After Occupy, After the 99% D, Then What?

[tdrivertom]

It's not a question of IF, but a matter of WHEN. When the U.S. Congress fails to act upon or consider the merits of the 99% Declaration, what then? Isn't it the plan to elect independent candidates to run against the career politicians in Washington in 2014 and 2016?

How is that going to happen? Are these independent candidates going appear on the ballots spontaneously? How are we going to get them there?

We need to be thinking beyond this NGA Show in Philadelphia. Yes, it's a step that most likely needs to be taken as a last resort, but don't get your hopes up people. Precinct activism is where this needs to ultimately go. It's boots on the ground, hand-to-hand "combat" to win the hearts and minds of the 99%. There's nothing flashy about it. It's door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbor. Town hall meeting after town hall meeting.

People like Bill Moyers are saying the same thing. We are never ever going to go head to head with the Mitt Romney Super PAC which just admitted to having $18 billion dollars. The media is corporately owned. Do you think they will allow the 99% Declaration to get its message out?

They can not stop citizens from talking to each other. This is how the battle must be ultimately won. NOW is the time to get started. Let's not waste a whole lot of time on a meaningless "election" of delegates to a largely meaningless National General Assembly. The emphasis here should not be on signing up "voters," but rather on signing up citizens who agree with the basic principles of the 99 Percent Declaration's Petition of Grievances. We can get delegates seated by having them circulate petitions for their appointment as a delegate. To become a Precinct Committeeman it takes as few as 10 signatures. We should use this model to select delegates. The "election" is a huge waste of money and time

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[nanettejw]

Coming from California - Oakland has always been a tough town - however, I'm not convinced that those that caused the violence were true Occupiers and not plants. This said, having been to a couple of major Occupy events in Washington DC, the last one being Occupy Congress 1/17/12 - I can say that some people came with the intent of being arrested - the first man, a 60yr old from Tennessee told his bus mates that that was why he was going and low and behold, he was in fact the first to get arrested.

As for the Occupy movement as a whole - I am encouraged at what I read and see happening. They, police/officials may well have taken down the tent cities - the movement as a whole is regrouping. There may never be a 'leader' but I have seen many, many individuals speaking on certain programs about the movement as a whole. Part of the reason they don't want a leader, as I understand, is they don't want 'one' person for the main stream media to crucify or worse.... Look at what happened to previous civil rights spokes people - many ended up dead.

As for the progress - if you go to their web site they have a list of grievances - many of which the 99%D adopted. To which, while the 99%D is a worthy effort - in the end the only way to truly effect change is to call for Constitutional Convention - where the people and states arbitrate the grievances and propose ratification to the Constitution.

This is the direction that the OWS effort is moving towards. They are starting to propose the various Occupy efforts in the various states to petition and promote their respective states to support a Constitutional Convention - if they get 2/3 of the states to support this then congress is compelled to listen - if 2/3 of Americans support the proposed changes to the constitution then it overrules congress.... I offer the following as support:

What is an Article V Convention? The only direct way citizens can propose amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Why should OWS do this? Because OWS stands for fundamental changes to our democratic institutions and such a convention, an institution unto itself, is our brightest hope towards bringing about these changes.

What would OWS be proposing as amendments? This is something that needn't be answered specifically at this time. We can say now though, that our moniker—Occupy Wall Street—is a direct statement about where we see a fundamental problem, the solution to which must take place outside the current nexus of government and corporate institutions.

The proposal today is not about what amendment(s) to discuss and debate at a convention. It is simply about supporting the idea of holding a convention because we recognize it is the only way we citizens can participate directly in our constitutional form of government.

If OWS gets behind the Article V Convention it will create the awareness and political circumstance necessary to bring it about.

**Inter-Occupy Article V Working-group Acknowledgment Action**
We involved with Inter-Occupy Article V Conference call acknowledge the fact that the States have satisfied the required two-thirds numerical threshold to call for a National Constitutional Convention under Article V of the US Constitution and Congress should call a National Constitutional Convention to order.

(We offer the attached data to support our agreement of fact.
foa5c.org/file.php/1/Articles...entsTables.htm )

So my point here is - do not despair about the Occupy movement - they are in fact moving in the right direction - it may take more time then most of us would like - but then the world was not created in a day and we did not get in this mess over night.... it will take time and patience - but we are moving in the right direction.

"A corruption of our system.. Congress spends 30 - 70% of their time in office trying to raise money for their re-elections...... WE need to call upon our state legislator's to call for a convention to amend the constitution because we can not depend on congress to do what's right." Lawerance Lessig Author of "Republic Lost - How Money Corrupts Congress and A Plan To Stop It" Via The War Room with Jennifer Granholm

"....Because of the corruption of congress its self - The Cancer in that city is so advanced we can't count on them to bring about the change we really.... A constitutional convention is the only way to bring about the change America needs...."

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[nanettejw]

99%- Clear Congress- NO Confidence Amendment
‎"For a free society to function in any capacity there has to be transparency of and access to information, as well as a set of rules that are applied equally to everyone. Our society has chosen not to hold those responsible for the financial meltdown accountable. This is destroying our society economically by stopping access to transparent information and is destroying our society socially by not applying the laws equally to everyone. Economists and others can attest to the languishing of our society in this financial quicksand so this commentary focuses on the social side of the scandal.

This blatant and overwhelming example of selective application of the judicial system forces even the most optimistic citizen to recognize that we now live in a society of the few unaccountable privileged and the many to which justice applies. Of course this didn’t happen overnight, but this state of our union has reached a tipping point now. For example, the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s did at least result in an application of the law to put at least 800 white collar criminals in prison. In just a couple of decades we can certainly detect a significant increase in the protection of the privileged class from the justice system. At this point it is difficult to imagine a scenario under which a group of persons within this class would be held accountable by the law. The justice system no longer applies to the few unaccountable privileged in our society.

The social destruction that this is causing to our society is one of despair. When people feel like the societal structure is unjust, unfair or “rigged”, they lose respect for it, withdraw from participating in it and simply don’t care about their communities or others. Once it becomes clear that we do not live in a free society of opportunity, but instead, one in which the privileged elite decide the rules to the game and to whom those rules apply, citizens do not have any reason to hold onto hope.

Just recently (in the context of human history) humanity challenged corrupt authority and introduced the concept of respect for the individual. From this was born the societal constructs of a republic and a democracy with unprecedented economic and social equality and mobility. We are the descendents of these great innovators and can choose to allow this to go down in history as a failed experiment in human society or we can choose to continue its existence with necessary structural adjustments.

Although our society has been hijacked by these few privileged elite, we do still have individual rights and with those historically-important responsibilities. Let’s be clear that the status quo is not an option. We didn’t get where we are today because we have always been like this. Our selective application of the judicial system and resulting immunity of the privileged class from justice has been a path our society has been following for decades. We can either continue along the current path or we can change course. Our society will not stay the way it is today.

Our political system is structured in such a way as to include money and influence as vital and integral components of the process. Any elected official on local or national levels is required to accept money to pay for activities that will get him/her elected. Anyone who has observed human nature knows that when a person receives money from another, they are beholden to that person. Not only does the person receiving feel an obligation, but the person giving has an expectation.

With this indebtedness component built into the structure, how can we expect the political process to be anything other than skewed towards the interests of those with money? Why is money and influence built into the system to begin with? The structure of the political system is flawed and therefore, all decisions and actions resulting from that system are flawed. We have a duty and responsibility to change this structural flaw in our political system to avoid the disappearance altogether of our rare and historic free society."
Opinions by Shelly Bernal
Source: www.occupyyourcongress.info/2012/....essly-enslaved/

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