Occupy America

Today on Facebook, I was notified that the Occupy Wall Street movement was coming to my town. At the same time that I welcome local organizers to make my city a part of this growing movement, I am also apprehensive, and skeptical of their motives and loyalties.

We live in a country where two bogus parties present themselves as the only two political options to a public too busy and distracted to step back and take a closer look. At a glance, Republicans represent family values, low taxes, and less regulation. Democrats, then represent a strong social safety net, a vibrant working class, and a progressive world outlook. Great, every point of view of a population of over 300 million people is represented by these two parties right? Not exactly. What's worse, these parties only pay lip service to the things they're supposed to represent. If Republicans actually cared about family values, they would surely support legislation that supported the family - like a push for health care for working families unable to afford it, or better public schools which play a huge part in raising our children, or guaranteeing that retirees receive benefits they've worked their entire lives for. You know, things that would actually support families. If Democrats cared about a social safety net or a vibrant working class, they'd buck up and stand up against the banks and corporations that push for policies and laws that keep the social safety net from being strong, and robs the working class of its livelihood. Sadly, all of the elected Republicans and Democrats are funded by the same banks and corporations that we elect them to stand up to and regulate.

This being said, Occupy Wall Street is not about your false choices of Republicans and Democrats. This is about those of us who are not part of the ultra-wealthy elite who pull the strings of the Republicans and Democrats, smashing our way out of the illusion of political diversity, and taking our country into our own hands.

This leads me to my apprehension and skepticism. I welcome workers unions, tea-partiers, so called Republicans, so-called Democrats, Libertarians, Socialists, and anyone else who believes that our system is broken and it's time we stood up for ourselves. I reject any one of these groups that tries to make this movement their own, to put us in a partisan box, and reinforce the chains wielded by our corporate masters. This movement is NOT a call to re-elect Barack Obama - He is part of the problem. This movement is NOT a call to give congress to either Republicans or Democrats - They are part of the problem. This movement is NOT a call to elect or re-elect any official who is part of this corrupt system we are speaking out against. THAT IS THE PROBLEM!

This is a call to stand up to the major banks that crashed our economy. This is a call to stand up to the major corporations who not only played a part in crashing our economy, but are robbing our people of their retirement funds, health benefits, and wages. This is a call to investigate and audit the Federal Reserve. This is a call to peacefully bring about a revolution in this country. If this is what our local organizers have in mind, count me in. If this is going to end up as a cheap ploy to rally troops for the tea party or the Obama campaign, you can count me out.

Thank you, and have a nice day
Sean M Henry

Glimmer of hope

Today I saw a glimmer of hope. Yes, there really may be hope. Beyond the utter ineptitude of our current political leaders. Past the broken system of greed and human degradation. Even in the shadow of our despicable wars and war machine. I saw a glimmer of hope today. People are beginning to wake up and realize that this is not all that America has to offer. We as a people have a chance to make real change, and reshape this country into what we want it to be. Not what a select wealthy few decide it is. Masses of people marched on Wall Street this weekend, while many of us were still hard at work to keep food on the plate and roofs over our heads. The masses have begun to speak out in America. The masses have begun to come together and raise their voice.

This generation is sick of the bullshit left to us by the last generation. A nation of people full of promise. From the Greatest Generation who overcame the Great Depression and defeated fascism and genocide in Europe to a generation that guaranteed the dream of equality and civil rights, our parents generation have taken this great promise of freedom, liberty, and equality and turned it into a system committed to greed, hatred and destruction. Well not anymore. We are coming of age finally, and we are inheriting a country, a world in worse shape than when the last generation found it. Enough is enough. We must stand up against the global banking cartels. We must stand up to those who value humanity based upon which income bracket they were born into. We must stand up to the looming police state we've inherited.

I saw a glimmer of hope today. This hope was in the symbol of people coming together even though they were harassed, beaten, and arrested by bastards with badges. This hope is something in the undying spirit of Liberty that great thinkers and leaders believed in long before us, but knew it needed to be defended long after we pass. A glimmer of hope, however is not all that it takes. Will we come together and stand up against these tyrants? Will we stand up and become the embodiment of that dream and make a better world for our children? Or leave them this nightmare of banks, police, and greed that we're being given?

Sean M Henry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLEIVMki0D8&feature=player_embedded

Shame on President Obama

Today, at the UN, world leaders are discussing the bid of the Palestinians to be considered sovereign over their own land. Sadly, my country, the supposed beacon of freedom and democracy in the world is standing in opposition of freedom and democracy in the Middle East. The official cop-out line is that they support a Palestinian state, but only if it's negotiated with the Israeli's first. He said that "Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the UN". My question then, Mr. Obama, why do we have the UN? Why has your administration put so much emphasis on UN resolutions in the past, if in the end it's inconsequential?

