Perhaps it is a Party Shift we are seeing. The GOP and the Democrats are one party, now, which should be called Huge Money. Perhaps we are seeing a nascent movement, out of which will come a "You Gotta Throw Us a Bone Now and Then" party.
In November, Mr. Obama will win reelection because the GOP cannot find a person to run against him who is both electable and different from Mr. Obama. Again. Mr. Romney invented socialized medicine as governor of Massachusetts. He invested heavily in deregulation while at Vulture Capital. He and Mr. Obama disagree about the size of tax cuts for the rich and corporations but not about the cuts themselves.
One party. Huge Money. Super-Pacs. Free speech but at a huge cost.
Perhaps the Libertarians, Occupiers and Tea Partiers are the tip of the globally warming iceberg. They agree on some key areas, like foreign policy (no more adventurism) while we spend our treasure on the home front. The Occupiers want jobs, as do Libertarians and Tea Party folks. Some of their people move back and forth interchangably, with one over-arching motif. They all feel left out of the process by the Democrats and the GOP.
We have not actually seen a full party shift since Teddy Roosevelt. If he had not died, Teddy might have been president again. His Progressive Party might have made a real change in national interests prior to WW I.
Kept out of leadership (but forced to pay) long enough, even sheep like Americans will eventually decide utitility is diminishing at the margin. Perhaps all of these "movements" fueled by social networking are actually one movement. Perhaps these are the "Fed Ups."
Opinions expressed here are mine alone.
What is your sense of Occupy movements? Is Occupy really a where-are-the-jobs or Labor movement? I have read various Occupy websites, missives and agendas and watched some online Occupy footage: primary sources. What I see in general is a mixture of young-left with socialist-type sharing ideas; a dose of anarchists; housing activists and urban-idealists (wanting all home foreclosures stopped); and an element that refuses to renounce violence (that is an actual written debate on tactics: violence vs. no violence). Yes, some labor unions are involved. (Some are even paid for holding signs, according to Youtube footage). But...
Their main focus seems to be anti-capitalist: protesting income inequality and wanting more stuff to be public and/or free (college education, health care, housing).
So I don't see a jobs emphasis there.
Posted by: K Gray | February 16, 2012 at 03:33 PM
Just saw that the Occupy protest at Pres. Obama's Nob Hill fundraiser was about (1) "ending corporate crap" and (2) legalizing marijuana, which they were smoking (in SF medical marijuana is already legal) and blowing toward Tea Partiers who were protesting Pres. Obama from the other side of the street.
Strange world.
Posted by: K Gray | February 17, 2012 at 10:02 PM