We can’t help but hear on the news constantly for the past couple months about the “Occupy Wall St.” protesters. We also hear that some of our elected officials seem to show support for this movement, even the president had encouraging words for them a week or so ago. Never mind that the individual arrested for shooting into the White House was known to have been at the N. Y. protest. I doubt that the president would have any ’encouraging words’ for that one.
Those rumors aside. I decided today to look up one of their websites to see what they claim to be “wanting”, for protesters always want something of a political nature. It was enlightening. This information came from the Occupy MN website. I jotted down a few of their demands:
1) They demand their right to “free speech”- Sounds ok to me, that is the 1st amendment to our constitution. I haven’t seen where anyone has been denying them that right, the news media is certainly giving them a “voice”.
2) They demand, (and I quote here) “the right to shared prosperity”. I don’t think I noticed that in our constitution. What do they mean? Are they saying; if Mr. Jones has more money, or property, than I do, I have the “right” to just go take it from him by force? Last I knew that was robbery! I am not making this up, it was on their list of “demands”.
My observation about “the right to shared prosperity” is simple. The very statement is against every principle the U.S. of America has ever stood for. You take away a persons right to enjoy the prosperity, that they themselves have worked for, you undermine all productivity in a society. Tell me why I should have worked, saved, sacrificed, done without expensive vacations, drove junk trucks etc. etc. And now, I own my little piece of property, a very small business, have some savings, but since I have more than one of these “kids” sitting on the street corner whining about their lot in life, I should be forced to ‘share my prosperity’? (Not that anyone would mistake me for a “rich” person.) But ‘wealth’ is a relative term. To the homeless man living in his car or on the street, I would be considered a rich man.
You get a share in the prosperity of this country, when you earn it!
3) Again from their website: “We demand the right to jobs and education”. They also had in there somewhere, a demand to an end to the “student debt trap”. Pray tell me, where on earth do they get the ideal that a “job” is a “right”? Or an “education” is a “right”? Then, it appears, they expect that education to be paid for by someone else.
I really have to wonder what country these people grew up in? It is not the U.S.A. that I grew up in! I was not taught in school that I had a “right” to a job. Rather, we were taught that you “find” a job, then you prove your worth to your employer and earn money “for him”, so that he can afford to pay your wages and hopefully make some profit for himself. If he does not, you won’t be getting a paycheck very long. (Unless you work for the taxpayer, then we “owe” you a job, right.)
4) Also “We demand the right to make Wall St. pay for their crisis”. How do you intend to make Wall St. pay? Is it by violating the rights of working people trying to get to their jobs? This is what was tried this very morning. (Nov. 17, 2011) By blocking the public roadways, do they think they are exercising their “rights” to free speech? There are thousands of workers on Wall St. who are not in the richest 1%, as if that has anything to do with right and wrong. It matters not how wealthy a person is, the ‘free-loading bums’ calling themselves “Occupy Wall St.” does not have the “right” to execute vigilante justice on anyone! Since when did it become a “crime” in the United States of American for a person to become wealthy? If that is a “crime”, we are done for as a nation.
I would not deny that there are ‘guilty criminals’ working on Wall St. and certainly some of the things that have been done under the name of “free enterprise” by some banks and security firms on Wall St. would be considered criminal. That is why we have a justice department, securities and exchange commission and dozens of other tax supported law enforcement agencies to deal with. Sure there is corruption that goes on in the banking sector, corruption in politics, corruption on Wall St. I don’t think anyone would deny that. However, if a free society is going to exist, I don’t see how mob justice is going to help the situation.
The Occupy MN website advertised an event for 4 PM today. They were organizing a march on the 10th St. Ave Bridge; yea, right during rush hour. I assume this is in Minneapolis (could be St. Paul). Either way the point remains the same; the mob wants to exercise their “rights” by interrupting the flow of traffic on the 10th St. Ave Bridge. I can’t help but think of the thousands of “working people” trying to make their way home from a hard day at work, only to be frustrated by a bunch of “cry babies” who seem to want a communist/socialist country to take care of them. Get a life! Hey, I know where some of you could get a job! No, maybe not, they need people who are “willing to work”.
5) “We demand a federal jobs program for all, funded by taxes on corporations and the rich who sit on trillions in reserves.” Again, this was on their website. My blood pressure might be getting a little high! Just what the country needs! “A federal jobs program”! Hey folks, in case you don’t understand basic economics. A job is suppose to “produce” something! Whether it be a product or service, there must be some “value” produced by the job.
To put this into a simple illustration. Say we corner a person worth 5 million dollars. Just take the 5 million and start spending it to pay ‘salaries’ of 50 people at $50,000 a year. (That would be more than twice what my family lives on, but it is just an example to illustrate the point.) Assuming these are “make work” jobs, which is what they are demanding, in just two years time, what do you get? The 5 million is gone, those 50 people are out of work again, the millionaire has nothing; no one is any better off. This is exactly what a “make work” jobs program does to an economy, when the money is all gone, we are done. Unless we keep printing it out of thin air, which we have been doing. Just wait until that inflation kicks in, then they are going to be screaming for “price freezes” so they can buy a loaf of bread.
Ok, one more point from the Occupy MN website and I will end this rant. One of their “occupy activities” was to be in support of a movement called “jobs, not cuts, protest”. This protest, so says the website, is endorsed by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local #1005 and the United Auto Workers Union Local #879. If I understand this right, the “Occupy MN” movement has joined hands with these two unions to protest spending cuts by state, local and federal governments. Does any of these people not know that the United States has reached a debt of 15 trillion dollars! Yet, they don’t want any cuts in government spending. Is it not obvious that we cannot keep spending money the we don’t have and expect not to go bankrupt? Is the “me” generation so devoid of morality that they are willing to steal every last dollar anyone has earned to support “make work” overpaid public jobs?
It is marvelous to me that just in my lifetime, it appears that we have gone from a “Republic” with a Representative form of government, to a “democracy” which in its pure form is nothing more than “mob rule”. The big push to call ourselves a ’democracy’ has been on since I was a young man, but when I was in high school, our teachers stressed the fact that a pure ’democracy’ was not a “good thing”, for it does not protect the “rights” of minorities. The point is well illustrated in that these “occupiers” claim they represent the 99% against the 1%, therefore, their reasoning is the “majority” has the right to confiscate the property of the minority! I can’t even believe this discussion has come up in the U.S.A.
I have to wonder what really is at the bottom of all this madness? Who or what force is really behind this movement? It does not seem reasonable the just out of nowhere we suddenly have an organized movement to dismantle our Republic and replace it with a socialist/communist system.
Sorry if this offends anyone, but think it through. Either we are a country that enjoys freedom responsibly, or we will lose that freedom by self-destruction. To throw away all restraints and demand the property of others be taken away and given to someone else just because you don’t like “rich people” is insane. To expect our government to act with justice if crimes are committed, is not the same as demanding we confiscate wealth from others, just because we want it, or think they don't deserve it and we do.
It will be a sad day for America if these so-called protests turn to violence when their ‘cry-baby’ tactics don’t work. You can rest assured on which side I will be standing. Freedom is not a ‘free ride’.
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