Here's how I see it, as an informed and concerned citizen of the world: The Palestinian people have a right, the same right as the Israeli's or even Americans, or any other population on the planet to have a say in their own state and affairs. Just because one group or point of view feels threatened by this sovereignty it does not make the Palestinians or any other group less than human or less deserving of rights.

If the current standard put forth by the Obama administration, and the Israeli government were in place in the 18th century, the United States would never have come to exist. The Palestinians, in fact, are going about their own statehood in a more peaceful manner than our nation's founding fathers did. Compared to the standards of today, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and others would be on a terrorist watchlist and would be actively pursued by the military and covert organizations. Is this what we want to be? Is this to be the standard moving forward into the rest of the 21st century? Or will we as Americans stand up to this nonsense and demand that people across the globe have the rights and sovereignty that they're willing to fight for?

I know that my opinion on this little blog will not change the tragedy of what's happening in the Middle East, but my hope is that at least my words and opinions will be seen and help to influence more dialogue among us. I'm doing my part, will you do yours?

Sean M Henry

Sitting Idly By

Where are we? What have we become as a people? Has the American spirit died?

The United States has never been in such a situation as we find ourselves today. We are fighting two official wars, and two or three more unofficial wars overseas today. Beyond that, we are in the worst economic slump in generations. According to Marx, these economic booms and busts are just what come with the system of capitalism, and until the system is put on its head, not modified or adjusted, but actually fundamentally changed at its roots, it is destined to repeat itself.

Now, perhaps having only been alive for the last three decades, I may be wrong here, but in my lifetime there have been several cycles of this boom and bust that Marx predicted over a hundred and fifty years ago. Beyond the general trend of boom and bust, the ownership class now owns more of the wealth and industry than ever before in the history of this country. To further exacerbate the problem, for the first time in this nation’s history the people are stunningly silent about what is going on. It seems almost as though our population has been so dumbed down that we believe we cannot fix these problems on our own, but rather need a member of the ownership class to fix it for us. This goes entirely against the fundamental existence of the American Spirit. We are a people who have, through every generation, relied more upon ourselves and our own laurels to make changes and the world better for ourselves.

Where are we now? We are sitting idly by, watching reality TV, discussing nonsensical political solutions to problems utterly misdiagnosed by so called ‘experts’, and hoping that someone else with more money and smarts fixes everything for us. What have we become as a people? Where are the populist voices standing up for the people, the working class, the vast unwashed masses?

I am fortunate to have been born in America. And I am proud of where my country has gone in the past, and parts of the world we’ve built for ourselves and future generations. I am, however, ashamed of my current generation and our utter ineptitude to get anything done or changed for the better. I am ashamed of what my country has become; the global war machine. I am ashamed of what my country has become, a global power with advice and remedies for the rest of the world to follow, which is unable to take care of its own problems.

I will once again be proud of my country, and perhaps my own generation once we come together and do something for ourselves. Barack Obama could not in 2008 fix this mess, and can not now. Nor can any one of the Republican presidential nominees. We as a people can, and only after we stand up against the powers to be that have led us to this terrible position at home and in the world.

Though I remain pessimistic about who and what we’ve become, I do honestly believe that we have this in us. This country is what it is because of past generations of people less educated and qualified than my own generation standing up and doing things for themselves. My only question is when and where will we decide that enough is enough, and we’re going to make this country better than how we found it?

Sean M Henry

Osama is dead... what next?

Last night, our nation got news that most are celebrating that the man we've been told that was responsible for one of the worst tragedies in America's history was killed. Within an hour of the initial announcement, the President came on television to address the nation. Through the poetic imagery of the President's speech, I could only hope that this would be a call to end the four wars across the world because now we have defeated the enemy. Instead, the President promised me that the never ending wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Libya will continue, even though Bin Laden has been killed.

I was also struck at how Orwellian the President's speech was. If you didn't catch it, I encourage you to go watch the speech again, and pay attention to what is being said. - The enemy has been defeated, and the war will continue - We have obtained a victory, and need to give and sacrifice more - Justice is death.

Okay, so the war isn't over, even though we've now killed the enemy. So what next? Well... Past the four wars in the Middle East and Asia, we're still in one of the worst economic situations we've ever been in. The dollar is stretched incredibly thin, unemployment is still ridiculously high, wages are stagnant, state governments across the country are robbing working families of their pensions. So what next? Since Bin Laden is dead now, those people who defend their phony baloney jobs every election season are breathing a little easier right now because the peoples' furor against them will be eased for the time being. In the mean time, the pension funds are still being raided, the dollar's value is still falling, people are still struggling, but we have cause to be happy because our government has killed someone.

