Philly joins Occupy Wall Street protest today

The movement has only begun to get its wheel turning, but simultaneous demonstrations have now surfaced in several U.S. cities, echoing the populist sentiment embodied in that immortalized quote from the 70’s film, Network:  “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore!”

 

Having been criticized for being a leaderless effort without a tangible singularity of message, it’s crucial for onlookers to understand that this is, in fact, “democracy in action”, despite its lack of having been effectively hijacked by any particular person or political entity.  This is good, and will only serve to ensure its grassroots credibility, allowing the movement to encompass the righteous indignation shared by 99% of Americans for the audacious wealth imbalance that has gone unchecked by ‘We the People’ for far too long.

 

Following the financial crisis of 2008, Americans watched as the U.S. banking system was bailed out by the taxpayers via the TARP, or Toxic Asset Relief Program; much to the chagrin of voters from both sides of the partisan divide.  The people were cued in to the reality that national finance sector was playing by a different set of rules than the commoner was subject to.  This is still being played out, with mortgage foreclosures continuing to happen at a record pace, being carried out by the very banks that were mercifully rescued from fiscal collapse in the 11th hour - a rescue that American citizens aren’t privy to.

 

After TARP was implemented, unemployment numbers began to soar, since the banks declined to lend much-needed funding to cash-strapped businesses across the country.  Especially hard-hit were those employing 500 or less workers.

 

Then, the remarkable and scandalous development of "banker bonuses" swept Wall Street, with the very miscreants that helped cause the derivatives-trading debacle which led to the downward spiral of the New York Stock Exchange were each being rewarded millions of dollars, despite their failures and despite the fact that the average tax payer chipped in to save these money-lenders deemed “too big to fail” while the rest of the nation struggled to make ends meet.

 

This helped birth the Tea Party movement, which immediately reacted by helping throw so-called “Republicans-in-Name-Only” out of office for supporting the Bush/Paulson TARP bailouts for hypocritically violating all things fiscally conservative.  But as the Tea Party continued its own evolution, it became saturated with the GOP’s inherent allergy to the Dodd-Frank legislative initiative.  The historical disillusionment with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack by all card-carrying Republicans made it impossible to support any measure co-authored by either former Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), or his congressional cohort from Massachusetts, Barney Frank, due to their respective support for the government-sponsored mortgage giants.

 

The Dodd-Frank bill was the only piece of legislation remotely poised to address mounting concerns for regulating the banking industry, so that the pitfalls reintroduced by the McCain-Feingold bill could be retrofitted to better resemble the protections envisioned by the Glass-Steagall legislation enacted in the wake of the Great Depression.  

 

From the perspective of the political left, Dodd-Frank failed to accomplish meaningful Wall Street reforms, central to avoiding a repeat of the market collapse that stained the final chapter of the Bush presidency, and haunted, in advance, the incoming Obama administration.

 

It’s important this movement isn’t over-taken by either Democrats or Republicans, since it’s about the 99% demanding fair play from the other 1%, plain and simple.  Indeed, Tea Party members have partaken in the Manhattan protests, so perhaps this effort will mark that ever elusive “Kumbaya” moment that could galvanize the citizens into a cohesive act of unity.

 

Obama recently signed into existence the Consumer Protection Bureau, but this, too, does not “redress the grievances” of those petitioners currently occupying Wall Street, nor those of the protesters set to gather in front of City Hall this Thursday morning (scheduled for 9:00 a.m.).  

 

When seen through the optics of a non-partisan lens, it remains self-evident that political contributions help shape U.S. elections.  It also stands to reason that these contributions, through lobbyist-, 527-groups and political action committees, are then able to sustain re-election capabilities by producing politicians whose vote records create Congressional legislation that is in league with said donor’s demands.  Ultimately, you get a “pay-to-play” system that looks to protect corporate profitability despite the inevitable adverse effects felt by the collective “social well-being” of the huddled masses. 

 

“Occupy Wall Street” will most likely continue to gain strength, with more off-shoots expected nationwide.  Today, the City of Brotherly Love shall weigh in with the demands of Philadelphians who grow tired of being politically marginalized as we helplessly watch our national wealth trend toward a narrowing group of profiteers and market speculators, whose interests are clearly out of joint with those of the general public.  

 

Politicians, locally and nationally, should cautiously heed this populist warning - or face the electoral consequences come November 2012.  The power which resides in our unified voice rages in the heart of any self-respecting democracy; its very definition commanding governance by consent of the people.  It is that consent which hangs precariously in the balance.  This morning, City Hall will be Ground Zero for Occupy Philly.  Join us.