The picture above shows a confrontation between the police and “Occupy Wall Street” protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge. Notice the “We the People” banner held up by the protesters who assert that they represent 99% of the people. The patriot movement across the nation has always been unable to attract or motivate our youth to join in our protests to save the nation. I see this as an opportunity for us.
What are patriots fighting for if not the same future that these protesters are fighting for?Patriots want personal freedom for our children and the protesters want freedom from debt and personal responsibility. The concept of freedom should never have two disparate definitions and it is our duty to teach them the price that real freedom requires. These protesters want what they consider to be rights but their concepts of rights are not based on natural law or our founding principles. Their idea of rights come from a short lifetime of indoctrination at schools and universities which have no basis in morality or responsibility. We should have never let this happen.
The forces aligning to collapse our economic system and convert the United States into a Socialistic country have tapped into our children’s frustration and accomplished what we were not able to do: wake them up to the fact that their future is in jeopardy.
As the “Occupy Wall Street” movement expands across the nation, I want to make a radical proposition to the patriot groups: Let’s join with this movement.
If we believe in our convictions for the founding principles and freedom, this is the perfect opportunity to educate a captive audience. The truth is that these protesters have financial problems because we have not adequately fulfilled our parental duties. We sheltered our children, told them everything was going to be alright and never taught them fiscal or personal responsibility. They may blame the banks but only because their indebtedness is being successfully manipulated by this so-called “leaderless” revolution.
It is time for the adults in America to stand up, take to the streets and set the example for our children before the violence erupts once the labor unions join them in earnest. Let’s not allow our children to be used to start a crisis that will not go to waste and destroy our country. Let’s get out there and use this “opportunity” to reclaim our children and their future through education and morality.
This movement is organizing across the nation. Find the closest city near you using the keywords “Occupy Wall Street” and the name of the city. Then go to the protest or organizational meeting nearest you.
David DeGerolamo
Karl Denninger at Market Ticker made a similar suggestion today:
(video clips included at http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=195248)
Text in italic is from Denninger (bold text my addition):
There are many who argued that The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
I retort that this is not by any stretch of the imagination always true. Sometimes, the enemy of your enemy just means you have two enemies. My reluctance to get involved in championing the “Occupy Wall Street” movement has to do with what I consider to be an essential first determination of which of these two principles is more-likely to be correct.
After all, supporting one is good. Supporting the other is suicidal.
That there is no “cohesive set of demands” may be a good thing, if it’s real. The problem is that I’m not sure this is the case. Among some of the “looney tunes” demands I’ve heard include:
•A $20/hour minimum wage.
•The right to receive it irrespective of whether you work.
•Cancellation of student loan debt (Note: Not bankruptcy discharge, which I support -- just flat cancellation without consequence to the borrower.)
•Tariffs to stop wage and environmental arbitrage (good) and wide-open borders (horrifyingly bad and flatly impossible given the first two demands.)
•A right to a college education (not an aspiration, a right -- which means irrespective of ability. How has this worked out for our High Schools when we forced everyone, including those who are on the lower end of the bell curve in intelligence, into “mainstream” classrooms? It’s been an unqualified statistical disaster.)
Add up all the above and you have a thinly-disguised attempt to demand Communism.
Not socialism -- communism: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
That not only won’t work, it will destroy what’s left of America and give rise of a dictatorship from the smoldering ruins of the collapse.
On the other hand we have demands that make perfect sense, such as:
•Prosecute the banksters.
•Your kids (and those not yet born!) are being told they’ll have to bail out the crooks.
•The “99%” are against those robbing the nation.
So here’s the deal, as I see it.
If the so-called “Tea Party” is going to mean anything at all then it has to get in the middle of this debate and protest movement right now and amplify the voice that represents common ground.
There’s a lot of that common ground. The messages we the people must send are:
•Stop the looting and start prosecuting. Not protesters, banksters. Right now. Fraudclosure, fraudulent lending practices, fraudulent securitization, fraudulent accounting here and abroad. It all must end right now with prosecution both for past and forwardly-committed financial scam sins.
•We will not pay for the bailouts and handouts. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. Nor will our children and those not yet born. We will withdraw consent through our cessation of taxable work product if the government refuses to meet this demand and claw back every nickel of the transfers it already made. That response is lawful and is, in fact, exactly what happened in Egypt. We will bring it here.
•We are the 99%. Yes, some of us are liberal and some of us are conservative on social issues. On this issue -- the rule of law -- we are united and we stand as one. This crap stops right now; we’ll fight about the other issues later.
•There is a process for unpayable debts and it’s constitutional. It’s called bankruptcy and it must be available to all with unpayable debts. Period. This means medical debt, it means student loans and it means mortgages. All debts. If you want a demand that will collapse the bankster BS game, that’s the one. You shouldn’t get off if you borrowed foolishly but neither should the lender who lent you money they either knew or should have known you couldn’t repay. No bailouts and no handouts on either side of the ledger.
