Thursday, October 6, 2011

Anarchists Occupy and Ron Paul Supporters Come Full Circle

Proving the political continuum is not a line but a circle, the Occupy Wall Street Movement marched through downtown Salt Lake with dispossessed Libertarians. As we watched from the windows of the Federal Building, they were at least smart enough to realize that a branch of the Federal Reserve was across the street and that's where they focused their pass-by march rather than just yelling at us for trying to serve the public. There were over 200 of them which beats out the last tea party tax day protest by a long shot.

Pretty cool design - the whole red revolution-thing going
with the socialist (oops, "industry") beehive 
Among the crowd were black flags, red flags, and black and red flags. The red flags I got right away as the classic symbol of socialist revolution. I had to check on Google, but the black and red/black flags are symbols of the anarchists. And among them all was a real big sign for Ron Paul. You can't make this stuff up.

I wish I had had my camera. I'm still looking for a picture of that Ron Paul poster on-line, but there is a shot here of a pro-free-market-capitalism proponent who believes true capitalism would make us all happy. That's sounds a lot more Libertarian and maybe we only get happy through . . . Anarchy (well, I think not).

It is always fascinating to watch history happen whether its the tea party posturing on the right or the leftists (on the left, obviously). If only there were a system where we could all come together and work out our differences! But, I've promoted the U.S. Constitution before and will continue to do so as boring as it gets in all its convoluted history (not just the Founding) and the ongoing process.

All these voices help as they influence us one way or the other and we make our choices and work out our differences mostly in the middle. I just can't figure out why the Libertarians keep ending up in the middle of it all. Or are they the opposite of middle at the other end of the circle?

ADDENDUM:
Same day- Just late at night if I get this in before the Ghosts' High Noon (Midnight in Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore - completely off topic, I realize, but I have been to Basingstoke).

I do like these guys with the occupy movement a little better than I like the tea party and I'll explain why very simply. When you boil the tea down to the dregs, it is basically, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-compromise and anti-Obama. Did I miss anything?

The Occupy movement is anti-wall-street and anti-corporate-big-money influence in government. It clearly has its Anarchist and Socialistic philosophical aspects but is theoretical rather than outright revolutionary renouncing violence as it has and so far successfully.

And credit to the tea party too for not being violent and staying within the law. But it does seem like the anti-government, anti-compromise sentiment of the right is more nihilistic than the anti-corporate and anti-money-control left. My theories of government, simplistic as they may be rooted in a living Constitution of process government of, by, and for the People is frustrated by both the nihilism and anti-compromise philosophy of the right and would be promoted by lessening the corporate hold on government as promoted by the left.

I mean (and here comes the diatribe) how is it that we came to worship money so much in this country that we succumb to philosophies that those who have it deserve it just because they have it and those who don't have it obviously don't deserve it just because? It connects to the value of work only in the basest and most despicable theory that everyone gets what they deserve in this life by their own efforts. In what reality does that exist? and how we manipulate religious thought to get there in declaring those with money are not only more deserving for having it, but somehow as a sign blessed by God of their inherent worth because they can count it? It is true the poor don't understand the wealthy in this country and vice-versa. That is because we have this warped and evil philosophy measuring individual worth with individual wealth in our Western Culture.

All I am asking is that the people truly be allowed to rule. We all have more responsibility to get involved and it is only by more people getting involved that we as a people, through legal means at the ballot box, can put down the great powers of corporate and financial greed that tend to control political processes to the detriment of true representative democracy. We have the political system already in place to do it with our U.S. Constitution. But the system needs severe fixing not to destroy government  of, by and for the people - not to destroy taxes as an oppression on business (!??) - but to use them for the people's good as the people see fit to provide equal opportunity on an equal playing field for all - not ownership of property and means of production by the people's government (that would be true Socialism)   but certainly NOT by manipulation of those who already have money and power to keep it to the detriment of of the masses of people who do not have the chance to progress. The Citizens United case and others similar promoting wealth and power to the disadvantages of representative democracy don't help.

Maybe I am a revolutionary. Just a Constitutional one.

