At first I did not understand Occupy Wall Street. I did not understand their lack of leadership, lack of goals and lack of desire to be the lefts' alternative to the tea party. I was thinking "inside the box," the way we have all become accustomed to thinking.
After studying OWS for the past three weeks, I think they are brilliant. They are thinking well "outside the box," and many people just don't get it. They are brilliant not to have organized leadership - this is democracy at its' finest. They are brilliant not to have specific goals. As I see it, the message is simply "people over profits" and that "this countries priorities are upside down."
The priorities of fund war, not education; fund wall street, not main street; give tax breaks to the rich; cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid; are a few of the many upside down priorities, supported by both political parties in this country.
War is glorified (on July 4, I went to a parade. Of the 91 units in the parade, 27 were related to war; and cheered mightily.) This country has been completely hijacked by both political parties, corporations, big oil, Wall Street and the entire military industrial complex. Most people seem to just accept it as the way America does business. OWS is challenging that belief, making people think, and doing an extraordinary job in the process; while dealing with a media that does not understand it and is too lazy to try to.
Right wingers are portraying this as a left wing mob, a prelude to the Obama campaign, something to fear. For the 1% it is something to fear, but not because it is a mob or because it will help the President. They need to fear it because hopefully it will make people in this country think again. Instead of being robots and just accepting their fate, hopefully they will take action. When enough people take action, the 1% will have something to fear in the way of social change and a major shift in priorities in this country.
To the people who think this is a political movement meant to help President Obama and the Democrats - you are wrong. It is not a political movement. The entire political system needs to be challenged and changed. It's not going to happen by electing more Democrats. Most of them are bought and paid for by Wall Street as well. Today the U.S. Senate is voting on the jobs bill. In all likelihood it will not pass. There are several Democrats probably voting against it. Voting against a jobs bill!!? And these are the good guys. I have been a supporter of President Obama since January 2007. I support him still and will vote for him next year. But if it comes down to Obama being re-elected or OWS being successful; I will side with OWS. Again, the entire political system needs to be changed. OWS can do that over time.
OWS is bigger than a political movement or political party. It may be our only hope.