As much as I appreciate the writing and passion of Chris Hedges, I find some of
the quotes below startling with regard to the Freedom Plaza encampment.  I’m
surprised Mr. Hedges even included them in his article.  I don’t see the concepts
that I understand are basic to the Occupy movement in these statements. 
“HOW ABOUT A . . . BADGE . . . WRISTBAND . . . OR CARD?????????  Really?  Even
though “none of the ideas were passed” it doesn’t sound like they are out of the
question.  I doubt you could find another Occupy group that would even
discuss this. 

Setting up rules for who can participate (“you have to participate in general
assemblies” - do they take attendance?) seems odd when they are camping at
Freedom Plaza - which is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Park Police and
therefore belongs to all of us. 

I suppose those who are not permitted on this public land will also have to wear
badges, too, at some point?  What color, what shape? 

Maybe the people at Freedom Plaza put out a call for action last summer, but if
this is their organization plan, they certainly aren’t following the Occupy
principles that really started this movement.  The non-hierarchical philosophy
of the Occupy movement is one of the most brilliant parts of it, and why it will
succeed, if it does.  What is quoted below is just how the people who are
running things now treat people.  More of the same.  Sad.

“We don’t want to become a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter,” Zeese said.
“We’re a political movement. These are problems beyond our ability. How do we
deal with this? Let’s feed the Occupiers first, and those who are just squatting
here for free get food last, so if we have enough food, we feed them. If we
don’t, we can’t. We always fed people, of course. We usually have enough
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for everyone. But as we debated this issue,
we stated talking about things like ‘how about a Freedom Plaza badge, or a
Freedom Plaza wristband, or a Freedom Plaza card.’ None of those ideas were
passed. What we ended up developing was a set of principles. Those principles
included in them participation. You can’t be there because you want a [tent] or
free food. You have to be there to build the community and the movement. You
have to participate in the general assemblies.”

So much relevancy and wisdom in this article.

Yes, indeed, “ignore the Newt, Mitt, Rick-Barack reality show.” I’ve been sparing myself these political shows for a few elections already. The culture is soaked in mass media and advertising so there isn’t a chance you will be missing anything of consequence or precious gossip by staying away from all that.

Many hanks, Chris.

QUOTE, Chris Hedges:

“In this year’s presidential election I will vote for a third-party candidate, either the Green Party candidate or Rocky Anderson… but voting is nothing more than a brief chance to register our disgust with the corporate state.”
__________________

Voting could be much more useful than that, if all the people who want good government policies would stand and vote for them; instead of near all continuing to waste elections by greed or fear filled running to affirmatively vote for (R) & (D) evil, or waste elections by simply not standing to vote.

The (D) dedicated “progressive” liberals have spent their lives voting for the devious faction of the corporate party; then daily urgently begging them not to do the evil that they (D) voted for. All those who have refused to vote have been counted as having acquiescence voted for all the same evil shit that the corporate collaborating Republican and Democrat voters voted together for.

While the corporate party’s conservative lunatic Republican and liberal maniac Democrat factions feverishly fight among themselves over which of the corporate persons’ money manufactured candidates should manage four more years of malevolent militarism and malicious malfeasance, the Greens stand in true opposition.

While the gangs of really retrograde Republican voters and deeply depraved Democrat voters run together — each seeking to be more corporate-state collaborative than the other — the Greens stand to provide voters an actual and accessible alternative to the corporate (R) & (D) party’s sociopathic neoliberal policies.

Jill Stein for President:

http://www.jillstein.org

Voter Consent Wastes Dissent:

http://chenangogreens.org/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=498&Itemid=1

i am not so sure that; if one points out that owned people in usa need a new constitution or bill of
rights, it represents criticism of hedges.
or that hedges should or MUST call on also pious people of all ‘faiths’ [really cults] to utterly abandon
not only ALL members of the sacerdotal class but also THE ORIGINAL SIN. [and not, of course, gods or
goddevils,]
if we do not succeed to wean pious people off their superstitions and devotion to clerics [the looniest
people goddevil ever made] we’d always have a segment of public which would strongly oppose
hedges, OWS, and people who support them.
in, say, s.arabia, emirates we thus may lose 99.999% of their people.
but even in usa, the losses might amount to at least 20% of all the pious people.
====
i do admit, tho, that i enjoy reading hedges; while abhoring [and eventually stop] reading dionne,
robinson, boyarski, conason, sirota, scheer, et al.
pfaaff is ok by me; however, he, too, is not elucidatory. but in order to comment on his pieces, i must
read at least some parts of what he puts down on paper. thank you, bozhidar, planet

