Occupy My Toilet

How could a song that was written in 1990 by David Foster still effectively resonate today? Because we need to do more to create effective change in our world. Thought I’d share the lyrics.

Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee;
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies.

Well, I’m all grown-up now,
And still need help somehow. 
I’m not a child,
But my heart still can dream.

So here’s my lifelong wish,
My grown-up christmas list.
Not for myself,
But for a world in need.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up christmas list.

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree.

Well heaven surely knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul.

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up christmas list.

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth? Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth…

No more lives torn apart,
That wars would never start,
And time would heal all hearts.
And everyone would have a friend,
And right would always win,
And love would never end.
This is my grown-up christmas list

By Jen Winkler Helsel:

I thought “don’t talk about religion or politics” was generally accepted as a basic rule of considerate interaction.  I mean, you really have to know your crowd.  Obviously, he didn’t know his crowd, because I didn’t agree with a single piece of Fox News based garbage he was upchucking all over our ears.  Then again, maybe this guy did know his crowd - some will agree with him, and the others who don’t have too fine of upbringing to engage in political debates at a family Thanksgiving dinner.

But, it’s not Thanksgiving dinner anymore.  And I have words brewing.   It’s not a bunch of lazy hippies who are mad because some people have more money than others.  It is hardworking Americans who see schools being closed, funding slashed for special ed programs, and cuts made at our police and fire stations, and then watch our government hand over billions of dollars to corporations who never pass the trickle on down.  It’s about the dismay that big box companies are laying off workers, not because they are not making a profit (Best Buy), but because they are not making a big enough profit.  It is about the frustration of so many big businesses who offer few, if any, full-time positions so that they can cheap out on health insurance and benefits, while private insurance is absolutely unaffordable for most.  It’s about having bought in to the promise that getting an education and hard work were the answers to a comfortable and secure life, and then finding out that it will more likely result in huge school debt and underemployment.  It’s about lawmakers’ ability to vote themselves a raise, and recieve lifetime benefits for kissing lobbyists’ and big corporations’ asses instead of representing the public.  It’s about watching our parents and grandparents who worked hard all their lives and are now on fixed incomes having to deal with new cuts.  It’s about that suspicion that unless something changes, this is not going to be the kind of place we want our kids to live.  

What next?

This has been the most common question I have seen on blogs supporting the Occupy Movement and on Twitter and Facebook feeds I follow.

I think two things.

#1 Get a copy of Florida Congressional Representative Ted Deutch’s proposed Constitutional Amendment that would reverse the idiot Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court. Pass the Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy (OCCUPIED) Amendment around and start getting support, we need ¾ of the states to get there you begin on the ground, malls, churches, schools, homes, collecting signatures in support of this Amendment.

#2 Change the states. All movements to be legitimate successes have to have long term effects. The Civil Rights movement led to landmark federal laws. For Occupy it means changing things everywhere. Elect city and county officials who’ll work to make corruption illegal and stop the militarization of the police. Elect state legislators who will do the same. About 40 states elect judges, if you live in one before going to the polls make sure who should be retained based on Constitutional Law and support of human rights, a judge who’s record supports authority and is against rights, remove that person.

The “Reagan Revolution” and the 30 plus years of conservative dominance began with school boards and municipal elections, if Occupy is to truly maintain its presence, if it is to balance the Tea Party and the Radical Right it has to change the game board.

Vote locally/Change Globally

Congressman Deutch represents Florida’s 19th Congressional District which includes Palm Beach County and Broward County in South Florida. His proposed amendment can be found here http://teddeutch.house.gov/UploadedFiles/DEUTCH_036_xml.pdf Congressman Deutch’s office can be contacted through: Ashley Mushnick 202-225-3001

Outrage?

Where is it?

If the scenes from Oakland, New York, Denver, and now U.C. Berkley were filmed in St. Petersburg or Beijing or Yangon (Rangoon), there would be press conferences with our elected officials screaming their moral outrage. They would be on all the Sunday morning pundit/news shows talking with disgust about human rights violations. Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity would spend the week discussing what we as nation should do.

The same violations occur at home and it’s because the protesters are out of control, destroying and defacing property, disrupting a public space.

All of my life I’ve argued against the idea we’ve lost our way as a nation, have fallen from a time of higher moral thinking. I can no longer make that argument.

Make no mistake, I believe regardless of what you’re protesting if you break the law then you should be arrested. And in full disclosure my brother is a Garfield County Colorado Sheriff’s deputy and many of my friends are in law enforcement. I believe in the job they do to protect people.

However there is a line between protecting people and violating people and the heavy use of pepper spray in Berkley is violating them. Why? Because they were in a non-violent position, locked in unison. This is a standard non-violent protest tactic and at that point there was no reason to escalate the situation

I understand there was tension on the campus because of the shooting on Tuesday; however to a reasonable individual the two events are not linked. The authorities are wrong.

Every step we as a society stupidly take away from our Constitution and our belief in human rights takes us one step closer to something evil; either Marshall Law or Civil War that sounds extreme, but is it? When “We The People” become “We The Oligarchy” there is frankly little other outcome, right now the United States stands somewhere in between.

These are precious moments and we have to stand up.

It is time for outrage.

As a student of history,  the current zeitgeis and supporter of human rights and the Occupy movement I find there is an ugly and regrettable virus running through Americans and the entire human race.

Authoritarianism

As an American who believes that the words of our Constitution matter it distresses me to see how many people are demanding the Occupy movement not take space in parks or public places because the “Law” says otherwise. Or finds the movement disagreeable because it blocks traffic, causes issues with trash clean up or something else.