•We know that pulling the deficit spending and “supports” from under the banksters and housing will cause an economic contraction worse than the 1930s. We know the pension funds are levered up with bank debt that must be haircut severely and that stock prices will fall precipitously if financial institutions are forced to tell the truth and “easy credit” is removed. WE NOT ONLY KNOW THIS, WE ACCEPT IT AND DEMAND THAT IT HAPPEN RIGHT NOW ANYWAY. Why? Because we are Americans. We make mistakes. We accept the possibility of bankruptcy for ourselves when we make mistakes but we demand that the jackass on the other side of the desk gets the same punishment for making a bad loan we get for taking one out. We want to buy houses when they’re cheap just like we want to buy DVD players when they’re cheap. We want American industry to provide jobs, not jobs for Chinese who were tending rice-paddies with the “profits” flowing to executives while Americans go jobless on the dole. We accept that realignment and re-industrialization of America will be painful but the fact remains that wealth disparity that comes from ripping people off is bad while wealth disparity that comes from being inventive and industrious is good — the latter is how we make progress and the latter are the people who we want to have the money to hire us, not the former!
•We demand that the “cheap money” policies, which in fact are really nothing more than bailouts and handouts across the board along with protectionism for the bankster class and those who offshore jobs, end right now. This means no more negative real interest rates anywhere on the curve and a true zero inflation target with criminal penalty teeth in the law. We’re prepared to back this up with the sort of durable protest that we see in NYC and elsewhere and we will expand it as we’re able and as is required until the above demands are met.
•We demand tax reform that results in nobody getting a free ride and nobody having loopholes they can exploit. Whatever we do for a tax system the instructions must fit on one 8-1/2 x 11 sheet of paper and be presumptively correct under law when followed. Your “return”, if you have to file one, must fit on a postcard. Corporate taxation must be similarly simple and presumptive. We demand that the government bring in via taxes every dollar it wishes to spend in programs in the present tense, not borrowing from the future. We can and will have the debate over exactly what those services are in the public square, as we should, and render our opinions in the voting booth. We will not tolerate one more day of deficit spending. Period.
I don’t see anything here that the “Occupy Wall Street” folks could disagree with. Maybe I’m wrong -- but if I’m right, these seven points should be what we preach -- and what we stand for.
WHERE IS THE TEA PARTY WITH THESE SEVEN POINTS — SEVEN POINTS THAT, PART OF THE EXISTING PROTEST AND AMPLIFIED, BACKED BY MILLIONS IN THE STREETS WHO PEACEFULLY PROTEST AND REFUSE TO STAND DOWN, WE CAN BRING TO THE FORE AND MAKE HAPPEN IN THE PRESENT TENSE?
I do not subscribe to the philosophy that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I know the Biblical basis for this belief. I am in no way advocating the advancement of the tenets of “Occupy Wall Street”. I am advocating using this as an opportunity to deprogram our youth. But from the feedback on this article, it may be too late.
I understand and support your intent, David.
The italic above was Denningers’ comments from Market Ticker.
Admin, I don’t know why you think your people are in any way more patriotic than the young people trying to stop these excesses by Wall Street and the US financial institutions in general. Apparently, you don’t think much of today’s kids, or their education. Well, they’re the most educated Americans ever, but even though they went to integrated public schools and liberal arts colleges, they are unable to find the kind of jobs their parents and grandparents had, where one of the parents could work and it was enough to get by on. Did you ever wonder what happened to all that Ozzie and Harriet economy?
Well, so do these protesters, and they are doing something about it. Through their diversity they have the same goal; they want their country back, too; just not back to 184o!
Your idea to infiltrate these groups with right-wing ideologues will not work, as they already know who you are and what you’re up to. You may have some commonality with them, but they’re mostly oriented toward the whole progressive agenda, and teabaggery will not appeal to them. They are anti-racist, anti-war, anti-oil and nukes, anti-corporation, pro-solar and wind, and mostly not all that religious or blindly patriotic. You’ll have a hard time convincing them that you have anything they want, since they know that the Tea Parties are supported by “grants” from the likes of David Koch, and laundered by Karl Rove and Dick Armey. Praise the SCOTUS, who brought us this bounty with Citizens United! Even if you guys DON’T know that, they, and we, do. With the Right, it’s ALWAYS about the money. Sorry. Now, if you maybe took a second look at some of the other more liberal viewpoints these people have, and see if you missed anything…
Hans, I agree with some of your 7 points, the first 4, anyways. I’m not on board with the whole “reduce the deficit at all costs”, especially where you just accept the bankruptcies as part of the deal. You can’t speak for the people who lost their homes and savings to these vampires. It’s a world-wide economy now, and when a Chinese man coughs, we get a sore throat. That won’t change anytime soon. You guys let these GOP Presidents globalize the economy, and this shakedown is the blowback from cold water hitting hot glass. Your economics need re-thinking; check out Krugman or Dean Baker, among others.
