Occupy Wall Street?

I am reminded of Martin Luther King's exhortation to focus on the cause in response to another demonstration;

“You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement . . . fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes.”

If you’ve watched recent interview excerpts of the “occupy” protestors, you’re probably scratching your head, wondering exactly why these people have gathered? Their answers are truly all over the board. While it is not clear what unites these protestors, there appears to be a broad-brush resentment toward corporate America and corporate bailouts.  Fueled and funded by radical socialist organizations with deep pockets behind the scenes, this predominantly uneducated crowd is naively unaware that they are being used as pawns to stir up envy and class warfare and cunningly deflect America’s scrutiny away from the central problem facing our nation – big government.

Frustration and disappointment are certainly understandable in today’s economy as thousands of Americans have been laid off and are spending years looking for work in vain. Young people are graduating from college with tens of thousands of dollars in student debt.  Families are losing their homes and their life savings to the very banks that profited from betting against their mortgages. But is it really fair to point a finger at corporate America?  Are they in fact the ones to blame? While there are undoubtedly corporations who received unjust bailouts (that wouldn’t otherwise survive in a totally free market system), who provided the corporate bailouts to begin with?  That’s right, our ever-expanding government, carelessly and arrogantly spending more and more of our hard earned dollars through massive taxation – just to appease their lobbyists.  

And what about the so called disparity between the “1%” (so called rich) and all the 99% (everyone else)?  Most people are unaware that the rich (as defined by president Obama; those making over $250,000) currently pay 40% of our federal tax revenue, while the lowest 50% pay no taxes at all. But facts are often dwarfed by propaganda, and as Thoreau said, “there are thousands hacking at the branches to the one striking at the root.”  

The root of the problem is not corporate America, greedy as some of them may be.  They are simply playing on the field created by our nation’s lawmakers.  When our lawmakers take an oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution and then turn around and accept millions of dollars from lobbyist to pass legislation outside their constitutional authority, we have moved from capitalistic republic to corporate fascism within a growing progressive and socialistic framework.  And anyone with a nominal understanding of history knows that an economy cannot be sustained on this radical authoritarian political ideology.  The wheels are coming off the socialist bandwagon and those caught under the wheels are beginning to speak out. Unfortunately, their criticism is aimed at the wrong target. Protesting is easy in the sense it doesn’t require much thought or reason. 

If the protestors want to effectively rally Americans and enjoy a successful finish they would be well served to unite their cause around proven, time-tested principles – ideals that have been historically verified to deliver and sustain freedom and prosperity.   Revolutions, protests are becoming more commonplace. What is rare is seeing protestors unite around ideals that bring genuine prosperity and freedom . . . rule of law . . . sound money . . . free markets . . .  constitutional fidelity . . . private property.  Those were the winning ingredients of a revolution that our Framers used to create the most prosperous civilization in 5,000 years of human history.

We can point fingers at corporate America but they are not the root of the problem – just a convenient red herring derived from calculated plan to stir up more division in our land. In America we still elect our representatives at our consent.  Our lawmakers in Washington reflect you and I and the declining character of our nation. Do we wish for positive change?  Start with the character of the person in the mirror – our responsibility begins there and in endorsing lawmakers who support these ideals as well.

A joint collaberation with Mark Rasche