OCCUPY WALL STREET

[SoNotHer]

Great post, Toughy. Yes, like most change, this will be come in waves and phases. It's time to get out of the parks and into the community meetings and media and capitols.

Originally Posted by Toughy

Phase 1 has been about occupying turf....parks, sidewalks, etc...with a message of social, political and economic justice. We need to keep this turf war going while doing something else....move forward.

Now it's time for Phase 2 because if there is not a Phase 2 then folks are getting gassed, beat, hospitalized and jailed for no good reason except a turf war.

So what would Phase 2 look like?
* The halls and offices of Congress should be occuppied in the form of lobbying (going in the offices and talking to them or their staff) all Senators and House members.
* Voter registration drives should be part of every protest and every encampment.
* Call a Constiitutional Convention to get money out of politics would be a good thing. There are occupy movements in (I think) all 50 states now and we should be working in our states as well as on the national scene.

The Constitutional Amendment could be only 2 lines....that's it ....short sweet and unambigious.
1. Corporations are not people and money is not speech.
2. All federal elections will be publicly financed. No private money can be spent on federal elections. (this means the president, senate and house elections....Personally I think ALL elections should be publically financed.)

Article V of the Constitution outlines how it is done. Basically there are two ways to do it. One is by Congress and the way all previous amendments have been done. The other way is if 2/3 of the states (legislatures) demand a Convention, it must be called by Congress. To ratify an amendment it must be approved by 3/4 of the states. So 34 states demand a convention, then it takes 38 to ratify the amendment.

We get money out of politics and the possibility that government would again be by and for the people exists.

I got this idea from listening to the radio.........it makes sense to me.

[dykeumentary]

Originally Posted by SoNotHer

Great post, Toughy. Yes, like most change, this will be come in waves and phases. It's time to get out of the parks and into the community meetings and media and capitols.

Totally agree. And I also would add an analysis of racism.
The "New Deal" that came out of the great depression created the white middle class, and left People of Color behind. Unless this new "99%" movement studies history, listens, and doesn't make the same mistakes, we might be building a new set of institutional racist structures that just serve a few.

The extremist "Rght" has been getting themselves elected in school boards, county and town-level positions since the mid 90s. Then they moved onto state-wide seats from those constituencies. And now they are national players. People who want justice would do well to get to know their neighbors well-- it's become apparent who has been talking with them.

I remain hopeful!