By Jeff Orvis
Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Atlanta. Occupy Chicago. Occupy Quad-Cities. Thousands of people all over this country are gathering with only one apparent common purpose. They are all saying “We're mad as hell and we aren't going to take it anymore,” to borrow a phrase from a movie.
The majority of the talk radio folks who have been busy dispensing the audio Kool-Aid to the Tea Party crowd have been quick to condemn the “Occupy” folks as a bunch of left-wing kooks and other less-than-kind descriptions. It didn't help the cause in its early stages by the fact that there were few stated goals of the protests. We are all creatures of instant gratification and instant news and when the organizers had a difficult time forming specific goals for the demonstrations, it made it easier for those on the right to condemn the exercise.
Early news reports of those who were flocking to Wall Street and other venues around the country showed many of them who looked like descendants of the brave folks who assembled in Grant Park in Mayor Daley's 1968 Chicago. Remember “The Whole World is Watching?”
But as the new movement continues to grow, we see more and more of the participants who are like you and your neighbors. They may have advanced college degrees with 10 or more years of experience in a job who were suddenly thrown out of work. Their superiors can only shrug their shoulders and blame the cuts on the economy. But those of us who have been sidelined have been quick to notice that the decision to cut down on staff at many corporations are made by company CEOs who continue to happily cash their seven-figure annual paychecks.
I've mentioned before that it seems that many of our products, especially those in the grocery stores, aren't what they used to be. Corporate America has been busy finding ways to increase its bottom line by putting more water in canned products and giving consumers 11 ounces of coffee in cans that used to hold 16 ounces.
In our fast-paced world where few of us take time to read labels on the products we buy, it's natural to assume that we won't notice we are getting less for our dollar. But when those dollars are suddenly not there, not only are more of us unemployed, we also have more time to spend in the store reading labels and noticing the changes in our products.
Lack of jobs and obscene upper management wages are only part of the story. Many of us are realizing that there is an unhealthy shift from the philosophy in this country. It seems that an honest dollar for an honest day's work or a fair price for a good product has been replaced with “what can we do for less and still make a big profit?”
The radio talking heads would have you believe that the only thing the protestors are looking for is a free ride. But if you listen closely to the nightly interviews from the streets you will learn that all many of us want is a fair shake. Many blame the federal government, specifically Congress, for the nation's ills. Money talks and it didn't help the situation when the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that corporations were free to contribute to political campaigns.
The elections are a year away. As more well educated people are suddenly unemployed and are finding they have time to pay attention to presidential and congressional campaigns, just maybe they can see past the well-financed half-truths in broadcast ads and begin to ask serious questions of the candidates.
Last time I checked, we still elect folks with votes by the public and not by direct purchase by those with the fattest campaign bank accounts. Just maybe we will elect some leaders who care about the rest of us and not just who can contribute the most to a campaign.
The “Occupy” movement may not be the answer. But at least it has the country paying attention.
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