when you own people, you run people. usa had been founded on the right of an
individual to own another individual or even dozens, hundreds, thousands,
millions of other individuals.
the notion of the right of some people to own others [in myriad ways] rests on the
priestly notion that some people ARE smarter, nearer to god [s], more
valuable/deserving than some others.
and owning people in any way whatever represents, to me, [i am not speaking for
anyone else] the root of all evil that is done to us on intrapersonal. interpersonal,
intrafamilial, interfamilial, intranational, and internat’l levels.
cure is very simple. reject the—so to speak—original SIN.

thank goodness for chris hedges..i don’t know of anyone else who puts himself on
the line the way he does..i left a few years back because i didn’t see any sustained
effort at resistance to the corporatism that i had seen coming since reagan was
governor of california and now i’m too old, but i wish the occupy movement all the
success in the world because it’s the only chance our world has of surviving as far
as i can see

I would like to see more about how to safely become someone who turns in
corporations for malfeasance, and criminal acts.

As I believe that there are many hundreds of thousands of people with direct
knowledge of corporate wrong doing, but they lack the knowledge on how to
proceed….in a way that is safe for them.

But that being said,  there are many ways that people can resist the corporate
state on a daily basis, and help others around them do the same.

Mr Hedges, I am a great admirer of your work and your courageous stand against the disgraceful injustices plaguing our society. I am also a supporter of the Occupy movement and believe a populist uprising will be necessary to stop the incessant slide of our country into a third world autocracy. However, as a concerned citizen, I believe the most important short term goal is to insure that Conservative theocrats and free market ideologues are prevented from gaining control of the levers of power in 2012. This will be basically a ‘blocking action’. I realize the Democrats are also pawns of Corporate America. However, their ideology at least pays lip service to the needs of the middle class. The Conservatives gaining power in 2012 will mean a 7 to 2 Supreme Court upholding any outrageous legislation passed by a reactionary Congress. The continuing fight for economic equality for the poor and working class will be that much more difficult in the future.

As others have noted, the American Revolution was more of a rebellion.  We revolted against the king, kicked him out, but set up the same social institutions in its place.  It did not redefine the bounds or structure of society.
So what we must do is to fulfill the promise of 1776.  Yet with a commitment to non-violence, it is the first revolution that begins with surrender.

“What this election tells me, unfortunately, is that it doesn’t matter to most Americans if their government lies to them repeatedly.

They no longer care if their leaders erode their civil liberties, push this country further towards a police state, or shroud their actions in additional layers of official secrecy.

They don’t mind if their government operates strictly for the benefit of the rich and the corporate class, as long as their own taxes don’t go up.

Nor do they care if their government spends itself to the brink of bankruptcy. As long as they feel threatened by some external evil, everything is permitted.”

- Gary Webb, 2004

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/coke-or-pepsi/

The Citizens United decision was of course merely the
straw that broke the camel’s back. Overturning it is
necessary but will not take money out of politics. It
has been like this for decades.

As I post this response it is 3AM here, my typical start of a busy day. I know that there will be those who are critical of this Hedges article, as there are about every one of his passionate appeals.

I also know that his call for all of us to get off our asses and join the movement will be ignored by the very same folks who post critiques of his style of reportage. But I found his comments quite pertinent and rather accurate indeed.

I do believe in voting, if only as a means of signalling my disconnect with my elected officials and our corrupt two party system. Like Hedges I will vote Green whenever that party’s candidates appear on my ballot.

I reject, quite emphatically, the words of those who insist that voting for the Democratic Party candidate is the wise thing to do, or the lesser of two evils. I shake my head at these befuddled folks, well meaning though their intentions might be.

I draw attention to the fact that, while espousing a vote for Democrats, these people never, ever show a way to reform that useless party, to pull them from the clutches of the corporate money that makes them useless to we the people.

I have, admittedly, done little to earn Chris Hedge’s acclaim , insofar as joining the OWS folks. I still work a long day, I have a large family, and my activist past is mostly in the past in my senior years. I have, on the weekends, collected food and sent it to the protestors, I have given a bit of money as well. I do urge the younger folks to put their bodies on the line, to put their politics into action.

Like Mr. Hedges I want to express my thanks to the real patriots who are out there every day, working for you and I, trying hard to end the stranglehold of fascism that has cast its dark shadow over our political processes.