9/17
I'm going down to Occupy Portland today. I've been slacking in the activism department lately and this seems like the perfect cause to get back into the game. I never thought that "Occupy Wall Street" would take off the way it has, but I am pleasantly surprised. I'm almost afraid to hope for too much. But if this movement continues the way that is has been, our country could have its moment, the way that Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya have had theirs.
It's about damn time. Fifty million Americans in poverty, millions without access to food or health care or proper housing or any of the other basic necessities of life that should be taken for granted in a modern society. An unemployment rate of over 9% and an underemployment rate that's even worse than that, to say nothing of the people who have given up entirely and aren't even counted in the statistics. Millions of children are "food insecure", a euphemistic way of saying that they don't have enough to eat and their families don't know where the next meal is coming from.
And in the meantime, we dole out several hundred billion dollars to the biggest banks and corporations and place the burden of balancing the budget on behalf of the poor and the middle class. There's about 500 families who control most of the wealth of the country while most of the rest of us are either struggling or starving. Why does anyone need that kind of money? Shouldn't there be a point at which you can say that you have enough? For all practical purposes, the real power in this country is held by a small group of people who care only about power and nothing about other human beings. These are people who in all likelihood would fit some psychiatric definition of psychopaths.
At what point do the American people say "enough is enough"? Maybe that point is now.
For the people who can't or are unwilling to actually go to one of the protests, please try to at least lend your support. Donate money, food, camping supplies, call in orders to restaurants near the protests and order food to be delivered. Blog, write, spread the word, educate yourself and work on educating your friends and families. Above all, do something. This is everyone's fight.
It's about damn time. Fifty million Americans in poverty, millions without access to food or health care or proper housing or any of the other basic necessities of life that should be taken for granted in a modern society. An unemployment rate of over 9% and an underemployment rate that's even worse than that, to say nothing of the people who have given up entirely and aren't even counted in the statistics. Millions of children are "food insecure", a euphemistic way of saying that they don't have enough to eat and their families don't know where the next meal is coming from.
And in the meantime, we dole out several hundred billion dollars to the biggest banks and corporations and place the burden of balancing the budget on behalf of the poor and the middle class. There's about 500 families who control most of the wealth of the country while most of the rest of us are either struggling or starving. Why does anyone need that kind of money? Shouldn't there be a point at which you can say that you have enough? For all practical purposes, the real power in this country is held by a small group of people who care only about power and nothing about other human beings. These are people who in all likelihood would fit some psychiatric definition of psychopaths.
At what point do the American people say "enough is enough"? Maybe that point is now.
For the people who can't or are unwilling to actually go to one of the protests, please try to at least lend your support. Donate money, food, camping supplies, call in orders to restaurants near the protests and order food to be delivered. Blog, write, spread the word, educate yourself and work on educating your friends and families. Above all, do something. This is everyone's fight.