Columbia man encourages citizens to join 'Occupy Columbia' Cause
People with money have the most access to our elected politicians at all levels. Those politicians, who depend on campaign contributions for re-election, make laws favoring those with the most access because they hear from them most often. That's partly their fault for not making an effort to reach out to all those they are elected to represent.
But it's partly our fault: Those of us who go to work, come home to be with our families and watch television until we fall asleep don't make our views known to our politicians. We don't contribute in our participatory political system, except maybe to vote.
The Occupy Movement and the Tea Party Movement are examples of people without money and access, seeking a way to have their voices heard.
We're a very young movement, so we're still defining ourselves. We've chosen a different organizing model than most movements: one that requires consensus. Which means that, at least in Columbia, 90 percent of us must agree with a statement before it's shared with the rest of the community.
For those who ask what our demands are, the only one I'm sure we would have consensus with is this: Our country is broken, and those who broke it should not be allowed to determine how it's fixed.
Local concerns like watershed issues: Should a Walmart be built so close to a creek that often floods the USC campus and major business districts? State-wide concerns: Should college tuition in South Carolina continue to rise, putting advanced education out of reach for a majority of its citizens? And national concerns: Are transnational banks more deserving of governmental assistance than 99 percent of US citizens? We need a national discussion, not a national shouting match.
I don't think we're heroes. We're citizens who take seriously our responsibility to participate in our democracy.
Everyone has the right to speak out in this country, so I don't consider us whiners.
Since Occupy Columbia is fiercely nonpartisan (and because we have self-identified Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians and Tea Partiers in our ranks), I don't identify this movement as leftist.
And most of the Occupiers in Columbia have jobs. Those of us who don't are actively looking for them.
Come join us in seeking solutions to the problems we all have in common – on our state's version of the commons. Come join the conversation on how to fix this country. Come join the Occupation.