Dems do not own the Occupy movement nor should they.

[county worker]

This is a people's movement. It is not a people getting behind some political platform. It is a people letting the world know what has happened and that they do not like it.

It sprang up because the political parties were not listening. Washington was not about to effect the changes the Occupy movement shows need to be made.

Both the Dems and the Repubs are sucking off of Wall Street's teat!

To say that the movement is Democratic is absurd!

The politacal parties will be following not leading!

In my opinion anyone who calls the Occupy movement "our movement" or "my movement" without having taken part is as guilty of co-opting the movement as anyone.

Drop the fucking labels and get in the streets and effect change because the Dems and Repubs have done nothing for 3 years but support the 1%!

[Vincardog]

1. Correction Dems and Repubs have done nothing for 30 years but support the 1%!

[Billypenn]

13. How about 40?

[Blue_In_AK]

2. Absolutely.

If we say "We are the 99%," then we have to include disaffected Republicans and Independents, as well, like it or not.

[girl gone mad]

3. k & r

[tridim]

4. OWS is democratic, progressive and liberal

Note the lack of capital letters.

[tblue]

5. Amen, county worker!!!

The last thing they need is a party trying to own them. Thank you. I have been hoping the Democratic party will follow OWS and not the other way around. If Dems were already addressing these issues, we wouldn't have OWS.

Just the fact that Obama has to take corporate contributions to run for president says that he is at least partly owned by people from:


Goldman Sachs $1,013,091
JPMorgan Chase & Co $808,799
Citigroup Inc $736,771
Time Warner $624,618
IBM Corp $532,372
General Electric $529,855
Morgan Stanley $512,232
(2008)

Does anybody think they gave their money and didn't want anything in return?

[dkf]

6. OWS is anti political. If they thought their concerns were fixable by DC they would have protested

There.

The fact they are protesting Wall Street means they don't think much of our political system.

[leftstreet]

8. If it's anti-political why aren't conservatives and tea people there?

:shrug:

[dkf]

15. Oddly enough the right does see politics as the way to solving their concerns.

They organized to gain seats in the house. OWS isn't doing that.

[leftstreet]

20. So OWS isn't interested in Democrats gaining seats in the House and Senate?

[dkf]

24. Are they? I haven't seen any indication that they are so inclined.

[Lizzie Poppet]

19. Because they still think the system's working.

That "river in Egypt" is still flowing through their ranks at flood stage.

[Billypenn]

16. What it means is...

they're getting to the root cause, the heart of the matter. If DC had been able to do that, we wouldn't be in the soup right now. The Occupiers know who is running the show in DC.

[FrenchieCat]

7. Agreed to an extent......

Here's a reflection of my POV:
Projecting Wishes and Dreams onto the Occupy Wall Street Movement

Interestingly, there are various diverging interest groups who seek to mold this burgeoning movement into their own image. There are the Ron Paul supporters who mistakenly believe that they share a common link with the OWS, simply because it is a movement that isn’t positive towards the accepted status quo. They ignore that many in the movement are demanding more financial regulations, not less, that the unemployed within the movement want stronger social programs to assist those hit hardest, not weaker ones. They don’t get that the protestors don’t care as much about the budget deficit as they do about the apparent compassion deficit.

Meanwhile, the Tea Party supporters selfishly want to believe that this OWS movement is against the government, when it really isn’t. OWS protestors actually are demanding more governmental intervention in reigning in corporate greed, not a system of laissez-faire “free” markets where only the strong survive. In contrast, the Republican establishment has already explicitly denounced the movement as nothing more than a mob of irresponsible idealists who are demanding something for nothing. But as the GOP mouthpieces lob insults at these protestors, privately they pray that this movement will hurt the Democratic Party, as the 1968 Chicago DNC riots once did.

For its part, the Democratic leadership hopes that this movement will help them gain popular support for their own proposed policies, although deep in their hearts they understand that they are offering less than enough. They are fully aware that the dysfunction of Congress, made even more polarized by the results of the 2010 election, will not allow various proposals to even see the light of day, no matter their moderation.

Then there are the extremists on the fringe whose wish is a third party movement that shouts “a pox on both houses”. These folks envision their movement as the American Awakening that ends America as we know it. They demand nothing short of the entire system being turned on its head; a revolution, so to speak. Unfortunately, many of the 99% don’t have the luxury of waging a full-blown revolution, and many more understand that fighting for such a thing won’t necessarily translate into victory, however much it should. And the folks of no party, always dissatisfied with everything, going way back , don’t see that many of the protestors are seeking workable solutions that can be implemented effectively and immediately. They are already tired to death of waiting.
http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2011/10/10/projecting-wishes-and-dreams-onto-the-occupy-wall-street-movement/

[Scuba]

9. Dems need to embrace OWS and OWS needs to move the Democratic Party to the left. n/t

[devilgrrl]

10. There's Democrats? The only democrats I've been seeing lately are here.

There's Democrats in Washington?

Where?

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. Now tell that to Paul Krugman & Robert Reich, who are normally DU heroes.

I actually agree with you, for once. :hi:

[Puzzledtraveller]

12. You've been co-opted!

"Welcome to the Co-occupation"

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. “The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.” Ma

“The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.” Marie-Henri Beyle - aka Stendhal

[lib2DaBone]

17. Well Said. OWS should not fall prey to anyone. Set up their own demands.

I would ask for

1) Student Loan forgiveness or Amnesty for at least 5 years.

2) Nationalize the Fed. The Fed is a private foreign bank controlling our money supply. We need to control our OWN money.

3) We need a 1% transaction Tax on Wall Street transactions.

4) And of course... end 11 years of Afghan War.

[louis-t]

18. I would hope the protesters would shout down any Dem that tries.

Saw a headline today that proclaimed Dems are trying to co-opt movement. I don't see it, but you know our MSM.

[salin]

21. I would hope that the message and spread of the message and its persistence

would lead some dems to follow the populism of OWS - and let the power of the resonance of the message strengthen the spine to vote and act in accordance.

That is - I think that wise dems would let this movement move them - rather than try to coopt the movement.

[NorthCarolina]

22. Sadly yes, it is undeniable that the Democratic Party no longer advocates for the people.

Two political parties that both represent corporate and Wall Street interests.

[seabeyond]

23. and i say YEA to every democratic politician that speaks out and supports, acknowledge, stand up for

occupy as the repugs try to sut them down and shut them up.

the democrats are not taking it over or declaring ownership. they are doing the very right thing saying, go our youth, speak out and be heard. thank you

and i am bothered by the DEMS on du that have issue with that

[bvar22]

25. Thats why you see so many "Obama 2012" signs at these protests.

Oh. my bad.
There are none.

In 2008, the American People gave the Democratic Party:

*The White House

* A Huge majority in The House

*A Filibuster-Proof Majority in the Senate

**A HUGE Mandate for CHANGE

*An ARMY standing in The Streets

The Democratic Party HAD their chance,
and they threw it away for 30 pieces of Silver.



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity99!
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