And now the Ghosts' High Noon has come and I must be to bed.

8 comments:

  1. I used to love the game Civilization, especially when the people in my cities started marching in the streets. The only way to appease them and be able to go on growing my civilization and building my Wonders of the World was to stop whatever wars I was waging and throw a few hospitals and universities in the angriest cities.

    Maybe we're all just part of some cosmic gamer's Civiliation program.

    But that still wouldn't explain Ron Paul.

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  2. We used to play Avalon Hill's board game version of Civilization. Once we had a family friend play with us whose name can't be mentioned because he actually ran for Congress in Utah on a Libertarian ticket. He started all his population on an island kingdom and because he didn't build any boats to colonize elsewhere, his population exploded until it collapsed on itself. He lost. True story.

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  3. To continue moderate if not balanced (different than "unbalanced"), here are my views on the last SLC tea party tax-day protest of April 2010 from my old Facebook notes before I started blogging:

    "There was build-up about the latest tax day event in front of the Federal Building. The crowd was projected to be two thousand plus. We had a great view from our sixth floor windows and as we checked by to watch the “crowd” assemble which they have every right to do although there wasn’t any actual petitioning of the government going on. More from my notes of that day:

    The Homeland Security building guards said they were expecting as many as 2,000, and I’m no crowd expert but it looked more like 150-200.

    One sign said "God only requires 10%" I would like to find the church that lady goes to! I wanted to post a sign in our window that said, "No Representation without Taxation!" but my colleagues thought better of it.

    There was guy dressed in a black hood and cape. He must be the Sith Lord ("But which is the master and which the apprentice?") He looked a little like the Comic Store Guy from the Simpsons – the type who arrogantly knows a lot of trivia about non-substantive things but . . . well . . . .

    And there was one guy with a sign that actually said "I am a Proud RACIST." Below he made it into a rather strained acronym "Real American trying to Cope with this Idiotic Socialist Take-over" You'd think he could have thought that out a little better.

    Off to the left of the crowd (the crowd's right - physically, I have no idea philosophically) and a little detached were a half dozen people with signs "End the Fed" and t-shirts saying "Don't blame me, I voted for Ron Paul" and "Do you know John Galt?" So I'm just guessing, but I think that was the Libertarian crowd.

    So, the diminished crowd, the rather odd circus atmosphere, and the generally non-substantive and even bizarre nature of the messages greatly eased my fears that this was a real threat to our constitutionally established government."

    At the time of posting this, a good friend who happens to be a Libertarian/Republican challenged me on what I thought the danger of the tea party might be. I sort of dodged it but I can explain here that besides the general philosophical attack on "government" as "evil" the most violent attacks on the U.S. government in the past 20 years have been from radical jihadists (9/11) and radical Christian Conservatives (Oklahoma City). In both 9/11 and especially Oklahoma City, federal employees were a target just for existing. I've never felt such a threat from the far left.

    Senator Hatch and Congressman Cantor see some risk of danger in the Occupy Wall Street movement. They may just be pandering to the conservative base ("drug-addled hippies" and all). Time will tell.

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  4. Did you see this article?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/opinion/panic-of-the-plutocrats.html?_r=2&smid=fb-share

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  5. Thanks, Karen H. Yes. Another progressive friend had that link on Facebook.

    Sorta makes me want to say:

    "There's something happening here
    What it is ain't exactly clear
    There's a man with a gun over there
    Telling me I got to beware"

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  6. Another CIA Mormon lawyer.........

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  7. Actually, Anonymous 5:32 PM, I am a lawyer for the US Department of the Interior. Unless, of course, that is just my cover which you have now blown . . . .

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  8. Thanks, Anonymous 7:44 p.m., but no thanks. You are now spam. If you really want to do an "exposé" of the CIA and LDS church, you should probably start your own blog.

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Comments are welcome. Feel free to disagree as many do. You can even be passionate (in moderation). Comments that contain offensive language, too many caps, conspiracy theories, gratuitous Mormon bashing, personal attacks on others who comment, or commercial solicitations- I send to spam. This is a troll-free zone. Charity always!