If you haven't found yourself caught up in the Occupy movement yet, the best place is in the thick of the action. I went down to Wall Street one night to see for myself. Like many people, if not all, the outcome of the financial crash still rankled. No one can watch the TV coverage of the Occupy America sit-ins and marches without sharing in some kind of frustration and anger.
When you get down there, though, you feel something else. Unlike the Tea Party, the Occupiers are young and idealistic, repeating a time-honored coming of age phase that is being acted out in public. Anyone who has lived through the sixties can stand aside and predict what will happen, because it has happened so often before. Ideals become lost in confusion, cynicism, and hard clashes with authority and other reactionary forces.
But let's not make such predictions. If Occupy America turns anger into awareness, we might get something like a Tea Party for the left. Or even better, a reform movement that marches for an ideal that succeeds. If the Tea Party represents the ornery, "I'm mad as hell, and I won't put up with it anymore" side of America, the Occupiers represent the side that says, "This country stands for justice and equality."
Despite the media coverage of mass arrests, despite the Times's finger-wagging that the movement is often muddled and misinformed, none of that is the point. The point is justice. Unlike the anti-war movement of fifty years ago, now we have a President who believes in justice and equality. It's fashionable to bash President Obama right now, but he has had to make choices between bad and worse, facing an intractable downturn and an opposition that leaves him no breathing room.
If Occupy America can channel its anger into awareness, the next step is to ask, "What is our goal?" When I was down among the demonstrators, I led a meditation on that question, and it seemed to calm down the people around me, which demonstrates, I think, that the whole Occupy movement is about angry idealists, not just people who feel screwed by Wall St., although that is the spark and the point of injustice that somehow must be faced.
Pragmatists claim that one outcome -- a heavily regulated financial sector -- will never happen. The banks were bailed out three years ago, and once they felt strong, they lobbied with all their might to insure that no meaningful regulation would be passed. that is outrageous, of course, and so is the immorality of how Wall St., having caused the crash, continues to take ungodly risks, but now with a government guarantee that they won't fail, no matter how reckless their behavior. Right now Wall St. is the pure culture of money at its most selfish, greedy, and anti-social. If you aren't angry about that, you aren't breathing.
We stand at a pivotal moment when anger can continue to fester and feed upon itself -- if that's what you want, the Tea Party is ready to welcome you with open arms. Or anger can rebuild the system that caused all the problems. Occupy America is pure democracy against pure power, because nobody should have any illusion about who holds all the aces. I can't predict where the movement will go; perhaps it will fizzle out tomorrow with a resigned sigh.
But I do know that truth must be spoken to power. Eventually, all change starts there, by ignoring the odds and the threat of punishment, by standing up and saying "I accuse you of injustice." This action must be taken over and over again, and if the people speaking truth to power have right on their side and not just a boiling stew pot of rage, things will change. There's no reason why an Arab spring can't turn into an American autumn.
Follow Deepak Chopra on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DeepakChopra
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The irony is that when asked serious questions about why they are there, they do appear to understand the inherently self-contradictory character of the progressive tenets.
It takes time.
The tea party has as its motto:
"Question Authority"
And finally, it has dawned on so many Americans that the progressive/democrat/liberal motto has become:
"Only government knows best for you and me!"
These kids are getting it.
"Only government knows best for you and me!""
What baloney! The government is controlled by the bankers and let the bankers and brokers get away with their criminality. Progressives and liberals know this perfectly well, as do the Occupy protesters, which is why they are protesting.
We didn't need to regulate the banks back in 2008, we just needed to let them fail. I don't necessarily disagree WITH regulating them, just that we could've taken a free-market tack to get a similar result -- Wall Street owning itself. But, they Shock-Doctrined us into going along with TARP.
I'm with you in spirit, OWS.. Should you crop up in my city, I'll take a couple days off to join you for sure.
What an amazing way the celebrate the emergence of "real" world order where peace, equality, birth control and environment protection take priority over greed, poverty and destruction.
United States Senator, Sanders (Independent, VT)
Contrary to what the left says, the conservative side has less rich than the left.
First....you are no conservative......
2nd......the Cain Tax plan, which you apparently support,is unvetted, will not raise enough revenue to fund the military according to Cain's Neocon agenda and is Regressive in that if affects the budgets of the POOR ans MIDDLE CLASS much more so than the wealthy
I would respectfully offer a slight modification in their assertion: "This country *used* to stand for justice and equality - and we'd like to have that back."
Perhaps I am wrong, being old and all. I mostly associate with like-aged people, and most of them are "don't touch my Medicare and SS". And guess what, most will have never put in enough into those programs to cover the costs of their own medical demands. Most need to get more exercise and most rely on so many pills they shouldn't have room left in their stomachs for food. Isn't that wanting "more free stuff and less responsibility"?
On my side of the universe, the tea party is not a fueling of anger. It is an attempt at restoring American spirit through freedom. If anything, participating in such a focused group is restorative of spirit and produces not anger, but greater serenity and greater hope knowing that many think as one.
The left is no more principled than the right. Many on the conservative side embrace "Occupy Wall Street". What we see are young people taking the time - in their own way -to perform self-examination of his or her beliefs.
And frankly, I think the world might be very surprised at the net outcome.
That's just flat-out false and everyone knows it. One side wants justice, but the other side wants everything for itself. That's why people are in the streets!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=859QH-qBUms
The well-off are largely out of tune with this concept. Reports say one out of five children live at the poverty level. Their families are losing their homes; the middle class is evaporating before our eyes. Obama was more interested in solving the obesity problem than solving the poverty problem. He, so many others, is insulated and out of touch.
People with college degrees can't find jobs, let alone the uneducated. We definitely are living in a plutonomy--there's the rich and then the rest of us. This movement isn't about a few disillusioned kids, it is about survival for many, many people. If our leaders don't get a clue and soon, there will be anarchy.
What about what he has said leads you to that conclusion? Is it simply because he's earned a lot of money? If you earned a lot of money, would you all of the sudden be unable to empathize with those who didn't?
May I ask you what you believe the solution is? More regulation? Less government, less regulation?
Some illegals are deported and back here within days. It doesn't work out financially to pay a housekeeper $15 per hour and then pay high taxes to support them.
I voted for Obama, but every time he tries to solve a problem, he throws millions of dollars at it. I don't think just throwing money at problems will solve the crisis. I think he as well as many politicians of both parties are so out of touch, they don't know what to do.
I'm no expert but it seems Reagan out of a mess in the 80s. What did he do?