We, the majority of Americans, have only one chance.

[dotymed]

We must find a way to field political candidates who share our concerns and values. Currently our only "choices" are politicians picked for us by TPTB. Of course these "candidates" are controlled by big money and, no matter what they say, will only represent the interests of TPTB.
We have all kinds of good solutions, ie. publically financed elections, yet unless our voices are actually represented, our good ideas have no chance of becoming reality.
IMO, our only hope lies in OWS and millions of disenfranchised Americans taking to the streets until our voices are represented.Please, we must remain non-violent and vigilant to our ideas. We have been demanding representation for decades. We must make it impossible to ignore us.

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Protesting...IS voting.

[FreakinDJ]

2. You control our world

“You control our world. You've poisoned the air we breathe, contaminated the water we drink, and copyrighted the food we eat.

We fight in your wars, die for your causes, and sacrifice our freedoms to protect you.

You've liquidated our savings, destroyed our middle class, and used our tax dollars to bailout your unending greed.

We are slaves to your corporations, zombies to your airwaves, servants... to your decadence.

You've stolen our elections, assassinated our leaders, and abolished our basic human rights as human beings.

You own our property, shipped away our jobs, and shredded our unions.

You've profited off of disaster, destabilized our currencies, and raised our cost of living(while lowering our wages).

You've monopolized our freedom, stripped away our education, and have almost extinguished our flame.

We are hit...we are bleeding... but we ain't got time to bleed. We will bring the giants to their knees and you will witness our revolution! WAKE UP AMERICA! SUPPORT OCCUPY!

[Magoo48]

3. Yes, and if you can't get in the streets, be creative; find some other way to be in the faces

of the PTB. Every little bit helps! And please, if you hit on something cool, pass it on.

[lunatica]

4. The more people who see themselves as the 99%

The more people will decide to run for office. Give the Occupy movement a couple of years and we'll be a formidable and unstoppable force.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

5. Protesting is just the first step.

It brings attention to a cause. A movement has to become politically active in order to effect change.

The author of this article was at the Occupy Shoreline event I attended yesterday (New Orleans jazz funeral for the middle class).

http://www.21stcenturycares.org/whyorganize.htm

I've known for years of her work advocating for animals. She wrote the book on it :"Get Political for Animals and Win the Laws They Need"
http://www.nifaa.org/TableOfContents.pdf

After years of email acquaintance, I finally got to meet her IRL. She is offering to assist in training local occupiers to become politically effective. (Some of the OS group are already active participants in local politics,including one of the leaders of the OS group and me)

http://occupyshorelinect.org/ (photos of the funeral for the middle class are posted there)