I encourage everyone to not let this side show of death and revenge keep us from making our country a better place. Still stand in solidarity against those who are trying to rob the collective wealth of our country.

"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." ~Martin Luther King Jr

Sean M Henry

Meet the New Boss

Same as the old boss. This week President Obama authorized an act of war against another country. What's worse, it was while he was out of the country, and he did not involve the congress whatsoever. Now I don't normally have much to say in support of Congressional Republicans, but in their complaints on the news circuits this weekend, they have every right to be unhappy with the President's actions.

Not only is it irresponsible to have started bombing Libya, it's wrong. The powers to be in this country have been pounding into us the idea that we can't afford the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, all of a sudden we can afford to engage in an act of war against Libya? Make no mistake about it, this is an act of war. I don't care how many European nations support the action, I don't care if one or all of the Arab League support the action, when one country bombs another, that is an act of war.

Don't get me wrong here, I don't like authoritarian dictators like Muammar Qaddafi, but unless we're interested in putting into place a single world government in which Libya and the United States are both a part of, our President and politicians have no right to dictate any of their wishes to another country.

This seems to me the last straw in a number of lies, deceptions, and disappointments from the Obama administration. I will be writing more on this subject and others in the future, and I do not know what direction things will go, but I hope for the best. I can say one thing for sure, come November 2012, my support will not be behind Obama. Hopefully I won't be alone in waking up.

Solidarity

The masses in Middle Eastern countries like Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Libya, and others have picked up upon a vital ideal in the struggle for freedom, equality and justice that it seems most Americans have forgotten. This ideal is what once made the American middle class the strongest and most socially and economically mobile in the world. It is an ideal that in the headlines this week, I am seeing challenged by the powers at the top, and sadly I believe the American masses are turning their back on. This ideal is that of solidarity.

Throughout the late 19th Century and into the 20th Century, America built itself not only with the promise of progress and industry, but with a promise to build a strong and vibrant middle class. This promise was not one made from those on high, and given as a gift to the masses, rather it is a promise that the masses united together to fight for, themselves. It is what made the unions and industry both strong, in a symbiotic fashion where when one profited so did the other. Over generations, the two sides of this organism have often been opposed, and it has from time to time gotten ugly, but in the end the willingness of the masses to stand together against the most powerful and wealthy have guaranteed a level of prosperity second to no other society today.

Speaking of today, this opportunity for prosperity, justice, and an aspect of social and economic freedom are threatened. The people who have worked so hard to build this country have been systematically under attack, and been losing ground for a generation now. We see in the headlines today the next step in this class warfare against the middle and working classes. The governor in Wisconsin is in position to eliminate the fundamental right of public employees to have a say in their own welfare and opportunity. Make no mistake, if the governor is successful, this trend will spread to other states, beyond just the public sector, this trend will spread to the private as well. It is true, once they have violated and taken away the right for free people to determine their own livelihood, the stock market will soar, fat cats will get fatter, and the economy for the few wealthiest of the American ruling class will improve. But at what cost?

Is the robber baron era in United States history really a place that we want to return to? The promise of economic freedom, social mobility, and rewarding hard work and initiative will be taken away unless we stand in solidarity with the workers of Wisconsin. It is only united as people, citizens, workers that we can overcome this attack on our well being and hope for a brighter future. It is only united that we shall succeed.

Sean M Henry

Integration only permissible when ordered by law...

While going over the President's State of the Union Address this morning, I came across a side story that at first glance I thought would be utterly ridiculous, and after reading it, just had to say something about it. A woman in Akron, Ohio was convicted and sentenced to jail time for breaking school district boundaries and sending her kids to the more affluent, and higher quality school nearby.

Okay, so I'm not fully informed of all of the details, but here's a few things that I know. First, in a vast majority of public schools; unless you're lucky enough to be born to middle or middle upper-class parents that live in a successful suburban school district, you're probably not going to get the greatest K-12 education out there. This woman lives in Akron, Ohio - For those of you unfamiliar with medium sized cities in the Midwest like Akron, here's a few little tidbits for you: the amount of residents living under the poverty line in Akron is over 25%, since 2000 the city has lost nearly a quarter million residents, average incomes have remained stagnant over the last decade, and much like cities its size and in its condition in the Midwest, crime has gone up. Okay, so now we have a little background on the conditions this woman and her children are dealing with. In dealing with the poor conditions in her own neighborhood, and after her house was broken into, she began (with her children) living part time with her father who lived in the next school district over. In doing so, she began to send her children to the better school district in which her father lived. The school district officials were alerted of what was going on (how they found out, or why they were suspicious of her in the first place is not mentioned in the news article) They hired a private investigator to follow her, and record videos of her leaving her house in her neighborhood and bringing her children to the school. The school kicked her children out and demanded $30,000 in tuition, when she refused, they pressed criminal charges, and the woman was convicted, will be serving jail time and three years probation, as well as serving community service.

