Peter Everts, November 23 at 10:33 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Non-violent protest carries a deep-seated value that trumps the violence of reaction by those in power.

Absolutely correct. The rest of your post is absolutely incorrect and intimates that you are either an infiltrator or too dumb to see that the entrenched power thrives on violence.

Don Schneider, November 22 at 6:34 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Got Gun ?

Got brain?

The Tea Party represents a minority in the United States but was able to accomplish big things. They influenced an entire election cycle and created an election tsunami in 2010. The Tea Movement effects national legislation in both Houses of Congress and on both sides of the isle today. A small minority was able to effect the nation far beyond its numbers. There are many lessons in this.

Less than 50% of Americans exercise the megaphone voice of the vote. Tragically that number falls below 40% amongst liberals and progressives.

Want real and lasting change? Occupy your School Board, City Council, County Seat, State Houses and the Congress!

Vote with your wallet, what a concept.

I favor general strikes.

First of all, we don’t have a democracy.  We have a Democratic Republic (and that ain’t gonna change lest you’d have the minority victimized by the majority). So, nothing gets done except by those who supposedly represent us. Problem is, those representatives lose their jobs, their wealth and their own status among the 1% unless they do what their corporate minders/funders want done to the benefit of their respective vested interests. That’s corruption. Corruption is criminal. If you want to take out the sociopaths in government and mega-corporations, you investigate, publicly expose and prosecute. I think it’s time that Reporters and Prosecutors get off their asses and start avidly enforcing the laws that are already on the books.

I’m hoping that same anger will translate into voting the Republicans out of congress It may not make the phone company employee any better but it might force the government to create jobs and regulate the banks and Walls Street.

Here we go again, pointing to the lack of quality in imported products and the
“developing world’s lax regulatory standards.”  Poor craftmanship and safety
standards (and reliable inspections) had declined here well before we became
awash with foreign products.

Public irritation about the way companies treat customers may have reached an
all-time high (compared to non-existent) but there’s no widespread anger. The
way people feel about politics and vote tells the whole story.

Why not an OWS political party with an occupy the presidency platform. Then a real choice instead of tea party and Obama Regular, with other OWS candidates running and gradually filling up the congress.

The whole enchilada needs to be looked at, not just the President, congress is for the most part bought and sold, it seems even the Supreme Court has its slackers in something called integrity, anything for a buck,  so much for Checks and balanced.  Our government appears to emulate Fox News in more ways then one. Disenfranchisement is real and so is inequality.

Profit before people is not as American as apple pie,... unless you are selling pies!

What exactly is consumer activism??? Is it even possible for a consumer to be socially active and involved? The way I see it, no, it is not possible.

The so-called government is systemically corrupt at this point - because it shares its bed with private corporate interests - Obama has long ago shown his true stripes - and far from being the savior of the common man is his/her Judas.

I say this having voted for him in three national elections

The Occupy Movements == Too Slow and Not Enough
It’s only two months since Occupy Wall Street and there is inertia. Its sluggish and the opposition dominates. People raging against the machine are weak. The tools to dismantle it must be found. We need answers, but nobody is asking the right questions.
Q: “Tax the Rich” is a weak ask. Who stoops to accept figures like 1% or 5.6%?
A: Tax the Rich forty percent with no loopholes.
Q: Why are we demonizing a faceless and nameless 1%? It’s undemocratic, and we are supposed to be restoring Democracy, not subverting it. This is a witch hunt. We can’t be like them.
A: We single them out one by one, the people and corporations whether 1% or 99% who by action and attitude are the real destroyers of America. We use fair process. Then we take them out and put them down.
Q: Why do we waste time occupying public parks, “standing up” empty handed and limp, with no tools to get the real job done?
A: We start with Occupy Exxon, rallies at Koch Bros Mansion, and fence shaking at PG&E. We create a think tank that will pound out plans and solutions and replace whining with winning.
Q: Why aren’t we impeaching every tyrant leader? (They’re recalling the governor of Wisconsin.)
A: Set-up drive through petition booths near the capital building of every state in the country. Identify and hit every tyrant leader starting with unjust Governors and working down to corrupt Mayors.
Q: Why do we bother getting signatures with clipboards at little gatherings and Safeway parking lots?
A: We go viral. We storm petitions across http://www.change.org and Facebook until the servers break down. We get millions of signatures in weeks, not months or years.
Q: Somebody in the 1% gives enough money to knock them down into the 99%. Who’s going to oversee where the money goes? Who’s going to ensure it goes for public programs and not to Afghanistan?
A: We create a public watch dog agency and maintain accountability for every dollar.
Q: How about movie stars, rock stars, and sports heroes? Why do we adore them in their giant mansions, pay them the big bucks, and not hold them accountable?
A: We boycott ticket booths and starve the sports and entertainment industries for 90 days.
Q: What can we do to stop the deaths of our neighbors from lack of affordable healthcare?
A: We petition charges of involuntary manslaughter against every politician who supports cuts to healthcare.
Q: Why are these questions, and many more, not being asked and answered?
A: 1) we are scared 2) we are lazy 3) we are an undirected mob 4) The 99% is really only 9% and the other 90% don’t care. We need to find the answers or America is going down now.
If we can’t fix America, it’s because it’s too late to get back our power. It’s time for us to take this movement to a new level, and turn around our country. Now. This is not a long-term project.

But, but, but ...Dionne obscures an important related fact—it’s just as important WHAT and HOW MUCH we consume as that we consume and therefore have some small “consumer” power.  Consumption quickly becomes a disease—as we ought to know by now. We need to play a larger part both in what we consume as well as in the quality of what we consume.
One thing that would make life a lot simpler would be if government agencies that purport to be concerned about health and welfare would do their job of safety examination and truth in advertising, to help prevent so many questionable products going to market and so many lies being told by people promoting them.  As with everything else, the problem is complex and urgent—just the kind of problem everybody turns a blind eye to. Too much trouble.  Too complicated. Bad for business.

Gee—somebody might get angry because the crap they just can’t wait to buy broke down before they could become bored enough to discard it for some other meaningless piece of crap. Meanwhile the long con and the thugs running it continue on their merry way. D.C. is a conflagration of corruption and hubris is its watchword. SAVE YOURSELF!

Nader is a symbol, and a rallying point. He is not a solution. No single individual can be such. I say this having voted for him in three national elections. But I did so to register a protest vote and , while he ran as a Green , to advance the cause of third party politics.

As long as we have Tweedledee or Tweedledum as our choices we will continue to have no choice at all. It is not individuals that are at fault here, it is a system corrupted by money and answerable to the corporations and not the people. Both Republicans and Democrats are guilty as hell.

Ralph Nader would be an excellent candidate for a third party

Yeah… ya think? :D

Sorry, that was just too funny considering the spat Mr. Sirota had with Nader supporters not long ago with the whole “told you so” thing lol.

The anger needs to be channelled to the government at all levels, not at ourselves or big business who are also the recipients of the government’s unfair tax laws, corporate welfare, etc. Big business cannot escape taxes through loopholes unless the government passes legislation to allow them to - it is the government that must be changed - Ralph Nader would be an excellent candidate for a third party - the Occupy Wall Street needs a leader and a list of demands otherwise it will flounder.