This is just the current day, if we go back and read articles and letters about the 60’s and 70’s war protests the same theme of attacking “troublemakers” who don’t know how good they have it appears. Or during the Civil rights protests, or the World War One, or Suffrage or any other previous movement.

The express problem with this is that America was founded as an alternative to the  pure authority of both the monarchy and the Church of England. However now we have generations of people who are pining for this type of power to be placed into our metropolitan leader’s hands or law enforcement’s.

It is sad they so many people want to deny the entirety of the First Amendment, who forget how the founders believed assemble and petition were important.

Authoritarianism doesn’t need much to take root and soon begin strangling the roots of freedom. It operates on the bait and switch of “Safety”, “Rules of Order”, “Patriotism” it disguises its true intent, for a small elite to maintain power and control, by using these other terms that people relate t; that people feel are right. People want to feel safe in their homes or as importantly public venues, people want to feel that the general order of the society they live in is homogeneous and regular. Because of this they drop some basic rights in return to feel safe, to feel regular. They respect those that maintain this order and demand others do as well, even when order begins replacing freedom.

Authoritarianism is an ugly virus but it is there and it is rising, if you believe in human rights and human freedom then you must be aware of it and prepared to fight it.

According to a new poll by HNW Inc., a marketing firm, 50% of those who’s incomes are in the top 1% in the United States do not view their income as being in that category. 44% of those who earn top 1% wages feel that they already pay too much in taxes. 

The issue isn’t income inequality. I don’t care how much money you make. I care that I have to pay 27% of my income in taxes while someone who makes almost 10 times the amount my family does only pays 14% AND 44% of those people, according to HNW, feel like they still pay too much in taxes. And why do they have this ability to pay a lesser percentage of their income? Because they have the money to influence politics while I have only my words, thoughts, and ideas.

I have no doubt that many in the top 1% have worked hard to get there and for that I congratulate them. With great power comes great responsibility, however, and that is where they and our country has failed everyone else. How many in that 44% have started endowments to help those less fortunate or help those who’s life circumstances have beaten them down? How many in that 44% have given more than 10% of their income to charities to help the underprivileged? My educated guess is that there are very few, as they feel that they already pay out too much of their money.

Many of us who speak up don’t want a handout - we want a fair shake of the stick. One simple illness can set back a family for 10 years because of enormous cost of health care in relation to decline salaries. In my family, we’ve had to take a 3% pay decrease, forego an additional 3% raise, and starting in January we will have to pay an additional $144 per month to keep our health insurance. In real numbers, that’s $4,000 that I have this year that I won’t have next year. Do you have any idea what I could do with an extra $4,000?

And before you start telling me that I’m part of the problem, our family is almost debt free. We’re down to medical bills and student loans. We’ve eliminated over $100,000 in debt in 3 years. I know how to invest, budget, grow finances. In 30 months I took a company from $500k to over $2 million. Why did we have so much debt? From me losing two jobs over a period of two years, draining our savings accounts and using credit cards just to survive. When there are no resources or my resources are continually cut, eliminated, or taxed even more, my hands become tied. 

Believe what you want to believe about Occupy, but what it is really about is removing those ties from our hands that were placed there against our will and letting people like me do what we do best - support ourselves, support our families, and support our communities.

Calling people names, putting them into a box that you’ve labeled “anarchist” or “Nazism” or even “99%” or “1%,” and attempting to ignore those viewpoints because it makes for uncomfortable feelings does no one any good. This country was founded, on part, from the belief that all men deserved freedom, that all men had the right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness, and that all men had the right to pursue the kind of life that they wanted to have. I’d change “men” to “people” in modern terms because all deserve equal rights, no matter what your belief system, your sexual orientation, or your ability to hold a job.

For years I’ve sat on my ass and listened to preachers talk about how they wanted to see a revival in this country… well I’ve got news for you - your revival is here. There are hungry people waiting for action to be taken to better our country. It’s not about who is right or who is wrong right now - it’s about actually practicing your belief system, allowing others to practice their belief system without complaint, and helping each other become something better than you were by yourself. As Americans, we have common ground just in the fact that we are all Americans and have the most privilege this world has ever seen. Even if that was not the case, we have the common ground that we are all human. 

A country filled with people that cannot accept a differing opinion is a country that is on the path to civil war, especially if battle lines are drawn between the “religious” and the “secular.” Yes, I use quotes here because these are just labels too. Just because I practice the tenets of Christianity doesn’t mean I’m religious - it means that I practice the tenets of Christianity to the best of my understanding, which means to love God and love your neighbor. Those are my two moral constants and on those I will not compromise, but that is because it is my belief that hatred gets you nowhere. You may certainly disagree with that and we may certainly discuss why, but don’t put me beneath you simply because I hold a different opinion. 

It was not that long ago when it was generally accepted that challenging your instructor, your leaders, your preachers, was one of the best forms of expanding not only your knowledge base, but the knowledge base of those you were challenging. We’ve got to stop scratching the surface and just treat the symptoms if we’re going to fix this country - we need to dig into our issues, our problems, and stop trying to pretend that everything is just going to be ok. It’s not going to be ok if we can’t find a way to compromise, find a solution that benefits our country as a whole, and find a way to insure responsibility is taken for decisions made, good or bad.

I want an America that my children can be proud to call their own one day. It’s my job to help make it that way. That’s why I stand up in protest, that’s why I make my voice heard the best way I can, and that’s why I take daily verbal sewage - because ultimately, I’m not building my America - I’m working on building an America for my children, my grandchildren, and other future generations. So let’s work together to make that happen… or get out of my way, because change is coming, one way or another.