[occupy] Taxation Without Representation and Strange Days

[flamingsword]

: or what the original Libertarian Tea Party movement has in common with Occupy Wall Street. Their goals were to:

Decrease the role of the Federal Reserve with an eye toward phasing it out.

Stop expensive foreign wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Federal spending and deficits are mismanaged/too high for what we're getting.

American taxation is unequal to its representation.

Interference in due legislative process by lobbies and business interests needs to be regulated and transparent.

Leaving aside the racial and religious messages that got brought in after the movements' cross-pollination with other right wing fundamentalist ideals present in its older, whiter, more predominantly Christian demographic, the financial complaints are very similar.

You're about to see a lot of courting of the Occupy movement by Republicans and Democrats and if we're smart we 99%ers won't come in under anyone's banner. And our own movement is going to start courting the Libertarians and the fiscal Tea Partyers. The Civil Rights movement was non-partisan because both sides were equally wrong, equally based out of the same uneven playing field. The same situation applies now.

Once leaders start to emerge from within the ranks, the media will find reasons to discredit them to tell everybody that we shouldn't listen. They will try to interview familiar faces who joined up later who don't really speak for the movement, and we will have to find a way to repudiate them despite the media blackout. There are strange trials coming up, and situations we never foresaw ourselves in.

Prepare for weird.

Comments

Usurpation

[nyyki.livejournal.com]

I honestly believe that the reason why other activist groups are trying to get the Occupy folks to create a platform, agenda, and talking points is because that will let them know what to use to work their way into the Occupy movement so they can take charge and subvert it to their agenda, just like the Tea Party's shift in priorities. I think it's wise for the Occupy folks to guard against these folks.
I'm reading Ron Paul's book End the Fed right now, and I see a lot of parallels with the current protests. It's worth the read for anyone aligned with Occupy.

[pretty-pyrate.livejournal.com]

I like that you are doing this as it breaks down the Occupy movement in a way I can better understand it. I haven't been able to really follow it on Wall Street, or any where else for that matter. I look forward to future posts!