I must confer that I may have to marginally change my posture on the idea of the Occupy Wall Street Movement today.
Here is an editorial from a professor whom I have known during my medical schooling that was published in the Akron Beacon Journal today.
This is a sharp fellow who was with great admiration in all of his work in the field of neurobiology at my medical school.
I realize that my stance on Occupy Wall Street has been that the methods and abrasiveness of the crowds are akin to a movement of anarchy in our nation's commerce thoroughfares and business districts.
I do agree that there is inequity and that the future must be one in which provisions and consideration are given to those who are unable to attain great wealth and high occupational service or roles; but that said, I must admit that the movement in its shape and form has little expression other than its wild array of presence in our towns and districts.
The article written by Theodore Voneida (Ph.D) in today's paper makes me consider that perhaps this OWS is a good catalyst for further discussions on disparity.
That said, I must still defer from my support of a movement in the shape and form it exists today.
I probably learned more detail of some concerns from Dr. Voneida's article today including concerns of fracking and other environmental concerns than I have heard of any of the 2 months of news concerning the "99%".
So with that I am going to copy and paste Dr. Voneida's article here for you to enjoy.
Occupy movement
is all about inequity
Citizens have been gathering at the capitalist core of this country to express their very serious concerns about economic injustices and the misappropriation of public money by the bankers and the gamblers of Wall Street and about environmental destruction resulting from mountain-top removals for coal, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for gas, oil spills in the Gulf and elsewhere and possible construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.The Occupy Wall Street protests have grown significantly, and similar gatherings are now taking place in over 1,400 communities across the country, with rapidly growing crowds joining each group. I attended such a rally in Cleveland recently, not only to express my support, but also to gain some insight into the meaning of what is taking place. Numerous issues are being raised, including a concern that the middle class may be disappearing and that we are devolving into a two-class system: the working (and non-working) poor and the wealthy.
Another concern is that those with incomes over $1 million a year still pay a much lower rate of taxes than those earning less. Related to this is the concern about the tremendous size (too big to fail?) and power of the giant corporations. A recent Supreme Court decision empowers them to make unlimited anonymous contributions to legislators and judges (who are elected in 39 states).
While these concerns may seem to differ in detail from what we, as a nation, have witnessed before, they are surprisingly similar in substance. One century ago, Clarence Darrow, known for his untiring work for the poor and downtrodden, said: “There can never be any proper distribution of wealth in the world while a few own the earth – a few men own the mines, the railroads, the forests, while the great mass of men are bound to compete with each other for a chance to toil. These few [wealthy] men have reached out their hands and taken possession of all the wealth of the world; it is the owners of the great railroad systems, it is the Rockefellers, it is the Morgans, it is the Goulds, it is that paralyzing hand of wealth which has reached out and destroyed all the opportunities of the poor.”
This is what those at the Occupy Wall Street rallies are saying; only the owners’ names have changed – to Goldman Sachs, Enron, Lehman Brothers, the Koch brothers, Massey Coal, Chesapeake Energy. This is why I urge everyone who cares about the health, and yes, the very survival of our democracy to support the protesters in whatever manner he or she sees fit.
Theodore J. Voneida
Kent
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