If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Mitt Romney epitomizes the unfairness of the American economy in this new Gilded Age. For that same reason, Romney is the quintessence of an economic approach shown to be anti-growth and anti-jobs. The president needs to tell this to the American people.
May Day, the Occupy movement and the 99 percent narrative have raised the voices of low-wage workers in this city who have joined together under the banner "Organize, Legalize, and Unionize."
Without the restoration of middle class jobs for Americans, the lights will not go back on and support for education will continue to fade.
Not only do mainstream outlets simply disregard or grossly simplify important events and ideas in the Occupy Wall Street movement, but they also neglect to mention the publication of important books that clarify, criticize, buttress, and provide a holistic view of the movement.
The Republic based on the people's interests having sway through an unpolluted representative democracy is gone. Money and government are nearly one. The interests of the earth and our people -- the 99% -- are virtually unrepresented.
The Occupy movement has been in hibernation mode for several months, but with warmer weather on the horizon, odds are it will become a fixture in every major city in America during this election year.
In a true democracy, our officials are elected by and held accountable to us, the citizen, the highest office in the land. By focusing on the issues that unite instead of divide, and organizing with other citizens who meet on common ground, we can reject the status quo and its servants.
In a Washington full of revolving-door sellouts who effortlessly glide between special-interest sinecures and government jobs earning personal fortunes on the payroll of the 1 percent, Elizabeth Warren will never sell her public conscience for private wealth.
For the 99 percent of Americans who don't use lobbyists to bend the tax rules, Tax Day is a day for reflecting on why we pay taxes.
Common sense solutions like these, while painfully obvious, are entirely inadmissible within mainstream political dialogue. Why is that? Why can't common sense be applied to our defense expenditures, which now are almost equal to the rest of the world combined?
What happens next is anyone's guess. Is the Occupy movement poised for a comeback? Or is it about to be co-opted altogether? Can both, in fact, happen simultaneously, and would that be a good thing or not?
I've been treating addicts for more than 40 years and when I hear the descriptions of those for whom millions and billions of dollars in wealth drives them to want more and more, I know we're dealing with addiction.
What Obama's doing is forcing a debate about the most fundamental question before the nation: Do we govern in the interest of the 1 percent or do we govern in the interest of the 99 percent?
The New York Times published an op-ed titled "The Rich Get Even Richer." I guess their next scoops will be "Hudson River Full of Water" and "Pope Benedict XVI Is Catholic."
The "99 to 1" dichotomy may strike some folks as polarizing and inaccurate. Yet it's a powerful lens for understanding what's happened to our society and economy over the last several decades.
Instead of seeking remedies to this ongoing problem, the putative guardians of our democratic principles, rights and responsibilities -- the United States Supreme Court -- has chosen to vastly exacerbate the situation.
