Thom Hartmann: Happy Birthday OWS...The Game is Rigged - Keep it Up!

[thomhartmann]

Happy Birthday Occupy Wall Street. One year ago today...Americans started occupying Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan - and over the next several weeks - hundreds of similar occupations popped up all around the nation. The movement went mainstream - and average middle class Americans were drawn to it because it targeted the two fundamental crises facing not just working people in America - but working people around the world. The first being the corporate coup de tat of our democracy. And the second being the subsequent corporate takeover of the economy - and the emergence of a globalized corporate financial economy that is today collapsing under its own weight.

And since one year later - these two crises are still threatening us all - the Occupy Movement is just as important than ever. On the first front - there's a new report, written by an international commission chaired by Kofi Annan, which sends a warning to the world’s democracies, specifically the United States, about the corrupting influence of corporations and money in the democratic process. As the report - titled "Deepening Democracy: a Strategy for Improving the Integrity of Elections Worldwide" - states, quote: "Across the world, uncontrolled political finance threatens to hollow out democracy and rob it of its unique strengths."

And the report directly calls out our Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which has, “shaken citizen confidence in America’s political institutions and elections.” As our nation attempts to bring American democracy to the Middle East with mixed results, this new report suggests we should be focusing on restoring our own democracy first, which is exactly the message coming from Occupy. And that brings us to the second message - the calling out of Wall Street as the main culprit in the rise of global capitalism.

Today - Europe is on the verge of collapse thanks to global corporate capitalism. The American manufacturing sector has been eviscerated as transnational giants that hold no allegiance to our nation or any other nation search the globe for cheap labor to move their factories and jobs. Climate change is speeding up as the demands of short-term profit trump the demands of leaving behind a habitable planet for future generations. Occupy camped out next to Wall Street for a reason - and it succeeded in putting a face - or at least a name - to the forces that are violently consolidating wealth and power at the expense of the 99%. Thanks to Occupy's work over the last year - we've seen some strides. The national dialogue has shifted from debt reduction to wealth inequality \\

People are openly talking about corporate personhood when just a few years ago nobody even knew what the heck it was. Student loan debt is an issue front and center in the national debate. And just today - President Obama is taking a tougher stance toward China - filing a complaint with the WTO alleging that China is unfairly harming U.S. industries with illegal subsidies. This may be a political move - but it's an inch in the right direction. And if Occupy can get on board - and keep pushing the President - then who knows what might happen? If the pressure is kept on him, then maybe the more nefarious globalization policies pushed by the corporate elite - like the TPP - can be defeated.

It's worth a shot at least - after all - what other options do we have left. After brutal police oppression, the Occupy encampments may have disappeared from the public eye. But Occupy hasn't really gone anywhere, it’s been working under the radar saving Americans from foreclosure, helping students with debt, and helping workers organize. The nation is in a crisis, and, in response, the American people are pregnant with revolution. Occupy was simply the first tactic in the burgeoning, grassroots revolution. What comes next we don’t know for sure, but it’s absolutely essential to pick up on what Occupy started a year ago, get organized and get active to take on the corporate 1% that have taken over our government and economy and is destroying the American middle class.

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