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"You are the 99%" sweet street art I was happy to see
Next week, I'm attending a 99% Spring action training. This spring, the 99% is rising up to confront the rampant greed and deliberate manipulation of our democracy and our economy by a tiny minority in the 1%.
I'll be joining progressives nationwide who will, in the span of just one week from April 9-15, be trained to tell the story of what happened to our economy, learn the history of non-violent direct action, and use that knowledge to take action on campaigns to win change.
I'm blogging about this to ask you if you will join in. The more people we can get trained, the bigger the 99% Spring will be.
Click here to see if there's a training near you and RSVP!
It's an interesting thing to remember when you step inside the voting booth come election day-- we are the people and we have the power to elect the officials who we feel best represent our needs and concerns.
I've spoken on this blog many times about the 99 Percent Movement and why I support it: I believe in sticking up for the disenfranchised many, especially during a time when an elite group of oligarchs seem to be pulling all of the strings.
[Check out these posts if you haven't yet:]
President Barack Obama is trying to pass a tax onto anyone making over one million dollars in income per year. Uh, what's so bad about that? My parents have both been working for decades and have never pulled in anything close to that much income in a year, but have maintained a rather comfortable lifestyle: they own their home, put two kids through college, and manage to go on a nice vacation every year. If they don't mind paying their fair share of taxes, why are these millionaires crying?
Oh right, class warfare. Class warfare, class warfare, ya gotta love that con they're playing on us. What is really happening is the middle class (and the working poor) is being split up by party lines, while the real warfare is being committed by the Almighty Stringpullers. They're (and by "they," I mean the lobbyists and others with deep pockets whoinfluence control the world of politics) playing us all by pitting us against each other. The misinformation they spread and the shitstorms they fabricate are enough to distract us from the real damage that is being done. It's a ridiculous circus, but it's working for them.
And it's not working for us. We're the ones who are suffering. Our public education system doesn't work and is in shambles, and its sorry state is a big part of America's overall problem. Kids aren't getting a good education, they're dropping out, some go off to a life of crime, others shoot for mediocrity. Kids don't have lobbyists in Congress, so who is looking out for their best interests? No one seems to see the long view. The prison system in this country gets more money and attention than the children who will be our future-- how is that right?
We're all in this together, we cannot forget that. This shouldn't be a country where we only look out for ourselves; that's short-sighted thinking. When the homes on your block are occupied with families, instead of sitting vacant, the neighborhood benefits-- property values go up. It's the same with any community, big or small. This country is a community. When the people in this country are healthy and happy, then everyone ultimately benefits.
It's not a big conspiracy, but the game is rigged, and not in our favor. Like President Obama says: “We don’t envy success in this country. We aspire to it. But we also believe that anyone who does well for themselves should do their fair share in return, so that more people have the opportunity to get ahead — not just a few.”
[To be clear: I do not think Obama is perfect, but I think he's the most intelligent and the only person willing to look at the situation from all angles. No, he hasn't done everything I wanted him to do, but he's done a lot of good.]
Everyone should have the right to a decent education and the opportunity to pursue a higher education degree or any other career that they choose. We outsource so many things in this country, but we needn't if we focus our efforts and attention to healing the damage that has been done-- the neglect to our infrastructure, the abandonment of our youth, the disrespect to our health. We need progress, change. Those things come from within. If we work together, instead of fighting each other and nitpicking over items of no consequence, we can be strong again.
We need politicians to start listening to our needs, but first we must tell them what we need. And we need to call them on their BS, too. We have the power. We need to do our homework and use that power when we go into that voting booth.
"You are the 99%" sweet street art I was happy to see
Next week, I'm attending a 99% Spring action training. This spring, the 99% is rising up to confront the rampant greed and deliberate manipulation of our democracy and our economy by a tiny minority in the 1%.
I'll be joining progressives nationwide who will, in the span of just one week from April 9-15, be trained to tell the story of what happened to our economy, learn the history of non-violent direct action, and use that knowledge to take action on campaigns to win change.
I'm blogging about this to ask you if you will join in. The more people we can get trained, the bigger the 99% Spring will be.
Click here to see if there's a training near you and RSVP!
It's an interesting thing to remember when you step inside the voting booth come election day-- we are the people and we have the power to elect the officials who we feel best represent our needs and concerns.
I've spoken on this blog many times about the 99 Percent Movement and why I support it: I believe in sticking up for the disenfranchised many, especially during a time when an elite group of oligarchs seem to be pulling all of the strings.
[Check out these posts if you haven't yet:]
- clearing up misconceptions: Occupy DOES have a message
- participating in our democracy
- CEOs get "golden parachutes," but what do we get?
- an eloquent letter to that 53% guy
- an Occupy cartoon
- thoughts on Occupy, love, and humility
President Barack Obama is trying to pass a tax onto anyone making over one million dollars in income per year. Uh, what's so bad about that? My parents have both been working for decades and have never pulled in anything close to that much income in a year, but have maintained a rather comfortable lifestyle: they own their home, put two kids through college, and manage to go on a nice vacation every year. If they don't mind paying their fair share of taxes, why are these millionaires crying?
Oh right, class warfare. Class warfare, class warfare, ya gotta love that con they're playing on us. What is really happening is the middle class (and the working poor) is being split up by party lines, while the real warfare is being committed by the Almighty Stringpullers. They're (and by "they," I mean the lobbyists and others with deep pockets who
And it's not working for us. We're the ones who are suffering. Our public education system doesn't work and is in shambles, and its sorry state is a big part of America's overall problem. Kids aren't getting a good education, they're dropping out, some go off to a life of crime, others shoot for mediocrity. Kids don't have lobbyists in Congress, so who is looking out for their best interests? No one seems to see the long view. The prison system in this country gets more money and attention than the children who will be our future-- how is that right?
We're all in this together, we cannot forget that. This shouldn't be a country where we only look out for ourselves; that's short-sighted thinking. When the homes on your block are occupied with families, instead of sitting vacant, the neighborhood benefits-- property values go up. It's the same with any community, big or small. This country is a community. When the people in this country are healthy and happy, then everyone ultimately benefits.
It's not a big conspiracy, but the game is rigged, and not in our favor. Like President Obama says: “We don’t envy success in this country. We aspire to it. But we also believe that anyone who does well for themselves should do their fair share in return, so that more people have the opportunity to get ahead — not just a few.”
[To be clear: I do not think Obama is perfect, but I think he's the most intelligent and the only person willing to look at the situation from all angles. No, he hasn't done everything I wanted him to do, but he's done a lot of good.]
Everyone should have the right to a decent education and the opportunity to pursue a higher education degree or any other career that they choose. We outsource so many things in this country, but we needn't if we focus our efforts and attention to healing the damage that has been done-- the neglect to our infrastructure, the abandonment of our youth, the disrespect to our health. We need progress, change. Those things come from within. If we work together, instead of fighting each other and nitpicking over items of no consequence, we can be strong again.
We need politicians to start listening to our needs, but first we must tell them what we need. And we need to call them on their BS, too. We have the power. We need to do our homework and use that power when we go into that voting booth.
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