Movement Politics

The Tea Party started out protesting the big banks and wound up, Fox-washed, Kochified and celebrating racism, xenophobia and right-wing extremism... and as pathetic zombies for the Republican Party. But a Tea Party founder, Karl Denniger, seems to be endorsing the OccupyWallStreet movement. Watch him explaining why in the video above-- and why it is crucial that OWS not be hijacked by the Democratic Party the way the Tea Party was hijacked by the Republican Party.

Despite the best efforts by corporate shills-- whether the Lawrence Kudlows or the Doug Schoens-- to portray the OccupyWallStreet movement as a bunch of extremist dirty hippies and Marxist-Leninist murderous revolutionaries, support for the movement is wide, deep and growing. Blue collar whites favor OWS by a whopping 56-31%-- and that's in the face of relentless reactionary hysteria on the mass media. The movement is still formulating a set of goals and demands. This was posted yesterday:

Jobs for ALL-- A Massive Public Works and Public Service Program
 
We demand a massive public works and public service program with direct government employment at prevailing (union) wages, paid for by taxing the rich and corporations, by immediately ending all of America’s wars, and by ending all aid to authoritarian regimes to create 25 million new jobs to:
 
-Expand education: cut class sizes and provide free university for all;

-Expand healthcare and provide free healthcare for all (single payer system);

-Build housing, guarantee decent housing for all;

-Expand mass transit, provided for free;

-Rebuild the infrastructure-- bridges, flood control, roads;

-Research and implement clean energy alternatives; and

-Clean up the environment.

Sounds pretty progressive and very much like what the Congressional Progressive Caucus has been trying to beat into the heads of the House Democratic Caucus-- and what Bernie Sanders has been trying to get Senate Democrats to get behind. Perhaps OccupyWallStreet will have more success than Bernie or the CPC. And, hopefully, the progressive candidates who have been part of this movement will add impetus to it by being elected next year. Norman Solomon, whose life has been dedicated to the same principles that animate the movement has been going to every Occupy event in his sprawling northern California district. Yesterday he sent voters there this very unambiguous statement:

We need democracy, not “corporatocracy.”

That’s why I support the Occupy Wall Street movement.

During the last week, I’ve participated in vibrant gatherings from San Rafael to Ukiah to Eureka -- where, in tandem with other protests around the country, our outcry has been clear and to the point. “We are the 99 percent!”

To be in touch with nearby aspects of the Occupy Wall Street movement, I’d suggest googling “Occupy Marin,” “Occupy Santa Rosa” etc.; a lot of websites and Facebook pages are taking root to help us move forward.
 
A few days ago, the Marin IJ printed my article Time for a new New Deal. It pointed out that “many of the nation’s largest corporations keep sitting on vast quantities of cash-- with Wall Street’s giants often posting record profits-- while failing to hire Americans who are desperate for work.”

Blue America candidates back the OccupyWallStreet movement. If you want to back Norman and the rest of them, you can do that all on one page.