t earn any sympathy. Just use your voices to make them listen!
