[persiphone]

[quote=T4Texas;439767]

Originally Posted by Yellow band

Absolutely, you have to force change.

I think those who oppose OWS are waiting for some violent explosion so they can institute martial law and become even more oppressive. No one knows where all this will go. I believe as many have said the best ways to fight are to move your money, support small business, and let your public officials know your displeasure with the way they vote or make policy decisions. What they forget is the general public is what makes this country tick, not just a handful of politicians or a president, or a CEO. They might hold the reigns of power, but its still John Q. public making it all work. WE have the power to decide where our money goes and what we spend it on. These folks are afraid because they know this thing could become a serious grass roots movement that will alter the way they profit. Its always all about the dollar no matter how you look at it.
You do have to force change because otherwise its not going to happen. But you don't need a mob to force change. You do it quietly by using your credit union instead of your bank. By not patronizing companies like WalMart. By telling your elected officials they need to work for their constituents instead of some lobbyist or they can forget re-election. Just occupying public spaces is not going to make it work.
I feel if change is not forthcoming, this country is going to be in a hella mess. We already have a debt that is out of control and will take years to fix. We import so much more than we export and have allowed China to overrun our country with mass poorly made goods. We have outsourced so much that if our international creditors shut us down tomorrow, we'd be screwed. We waste money on wars that will never be won or serve the interests of either us or the countries we fight in. We have a president who appears to be more concerned about his re-election than running the country. How many times in the last few years has wall street almost been on the verge of financial collapse? I think people have no idea what will really happen if this economy bottoms out and I fear we are getting close.
Those in power have not been working for you. They have been working for their own interests and filling their own pockets for years now. We need to do a house cleaning in washington and get some people in office who are truly concerned about the mom and pop business owners, the people on public assistance who want to get off it, the unemployed who get caught up in a cycle of benefits vs taking a job. I feel until we do this house cleaning, the problem is not going to get better.

yes but it's important that the people come together and stand together if for nothing else than to say we have been wronged. it's important because we are trapped in a place where we have no choices. we have have no choices as consumers because everything on shelves in stores across America ...it's all made in China. we have no food choices (and the fact that our food supply was mentioned in the OWS declaration really struck a chord with me) because our food supply has been quietly becoming monopolized and being replaced, literally, with poisonous chemicals. if for nothing else.....the people need to stand up and say that they are not ignorant to the goings on of the widespread corruption that has become our country and say NO to it. we have no choices in democracy because we've lost so many freedoms in the name of security that we can't even protest in parks that our tax dollars pay for without getting arrested or pepper sprayed. even when the people come together and elect the right guy as president he's so crippled by government infighting that not a lot happens in our favor. we have no choices. deregulation has taken the power of choice out of the people's hands and put that power into the hands of corporations that can pirate you and not be held accountable. we have judges on the supreme court who have been caught lying, evading taxes, and taking money from lobbyists to pass judgement that further the corporate agenda and nothing is being done about it. because we have no choices. the people absolutely need to come together in masses and stand together and fight. freedoms are not free. we had to fight to get them and we have to fight to keep them and we should fight back when we lose them.

on a side note.....it took months of a group of women protesting and some endured jail time and abuse....to get women the right to vote. and that was LESS than one hundred years ago.