October 21, 2011 at 12:17:43 By michael payne (about the author)
MainVsWall by thestreet.com
The pillars of Wall Street are shaking as the dormant power of the American people has awakened and erupted in an increasing anger that has given birth to a growing movement of protests across America. This is a movement that began when people who have been subjected to every form of deceit and manipulation finally had enough and took to the streets to occupy Wall Street. And, hopefully, that corrupted financial sector of America may never be the same.
The masters of Wall Street should be trembling at the power of the people evolving in the streets below. This movement is just in its beginning stages and with each passing day it is growing in strength. It's just over a month old and from a few hundred ordinary Americans, it has now exploded into many thousands with the addition of union members; and there is talk that it will soon spread to college campuses.
Sure the power brokers that control Wall Street are going about their business as usual, giving the appearance of thinking that these foolish, misguided demonstrators will soon tire and drift away. But the financial sector, notwithstanding its superior, arrogant persona, is plenty worried and very apprehensive because it senses that this rapidly emerging power of the people may be a force that, once it gets a head of steam, cannot be stopped.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, OWS, is sending a clear message to these financial manipulators that those who live on Main Street America no longer will let themselves be dominated and used as pawns in these crooked schemes. This movement is also sending a signal to the members of the dysfunctional U.S. Congress that it must do something of substance to address the myriad of problems that are facing this nation; from the economic crisis to continued unemployment to a deteriorating infrastructure.
America 's continuing state of crisis begs for solutions. But in order to solve any problem it is necessary identify the root cause(s). And the root cause of America's biggest problems, in my opinion, is Corporate America's massive power and control over the U.S. Congress that has put the interests of the business sector at the highest priority and the needs and interests of the people on the back burner.
The degree of greed and associated corruption involved with the consortium of the business sector far too many members of the Congress is astounding. The people who now rule and control this nation have dollar signs in their eyes and green blood runs through their veins. When they think about money it gives them a high that not even drugs can match. When money, power and influence determine the agenda and direction of this nation, and the people no longer have any say, then this democracy is in grave danger.
In that great movie "Wall Street", Gordon Gekko, the corporate titan, gave a speech to investors and said, "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works." That super-slick master of Wall Street knew exactly what he was talking about, for his observations in 1987 have now become the order of the day as the Gekko's of America today are being allowed to run rampant within the financial sector, with little to no oversight by the Congress.
In addressing the critical problems that this nation faces there must be a clear objective; and that is to target the two underlying causes, Wall Street and the U.S. Congress. Wall Street is already being targeted by the #OWS and now the sights of this movement and the American people must be turned on the Congress. The further objective must be to break up the corrupt, incestuous relationship between these two entities and, thereby, break their vice grip on America.
While that's not an easy task, and it will take a great deal of time and effort, it can be done. It took decades to put America into this precarious position and so it will take time and patience to rectify the situation. Not only must this growing movement be spread across America but every kind of progressive, independent and Democratic organization that believes in this cause must join the effort and work hard to rally the entire country behind it.
The aim should not be to try to bring Wall Street down because that would not only be impossible but it would be entirely wrong; the real aim must be to bring Wall Street under control, to put an end to its abusive practices and have it become an "honest broker."
In addition to what the people on the streets are doing what else can the rest of the American people do? Many of the abusive practices can be stopped by individuals themselves. One of the easiest and most effective ways is for people to move their money out of the known offending banks and transfer it to neighborhood banks or credit unions. If a major bank puts an unfair charge on use of debit cards or some other service, just drop it and go to one that doesn't.
Secondly do the research and homework and boycott those mortgage companies, stock traders, and financial advisers who are known to be less than honest and ethical. There is nothing difficult in doing this because with a little effort people can identify unscrupulous offenders and simply refuse to give them any business. If we don't strongly reject these abuses then we are part of the problem.
The second target and the biggest, most troublesome problem is the U.S. Congress. This is the legislative body that should be overseeing and controlling the financial sector in order to prevent unethical, illegal practices. But when many of these legislators are in collusion with those who they should be regulating then it is a terrible dilemma for America. These legislators must become targets for expulsion from both the House and the Senate. Sure it will take some years but it can and must be done.
What I'm advocating may be repetitious for some who have heard it all before but it's worth repeating in order to keep reinforcing this fact; that only the power of the people, through the election process, can solve this deep-seated problem that exists within our government. We have a little more than a year to clearly identify the primary targets for expulsion. Without a doubt, every single Republican obstructionist, and that's every one of them who is up for election, must be singled out as a target in the 2012 elections. We can't possibly take every one of them down at that time but we have to defeat as many as possible.
Now let's turn the spotlight on the Democratic side. There are two groups of specific Democrats who have, by their actions, often sided with the conservative movement in Congress. In the House there are twenty five Blue Dog conservative Democrats. Here is a membership list of the 25 members of the Blue Dog Coalition. They may identify themselves as moderate Democrats but don't be fooled.
There is no formal Blue Dog coalition in the Senate but there is a group of senators who, based on their records, have regularly been identified as being of the same conservative mindset: Mark Pryor (Ark.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Joe Liebermann (I-Ct.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Jim Webb (Va.), Mark Warner (Va.), and Max Baucus (Mt.).
So it is up to the people to put all these conservative-style Democrats under the microscope to determine if they, by their actions, have put the interests of the corporate world ahead of those of the American people. Those Americans who live on Main Street America, in the various states, can judge which Democrats should be classed as corporatists. And that's when the power of the people, their voting power, must take over. Those who are judged to stand with the people should be protected and those who don't must be driven out of office.
There is one tricky aspect to dealing with wayward Democrats. If they are challenged in the primary elections by candidates who appear to be qualified, then these incumbents should be voted out of office. However, if there is no primary challenge by another Democrat, then we must hold our noses and vote for the incumbent so that a Republican doesn't win; that's what's called voting for the lesser of two evils, which may be repulsive and loathsome, but sometime it's necessary. To stay home and refuse to vote will only further weaken and damage our fragile democracy.
This transformation of Congress can work if the people of America and the Occupy Wall Street movement work relentlessly to rid the U.S. political system of the power of Corporate America.
Politicians must clearly understand that the people of America fully intend to wrest control of our democracy from Wall Street and Corporate America. They also need to understand that if they oppose that goal and defy the will of the people, they will be run out of office. In this way, over time, we can cleanse this Congress of the stench that has infiltrated its chambers.
America is currently in the midst of a monumental struggle to determine who will control the agenda and the direction of this nation. Going into the future there is no way that over 300 million people can allow 1% of Americans that hold the mass of wealth of the nation and their facilitators in Congress to control and dominate them.
Michael Payne
Michael Payne is an independent progressive activist who writes articles about social, economic and political matters as well as American foreign policy. He is a U.S. Army veteran. His major goal is to convince Americans that our perpetual wars must (more...) The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
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