Occupy Wall Street sends positive message for 99 percent

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Riley Tidmarsh, Staff Writer
January 3, 2012
Filed under Opinion

We live in a world in which an extremely minute amount of the population has control of quite a lot. It’s such a small amount that approximately one in one hundred fall into this category. Sadly, this elite 1% has, over the years, succumbed to greed and corruption.

Out of this avarice was born the Occupy Movement that has taken hold in numerous cities across the world, including New York, London, Los Angeles, and Boise.

Quite honestly, this movement calls for seemingly acceptable actions. These nonviolent protesters are calling for things like social democracy, which should already be a staple of American and democratic policies worldwide.

Also, they are protesting for a reduction in corporate influence on politics, another belief that, sadly, isn’t accepted by governments across the world, including the United States. Corporations, which are part of that fabled 1% that I keep mentioning, have always had a say in politics. And why shouldn’t they?

What is unfair about the corporation’s say in politics is how much say they have. These corporations act as though, despite the supposed equality in America, they deserve this say. Corporations influence government through Political Action Committees and Single Interest Groups, into which they have the money to throw. This, in effect, allows large corporations to have an unequal say in politics.

And what does this do to our lowly 99%? Well, for one it greatly reduces the equality for the average person, who is without the assets to get through to our country’s leaders. It also makes us simply puppets for these large corporations.

This is exactly what the Occupy Movement is fighting against; the complete and utter lack of ability to get 99% of American’s fair say in the world, the discrimination found in the world’s economic and political system, and a system in which money can buy power and control.

Personally, I find the lack of support for this movement (which simply calls for the practice of the fundamental American values of democracy and equality in the political realm) to be astounding. The Occupy Wall Street Movement is truly proof that common Americans, the 99%, can indeed have a say in the world that has stacked the odds against them.