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The Occupy Movement: A Good Beginning

We have all heard a lot about the Occupy Movement lately. They have been rousted from parks and clashed with police. They are angry and marching in the streets. Although I havent followed their every foot step on the news or internet, I am still in the dark about their philosophy. I know there has been talk of free speech and if thats all that comes from this movement, it will at least remind us of why we hold America so dear. But, to me, free speech is like a bank account if theres nothing there, its useless. This is what I was able to pick up from the Occupy Wall Street website:

Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattans Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. #ows is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future.

From reading this paragraph, I know what the movement is, when it began, and where it began. I know who theyre fighting, and there is a vague reason why theyre fighting this opponent. What is lacking is an assertion of principles, an elaboration of a vision, and a longing for a dream to come true. Without these ingredients, the movement risks becoming nothing more than a bunch of angry people who blame Wall Street for their troubles. If this was all that had happened in the thirteen colonies, we would still be a collection of angry, grumbling colonies. Instead, some very wise, passionate gentlemen came up with a Declaration of Independence. The Declaration boldly states: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that

they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This assertion of principles has been the guiding compass of our great nation since its birth. When we are in doubt over which direction America should move this gives us wise counsel. The founding fathers then elaborated on their vision of what America should be: That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Finally, they boldly longed for a dream: We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

If the Occupy movement wants to capture the heart and soul of America and fuel the next revolution, it has to go from a simple statement of who they are to an elaboration of what they stand for.

Benjamin F. Kaye