Since everyone is doing it, so is the Occupy movement. Here is its response to the State of Union address:
Mic check! [mic check] Mic check! [mic check]
Fellow Americans, good evening! [Fellow Americans, good evening!]
We are men and women of the 99 percent
Many of us have spent many months at Occupy Wall Street
and at other Occupations across the country and around the world
We are here tonight to report on the State of the 99 percent in America
Of course most Americans know the state of the 99 percent very well
But sometimes the one percent, on Wall Street and in Washington, need a reminder.
Financially, the state of the 99% is not strong. That is an understatement.
Never in our lifetimes have so many hard-working Americans, faced so many difficulties, so many uncertainties, so many indignities in Occupy camps around the country we find Americans from all walks of life.
Some of us have had it rougher than others and it turns out living in camps is no picnic either. But we do not give up easily and we take inspiration from the brave Americans who came before us. From Dr. King, who gave his life fighting for economic justice
From the Suffragettes, who insisted the voice of women be heard. From all of those brave or foolish enough to believe in America's defining idea, the idea of democracy, that we are all created equal and we all have an equal voice in shaping the laws we all live by
America.
Let’s be honest. When our courts tell us corporations have more right to speak than we the people do that’s not democracy. When pepper spray and midnight raids make a joke of the 1st Amendment right to assemble, that’s not democracy. When defrauding clients, blowing up our economy, forging thousands of documents and seizing people’s homes illegally is not a crime, but protesting all that is a crime that’s not democracy.
Our America is not a democracy, not yet. We all know why: Wall street owns Washington. Bribery is legal, and the laws we live by are for sale to the highest bidder.
That is why our government serves the very rich and powerful at the expense of the rest of us. It protects the bonuses of bankers and Wall Street executives, while failing to keep hard-working families in their homes; It shields offshore tax havens for the very wealthy, while letting our bridges, schools, and infrastructure fall apart;
There have been dark periods in our nation's history, when corruption became the norm
when grave injustices stood in the way of America living up to its best ideals. But time and time again, Americans stepped up to take back their government and correct our course. Today Occupy Wall Street and the 99% movement step into this proud American tradition.
But fear not, one percent! We are not here just to help the 99% at your expense.
We are here to help you too. For when you’ve begun to think rigging the game is fair game when you regard hard-working Americans as undeserving of a middle-class life
and unworthy of the profit their own work creates. When you treat the people who build your buildings and serve your food and raise your children and patrol your streets
without respect, you have not only lost touch with our humanity, you have lost touch with your own humanity. You need to find it again, for everyone’s sake. Real democracy will do you good.
We are the 99%. We are here to create the democracy we have all been promised. We are the 99%. Our finances are weak, but our spirit is strong. We are the 99%.
Our spring is coming.