The Success of Occupy Wall Street
When a law was passed that prohibited them from stealing from their customers, OWS created the Banxodus project - that helped nearly a million people to move their accounts from the banks who decided that they would simply charge us all five dollars a month for it. The banks relented.
The OWS movement has now eclipsed the TEA party, and many of those who participated in the Ron Paul Movement are now solidly aligned with OWS. So much so, that OWS made a statement that explicitly banned the Ron Paul folks from flacking their candidate on the website. But that's a big deal, because Ron Paul - like Howard Dean - are patriots. They're leaders who speak truth to power. And for us to have moved on from the TEA party - is for us, as a country - to have moved on from the fringe group that transformed our Uncle Sam - into a scared person at his door - afraid to answer for the bill collector. The August debacle that TEA created for us - in our artificial debt crisis - is over, and OWS - unlike TEA - is now solidly in place as a formal and global movement.
This is not to disparage the TEA party. Although I question their accomplished legislative agenda . This is simply to say that OWS is a more mature and focussed movement. By their very nature, TEA works best when it is tearing something down. OWS works to build things up. The emphasis by OWS on teaching the rules of General Assembly and Democracy - to those who are watching - is a significant difference and a huge upgrade - because, after all - let's face it - anyone can put on a minuteman hat and run around with a sign saying Obama wasn't born in the United States. They're both, after all, someone's fantasy. Far too many TEA partiers start life off by being angry about something, but their anger never seemed to focus on the key elements of the problem. They were far more interested in the destruction of things that were operating - rather than fixing what is actually broken , in our society and in our government. Less is not always more.
But the fact is: OWS now has operations all over the world, and in all major cities in the United States. So like any good movement, the exclusive use of one tactic - is not the best strategy. The New York General Assembly , and other Assemblies - are rapidly forming their agenda. The process is slower than what we've seen with TEA, simply because it is actually the people themselves - and not news media entertainers - who are arriving at the final document. When it is done, the next step will be to transform government. Likely through a rigorously peaceful and surprisingly powerful means.
To see just how rapidly the movement is growing - and just how far it has gone - take a look at this graphic (be patient while it loads). The only word to describe such achievement is - success.
It is clear that less than 1% of the total mission of OWS has been accomplished. The next phase of operations should be clear:
- Collect, and clarify the agenda. Work through the process of ratification. Once ratified, adopt this agenda as the single focus point of the movement.
- Based on the results from above - proceed to revolution. This may take the form of political action . For example, publicly financed campaigns... why do we need to have millions of dollars spent by corporations, to put people into power?
- Create clear, simple metrics and web interfaces that the people of the OWS movement can use to determine how effectively the agenda has been carried out. Give feedback, ranking and recognition to those who helped. Maintain leaderlessness with an aggressive focus to restore democracy and accountability.
Then. Party on! This is a revolution. It is also, in many ways - a huge hacking movement. We are , like Anonymous, and Wikileaks - deciding what course of action is best for us as people . And proceeding forward without fear. This is very, very good for our country. And the enemy is running scared. And more than willing to shove us away. It will take courage to fight back. A bully never expects you to oppose them. They want things to stay the same, so they can farm you for your lunch money.
As Socrates would say.. Courage is intelligent endurance.
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