Thought for the Day

When thinking about what the international phenomenon Occupy Wall St. has become, I tried to define in my own head what their core message was trying to convey. They have been criticized for a lack of focus and direction. Do they really even have a message. But I believe that they do have a strong message that has resonated with people not only from all over the U.S. but the world, as well. It came to me this way:

Our system of government has evolved to the state of power OVER people. It's time we returned power TO the people.

This is not some scatter brained, liberal leaning, pot smoking, Hunter S. Thompson reading, drum beating, group chanting fantasy! This is reality. We need to return a balance to our society, where the 1% have an unfair and a disproportionate amount of influence over the lives of the remaining 99%. This is not only inequitable, it is unsustainable. The inequity is obvious. The unsustainablity is evidenced by the presence and growth of Occupy Wall St. and the other international movements it has spawned. World-wide, people are mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore! (Thank you Network)

Many people fear that this will lead to the dreaded socialism! This is a word that is anathema for members of The Party of No. But I don't see this movement in that light at all, at least not ultimately. What they are more likely to truly want is a balanced and fair minded society where hard work is still ultimately rewarded but everyone has the opportunity to achieve those rewards. NO ONE, despite their so-called justifications of "self-reliance and free enterprise" deserves to earn extraordinary amounts of money on the backs of so-called ordinary people!

I am a self-made man. My wife is a self-made woman. And, after struggling for many years, we have done well lately. We're not anxious to throw our money away needlessly. But we are willing to give it to the right things for the the right reasons (as we see them). We believe that EVERYONE who can contribute, should contribute. This is what a great society does. But as we find out on almost a daily basis, this is not the case. Not everyone who can contribute, does. Far too many of those who are the richest and, therefore, the most powerful, find ways of contributing the least. And, I think that just about everyone (including Tea Partiers), with the exception of most Republicans, are starting to agree that this has gone on for far too long. At least that's what Occupy Wall St. and, because of what they started, millions of others around the world are insisting be changed. It has to.