This makes me sick. First of all, I thought that as Americans we are encouraged to take initiative to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and make something of ourselves. This woman was doing just that. She was finding ways to ensure that her children would not suffer the fate of many of the youth of Akron, and actually have a chance at life with a better education. "Well why couldn't she just move into the district?" you might ask? I don't know this for sure, but I imagine the ability to afford moving from one district to another may have played a small factor. Turns out poor people can't afford to do many of the things that more affluent people can - go figure.

So what does this mean? What significance does this have? Well clearly it says to anyone who is less affluent with any initiative or ingenuity to watch out. If you dare to make any progress in getting out of your poverty, and getting a piece of the middle/upper class pie we will make sure to make an example of you, and kick you back down to where you belong. The school board that carried out this ridiculous lynching should be barred from public office and forced to spend at least a year in a neighborhood like this woman's. Lets see how well they fare in a rougher neighborhood, and how creative they might be to get out.


Sean

Civility, Sensationalism, or Ignorance?

I've had about enough of this. A FB friend posted a CNN article this morning criticizing a religious leader for nixing a civility campaign due to lack of interest. Now, I see no problem with putting a stop to a program that has gotten little to no traction. Seems like it makes sense to me. Of course the secular community see it as a way to criticize religious leaders yet once more. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to criticize religious leaders about; hypocrisy, racism, hate-mongering, and the list goes on. Does this action really deserve any scrutiny? Simply, no. In fact, the people in this situation that deserve a swift verbal kick in the ass are the members of the secular community trying to make a big deal out of this.

So two weeks ago in Arizona, some crazy kid shoots up a political rally, killed six people and wounded a dozen more. This is a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the people that it has immediately affected. The 24 hour political brainwashing machine has gone into full effect to try to make this into a political issue, and I fear that it may be leading toward a further limiting of freedom. We'll get to that later though... What they've been talking about is the tone of the political discourse in America, and how it led to this tragedy.

Well, lets take a look at this. I've heard people say that the political tone now is worse than it's ever been. Machiavelli wrote in The Prince and The Discourses about the tendency that we have as people to idealize the past, to look back at the 'good ol days' where things were better than they are now, and how to then politically capitalize on that natural tendency. Realizing this tendency, we should consider political rhetoric of the past, and see if it's really better, worse, or the same as what it used to be.

Here's something from the first truly contested election in America's history from Thomas Jefferson's people: "John Adams is a blind, bald, toothless old man who wants to start a war with France... while he's not busy importing mistresses from Europe, he's trying to marry one of his sons to a daughter of King George." The Adams campaign responded that the election of Jefferson would result in mass rape, murder, incest, and so on. Our third vice president shot and killed our first treasury secretary in a duel. Stephen Douglas called Abe Lincoln a "hatchet faced nutmeg dealer." Of course that election was the ugliest election in our nation's history, before Lincoln was inaugurated Southern states began to secede from the Union, and the Civil War had begun. Could you imagine a presidential election leading to an all out war between two parts of America today?

So Sarah Palin put cross-hairs on Giffords' district, Obama said we should bring a gun to a knife fight, and other ugly rhetoric has been thrown about on both sides. Critics are correct in their assertion that it is ugly. They are correct that civility is nice. They may be correct in their claim that our country could be better if the rhetoric is a bit nicer. But they are wrong to say that it is worse now than it has ever been. They are wrong to desire some sort of legislation to assure civility. And they are wrong to want to piss all over the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to make the political system a little more rosy.

Here's the deal people, democratic politics is an ugly game. It always has been, and it always will be. For what it's worth, it's more tame now than at any point in history. Is it annoying when a moderately informed citizen tries to peel through the nonsense to get to some real truth and real solutions? Yeah it is! But in no way does this mean that we should take actions to limit our own freedom because the people in power can't talk nicely to each other. What makes America great is not the niceness of our politics, it is not the civility in our newspapers or political campaigns or rallies. What makes America great is our freedom to speak out against the things we disagree with. What makes America great is that only once in over two hundred years of our spiteful and ugly version of political discourse has it come to blows between two factions. Lets hope that it doesn't happen again. My fear is that once we voluntarily limit our own freedom of speech in terms of political discourse, the lid on that pressure cooker will not hold long, and when it boils to the point of bursting things will be ugly.

Thanks,
Sean



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_zTN4BXvYI&feature=player_embedded
http://history1800s.about.com/od/leaders/a/electionof1828.htm
http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/burr.html
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/11/leading-evangelical-halts-effort-to-increase-political-civility/