Jobs of any kind, where people at least can pay rent, buy food and fuel, clothing, and health care, are the absolute priority, because, like ALL millionaires know, you have to spend money to make money. Obama’s stimulus was a great idea, although not nearly enough, and most of the GOP politicians who insulted it in public were writing to him (less in public) to get some of it for their states, because, whatever Lush Rimjob tells you, the Federal Government has an important role to play in this country at this time, and yes, government DOES provide and create jobs! Screw Norquist and his bathtub. The Reverand Rick Perry used $17 billion of the stimulus “lite” to “balance” the Texas budget. His GOP Congress also stole money designated for paying electric bills for the elderly and poor (so they could have A/C last summer in 104 degree heat), to make the books look good. Quite the Holy Man.
You mentioned that you’re not OK on having a right to college, or a $20 minimum wage. That does SEEM excessive, except that your boy Ron Paul mentioned something about a dime being worth several dollars, and that’s not far off. I used to be able to support myself alone on $5.75 /hr even into the ’80’s, but the post-Reagan economy kind of sucked, since he did the same as Bush the lesser, spent the whole treasury and then some. Much of it went upstairs to the few % of us who own most everything, and not much trickled down, did it?
$20/hr means $160 gross per day X 5 days =$800! times 50 work weeks=$40,000 a year. Not so much after all, is it? Used to be a lot. With the cheapest cars over $10,000, and houses way up there, too, it doesn’t go very far. You’d think someone would be entitled to get that much for a full time job a few years out of college. For a family of 4, it would be pretty tight going, in any state. But now, college isn’t an option for most, it’s a necessity, as other countries who are supposedly poorer, are doing a better job of educating, and their government is doing it’s share, paid for by taxes and other sources. A much larger % of US kids need to be college educated, or we’re kinda screwed.
Corporations cannot do that and make a profit, but the government doesn’t have to, because it’s not a business. The difference is that Citizens Have Rights; not all employees do, and not the same ones. The only purpose a government must have to be legitimate is to care for it’s citizens in a way that’s mostly beneficial for them, and whatever else it does has to consider that fact. It must not be bribeable like every facet of ours is, to be beneficial to the citizens. So, here’s where we’re stuck, that at least half of our boys in DC are wholly owned sudsidieries of some corporation or industries. What does the Tea Party plan to do about that, besides get paid?
In a debate of intelligent people, the truth will win over talking points. This country is about to learn the consequences of not taking personal responsibility for their actions.
Items for you to research:
Lenin’s concept of useful idiots.
Hitler’s use of a targeted enemy (Jews) to gain and maintain power.
https://ncrenegade.com//editorial/the-overeducated-and-the-underemployed/
The cost of a house once extended mortgages were developed by the government. Then compare with the cost of higher education once student loans were developed (and now completely controlled) by the government.
How much a college professor makes per hour of lecture (if they even teach).
Why a republic must have morality and religion to survive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7Rs
Kulturkampf
Community Reinvestment Act
Bottom line, these morons just don’t want to pay their debt.
David! DAVID!!
Put the liquor down.
The Occupy people are Marxists. Let me spell that out: M-A-R-X-I-S-T-S.
You know — like Barack Obama — know him?
Please get caught up:
http://gulagbound.com/tag/occupy-wall-street/
https://ncrenegade.com//editorial/occupy-insert-city-schedule/
The organizers are Marxists. The twenty somethings are being manipulated as useful idiots. Do we infiltrate the protests from the inside or fight our children on the streets? I am not advocating joining them to advance a Marxist agenda.
Are you ready to give up on the next generation so easily? Do we have so little conviction in our principles that we cannot support them in an open debate?
Those articles plus a few more, here:
http://gulagbound.com/tag/days-of-rage/
Randy! Arlen! Calm down. By morons, you must mean the “marxist kids” in the park
who are trying to put a bunch of corporate pirates like Lloyd Blankfein in jail for manipulating the economy like a fixed poker game. Maybe you should help them with that part. I’m sure that plenty of Tea Party people lost their homes, too. You got the firepower; use it wisely.
You offer a false choice …
Should I continue to support an infrastructure of crony-capitalism, where I MAY LOSE SOME of my assets IF I choose to transact business with certain firms?
OR
Should I side with communist useful-idiots and their ‘handlers’ where I WILL LOSE ALL of my assets to the State?
Sometimes, the enemy of your enemy just means you have two enemies. Both of these enemies are determined to subvert the founders’ intent and use people as chattle for their gain.
This is a battle on two fronts, and such wars have been waged successfully in the past.
You are correct in one aspect. We have the firepower and we will prevail.