A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, "But I was told by others to do thus." Or that, "Virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that.
~ King Baldwin IV [Kingdom of Heaven (2005)]

Monday, November 7, 2011

Occupy This... thoughts on the Occupy Seattle movement


I do want to say one thing... the reality of the said Occupy movement is overstated by the media... although I acknowledge the plight of the common man in these hard times and even sympathize with the concept that change is necessary, I believe that the "Occupy Movement" is fundamentally flawed and misguided. It will never gather any fruits of success because it ignores the basic tenant of American democracy: The vote! The US Constitution says it best... "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."... and Article I Section 1 says: "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."... Involvement IN the system is the best way to guarantee effective and meaningful change! I've been there peeps- as an observer at the Occupy Seattle meetings almost every evening for three weeks now until they gave up occupying Westlake Park and moved to the local Community College- and I'm here to tell you that they are in essence a very small group (about 15-40 depending on the day) of students, social outcasts, vagrants, street people, one or two young moms with younger kids, and a couple of professional types... not "We the People" by a long shot- very few of whom you would bring home to your Mother... The core facilitator group seem to be about seven. There are a lot of onlookers or iterate thrill-seekers like me who may swell their numbers another 20 or so. That there is the reality! The rest is media-hype... They have now it seems two or three that manage 2 websites to generate the buzz... and one old guy who openly organizes members- with everyone's blessings- to aggressively confront the police with physical force and other acts to gain media attention... oh yes they now have a Lawyer, a bank account and an Accountant both of who give daily reports... you see the irony here? And where is this going?... OMG ok I got into a short discussion with two rather attractive 20-something Occupy protesters Friday about what they see as the final result if anything they hope to gain from their efforts there? They had no coherent answer. All they could agree on is that "globalization is destroying their lives and that they have to fight right now to bring down the government"... Ok? I asked what do you want to replace it? And of course they had no idea... I asked if they were registered voters and if they voted in the last election? And both said NO!... THAT THERE IS THE FUNDAMENTAL FLAW with the movement peeps! They do NOT in actuality represent the disenfranchised! They are NOT "We the People". They represent the apathetic youth who refuse to involve themselves in our democratic process "in Order to form a more perfect Union"... and they do NOT understand that citizenship in the greater community has responsibilities... Totally lame peeps... the reality is that if change is going to occur it has to come from within the process... otherwise they're just kids throwing a tantrum... they become just the t-shirt of the day...

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