It is always the time to have the big conversation about what kind of country we want America to be. I can answer that very easily:
I want to live in a neighborhood with safe streets and steady employment, good affordable schools for my kids, and clean air and water. I want affordable health care. I want to take modest vacations once a year. I want to be able to buy my wife a new dress. I want to be safe and secure.
I want the American Dream.
Actually, all I really I want a fair shake to fulfill that dream. And I want all Americans to have a fair shake to fulfill that dream.
And now, because of concentration of wealth, we don't. Big Money and their bought politicians hurt 99% of Americans.
It is that simple.
I am of the 99%. I did not support OWS Phase 1. Nevertheless, it has succeeded in putting income inequality on the map. A great success. That is what Phase 1 should have been all about IMO.
Be that as it may, I do not support Jesse's articulation of Phase 2. Follow me below the fold to find out why. You may not like my position. But you should understand it. If you want to take back your country.
Phase 2, like Phase 1, is still not laser focused on income inequality. That is what I and the rest of the 99% of America care about. We want a fair shake at the American Dream. That is all we want. So let's take a look at Jesse's Phase 2 and determine whether they address in an understandable manner what We, the 99%, really care about. When We the 99% are all on board with fighting the most obvious and obnoxious causes and results of income inequality, then Phase 3 can be moved onto.
It is time to TAX THE RICH
Good policy. Great slogan. Better than f*ck the rich. People are mad. Hell, I'm mad. Tax the Rich!!
It is time to END THE WARS
Well beyond the immediacy of the now. And divisive. We, the 99%, are not all agreed on US foreign policy and the role we think the US should play in the world. A very bad idea.
It is time to restore Glass-Steagal
Relevant, but not concrete for the average schlub. Too much explanation needed. Put off until later.
It is time to repeal Citizens United
Relevant, concrete, but a great weapon against Big Money buying our politicians. Definitely worth hammering on.
It is time to get the money OUT OF POLITICS
Too general, nice slogan. Naive. Equivalent to the right's "answer" for teen pregnancy: just don't do it. Riiiiiiight.
It is time to invest in infrastructure and education
Important, but tertiary.
It is time to STOP busting labor unions, whether private or public
important, but tertiary.
It is time to defend Medicare and Social Security tooth and nail from phony reforms or baloney cuts:
Bingo. Popular programs all about being safe and secure in our old age.
It is time to STOP the spending cuts and start investing in America, and if we have to raise taxes on the rich and corporations in order to force them to invest in America, then so be it
Too long. Tax the Rich works fine enough.
It is time to STOP the racist and discriminatory practice of "Stop and Frisk" and other tactics of racial profiling
Irrelevant to the core issue of economic inequality.
It is time for civil rights for ALL, and that means equal rights for LGBT Americans to serve our military and marry whom ever they will
Irrelevant Irrelevant to the core issue of economic inequality.
It is time for ACCOUNTABILITY for the men who lied us into war and crashed our economy
Weak. Focus on Big Money.
It is time for immigration reform that does not punish workers, but provides a clear pathway to citizenship for everyone
Irrelevant to the core issue of economic inequality.
It is time for investigations that lead to prosecutions on Wall Street in response to the crimes that have been committed in the last decade.
Bingo
It is time for a serious discussion about the Federal Reserve and it's role in this economic disaster
Important. Tertiary.
It is time for universal health care that everyone can afford. It is time to talk about Single Payer Health Care.
We've just been through that. We lost. Important. Tertiary. Must attack from new direction. Finish Phase 2, seize ground. Then move forward.
It is time for alternative green energy instead of Oil and Coal.
Important. Tertiary.
It is time to protect our civil liberties and our constitution.
Too general, Important. Tertiary.
It is time for a discussion about free trade and how it has undermined the working class while enriching only the wealthiest among us.
Too general. Choose one issue, like NAFTA. And one result. Like Detroit.
It is time to end corporate personhood.
Important, immediate, and concrete. This should be at the forefront. "Corporations Are People" Ooops.
**
So, here is the edited version, which will appeal to We, the 99%:
Tax the Rich. Get Big Money out of our Politics. Investigate Wall Street. End Corporate Personhood. Defend Social Security. Expand Medicare.
And always frame those points in the following way:
Big Money and their bought politicians hurt 99% of Americans.
'Cause it's all about the $$. They got it, and I don't. That angers me.
The floor is yours.
Note: Its has been mentioned by more than a few that jobs should be on that list. I agree. Tell that to Jesse.