Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street – The Evils of Capitalism
The “Occupy Wall Street” movement began in New York City in September, 2011. In the weeks that followed, the Occupy Wall Street message expanded to a few other cities, rolling into symbolic downtown locations where the “evils of capitalism” were blocking the progress of peace, equality, and justice.
Occupy Wall Street – The Importance of the First Amendment
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations remind us just how important the First Amendment to the United States Constitution really is:
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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
As we know from history, good ideas have good consequences and bad ideas have bad consequences. Without free access to the full pallet of ideas, we don’t get the collective opportunity to weigh the arguments and discern logic from lunacy. We make each other better when we have to “compete” in a free enterprise information system.
Occupy Wall Street – Ideology and List of Demands
Although Occupy Wall Street demonstrators are across the board on their leftist causes, it seems anger and disenfranchisement with “greedy capitalists” is the common thread. Beyond that, it’s difficult to comprehend an overall ideological position of those occupying Wall Street.
Here’s a “List of Demands” that was available on the Occupy Wall Street website on October 3, 2011:1
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Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending "Freetrade" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hour.
Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to Wall Street investors.
Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.
Demand four: Free college education.
Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.
Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.
Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants.
Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.
Demand nine: Open borders migration. Anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.
Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.
Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the "Books." World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the "Books." And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet, period.
Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.
Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.
These demands will create so many jobs it will be completely impossible to fill them without an open borders policy.
Occupy Wall Street – Freedom of Expression Provides Clarity for All
Thank God for the Occupy Wall Street “demonstrators” and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. It’s important to allow everyone to freely express themselves. Thank God these people have a public forum to peaceably present and defend their whacky ideas. Hard-working, freedom-loving people will be better for it.
1 http://occupywallst.org
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