Occupy...
To seize possession of and maintain control over by or as if by conquest; To engage or employ the attention or concentration of a population.
New Parties, New people, New Congress
"This corrupt duopoly has to go!"
"This corrupt duopoly has to go!"
Occupy Congress
Congress!
Congress Definition:
Corrupt Politics
Congress Responsibilities: Failed.
Corrupt Politics
Congress Responsibilities: Failed.
One of the enduring questions about Occupy Wall Street has been this: Can the energy unleashed by the movement be leveraged behind a concrete political agenda and push for change that will constitute a meaningful challenge to the inequality and excessive Wall Street influence highlighted by the protests?
A coalition of labor and progressive groups is about to unveil its answer to that question. Get ready for “Occupy Congress.”
The coalition — which includes unions like SEIU and CWA and groups like the Center for Community Change — is currently working on a plan to bus thousands of protesters from across the country to Washington, where they will congregate around the Capitol from December 5-9, SEIU president Mary Kay Henry tells me in an interview.
“Thousands of people have signed up to come to Capitol Hill during the first week in December,” Henry says, adding that protesters are invited to make their way to Washington on their own, too. “We’re figuring out buses and transportation now.”
One idea under consideration — pending various permitting and other logistical issues — is to have a series of tents set up on the lawn outside the Capitol, each representing a state, with the number of unemployed in each state prominently displayed. But the optics are still being worked out.
One goal of the protests, Henry says, is to pressure Republicans to support Obama’s jobs creation proposals. More generally, the aim is to highlight Congress’s misguided obsession with the deficit and overall inaction on unemployment.
“We’re taking about it as an effort to take back the Capitol,” Henry says. “It would be great if we could build pressure that goes beyond the jobs act.”
Of course, Occupy Wall Street is distinguished by its organic, bottom-up nature and its critique of both parties’ coziness with Wall Street. Does a coordinated effort by labor and liberal groups to channel the movement’s energy into pressuring one party risk compromising the essence of what’s driven the protests?
Henry said she wasn’t worried about that happening, noting that Occupy Wall Street had created a “fra“The reason we’re targeting Republicans is because this is about jobs,” she said. “The Republicans’ insistence that no revenue can be put on the table is the reason we’re not creating jobs in this country. We want to draw a stark contrast between a party that wants to scapegoat immigrants, attack public workers, and protect the rich, versus a president who has been saying he wants America to get back to work and that everybody should pay their fair share.”mework” — which she described as “we are...But Henry added she salutes Occupy Wall Street for finding fault with both parties, adding: “We agree that on domestic social programs, we have not won the day with either party. And we are applying pressure to both.”
Occupy Congress!
We had to come to DC...
by Paul B. Edwards on Monday, October 24, 2011
I lament that these protests are being watched by a Congress going "whew!", with a very worried look on their faces.... No, I actually lament that Congress and their supporters are wringing their hands in glee that these protests are being misdirected to a mere symptom, and not Political corruption which is our only problem. The banks which have plunged us into a depression which will make the Great Depression look like a piece of cake, the housing crisis, the health care crisis, the absurdly unfair tax rules and one-sided loopholes...all of these are merely symptoms spawned by political corruption. We have a duopoly in bed with big business, corporations and the wealthy who are all working solely for their benefits, there is no "National Interest' in the workings of Capitol Hill and the business of our Congressional Members. If you look objectively at this system which has evolved, it is fascism. We got distracted by more & more channels, more & more things we just had to buy because they were such a deal, and more & more square feet of home which we will only be cleaning (we all live in our kitchens, bedrooms and an occasional den WHERE watch that 10,000 channel universe...) and this home is such a requirement of 'getting ahead'..."they always rise in value". And while we were not watching, Politics became very corrupt, in bed with their supporters enjoying financial org*sms while we endure economic pregnancies...again & again & again. My new only wish in the world, is that these protests leave behind occupying the symptom, one of many, this one "a corrupt financial and banking system", and go to the steps of The Capitol, where they can fix the problem from which all of these symptoms were spawned. We need to create new political parties, who can challenge and replace this duopoly, then the first order of business has to be to put in place a system of transparency and independent oversight with harsh sentences so we never ever visit again being ruled by a corrupt group of politicians. In closing...these new political entities and systems and parties are beginning to emerge, like The Coffee Party, and Americans Elect, yet they will not stand a chance if they, the OWS protesters and every Americans understands that we have one big problem and that is the head of the snake. ...and, on December 1st, here we are, at the steps of Congress, thank goodness....r political beliefs?
by Paul B. Edwards on Monday, October 24, 2011
I lament that these protests are being watched by a Congress going "whew!", with a very worried look on their faces.... No, I actually lament that Congress and their supporters are wringing their hands in glee that these protests are being misdirected to a mere symptom, and not Political corruption which is our only problem. The banks which have plunged us into a depression which will make the Great Depression look like a piece of cake, the housing crisis, the health care crisis, the absurdly unfair tax rules and one-sided loopholes...all of these are merely symptoms spawned by political corruption. We have a duopoly in bed with big business, corporations and the wealthy who are all working solely for their benefits, there is no "National Interest' in the workings of Capitol Hill and the business of our Congressional Members. If you look objectively at this system which has evolved, it is fascism. We got distracted by more & more channels, more & more things we just had to buy because they were such a deal, and more & more square feet of home which we will only be cleaning (we all live in our kitchens, bedrooms and an occasional den WHERE watch that 10,000 channel universe...) and this home is such a requirement of 'getting ahead'..."they always rise in value". And while we were not watching, Politics became very corrupt, in bed with their supporters enjoying financial org*sms while we endure economic pregnancies...again & again & again. My new only wish in the world, is that these protests leave behind occupying the symptom, one of many, this one "a corrupt financial and banking system", and go to the steps of The Capitol, where they can fix the problem from which all of these symptoms were spawned. We need to create new political parties, who can challenge and replace this duopoly, then the first order of business has to be to put in place a system of transparency and independent oversight with harsh sentences so we never ever visit again being ruled by a corrupt group of politicians. In closing...these new political entities and systems and parties are beginning to emerge, like The Coffee Party, and Americans Elect, yet they will not stand a chance if they, the OWS protesters and every Americans understands that we have one big problem and that is the head of the snake. ...and, on December 1st, here we are, at the steps of Congress, thank goodness....r political beliefs?