Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Occupy Forever

[The global revolution that keeps making the headlines looks like it's just getting started.

Let me clarify something at the outset: I don't like it. It's human nature to resist profound upheaval, particularly when it's international. Change of this magnitude - even positive change - can be scary.

But dramatic change, and the growing desire for it, is now the defining characteristic of our era because we find ourselves living in an age where our government - both sides - seems increasingly incapable of governing well, where our faceless corporations have been ruled 'people' by our Supreme Court, where those same corporations seem to have more power than elected officials, where social inequality is off the charts and where special interests apparently hold more sway than the voting public.

Our democratic institutions look increasingly bought and paid for, or merely unresponsive when they're not paralyzed.

President Barack Obama was elected with a historic mandate to reform our political culture and has already scored some historic victories but his mandate has been constrained by one half of a contemptuous Congress and by the deliberate misuse of the Senate filibuster.

Observe how Obama's unremarkable plans to cut spending in defense and entitlement programs - coupled with modest tax increases on the rich - have been stonewalled by Republicans, who have clearly demonstrated they would rather damage our international credit rating that concede an inch on taxes for the richest one percent.

What's that if not an admission of how deeply unequal our society has become?]
http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/manhattan_diary/occupy-wall-street-is-just-getting-started-132520793.html

Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/manhattan_diary/occupy-wall-street-is-just-getting-started-132520793.html#ixzz1bpUrJElR

No comments: