Let Them In!

[Cylnar]

by Ralph Nader
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
http://www.nader.org/index.php?/archives/2332-Let-Them-In!.html

From New York City to Oakland, and several cities in between, the police, on orders from city officials, have smashed the Occupy encampments and evicted the protestors from public parks and spaces. More politicians from Congress to the state and local level want the Occupy people OUT!

Well, why don't they start letting them into the places where decisions are being made against their legitimate interests? Let them IN to:

1. Having jobs and affordable housing;

2. Their legislatures without having to pay to play;

3. The courts when they are wrongfully injured or have other grievances without being blocked by corporatist dogmas and judges;

4. Access to civil lawyers pro bono when they are in dire need, as suggested by Cincinnati attorney Paul Tobias;

5. The dispensing and regulatory agencies with their petitions (without having to face grinding delays and costs);

6. Universal health care so they can escape the present avariciousness called "pay or die";

7. Fair contracts, from student loans to mortgages, without fine print and gouging fees and robo-signing type shenanigans that trap them into contract peonage (see FairContracts.org)

8. Fair and clean elections with voluntary public financing and easier ballot access for third party candidates to give voters more choice beyond the two party dictatorship;

9. The media to express themselves on television, radio and in newspapers, so dominated by the plutocratic values of corporatism;

10. Public places to petition and circulate their materials in these large malls that are taxpayer subsidized but considered off limits because they are corporate owned;

11. The political process, with other citizens, with full rights to challenge in courts and by referenda the politicians and their corporate paymasters who unconstitutionally and illegally plunge our country into wars, invasions and occupations abroad;

12. A clean environment where they can breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food by enforcing the existing laws with adequate budgets;

13. The facilities to band together as workers, consumers and taxpayers that exist for commercial companies and their investors;

There would be no need for encampments or street demonstrations if people were allowed IN to these arenas of power, communications and good livelihoods. You don't see corporate executives and managers protesting in the streets. Because they are already IN!

It has been said repeatedly that the Occupy Wall Street movement has no specific agenda. Look at their signs and banners. It is obvious; they want IN. They no longer want to be excluded, disrespected, unemployed, defrauded, impoverished, betrayed and in big and small ways OUT.

They want justice, opportunity and, as the ancient Roman lawyer Marcus Cicero advocated for, the freedom to participate in power.

[Tessera]

9. The media to express themselves on television, radio and in newspapers, so dominated by the plutocratic values of corporatism

I remember when I was a kid, during the 1970's. Back in those days, we regularly saw normal, everyday citizens on the TV... speaking their minds on a variety of contemporary issues.

So why were they on TV in the first place..? Because in those days, we had something called the "equal time law," which was enforced by the FCC. It meant that whenever a TV or radio station would broadcast an editorial of any type, they were bound by law to allow anyone and everyone an opportunity to present a rebuttal to that editorial. And the broadcasters had to pick up the costs.

All of that disappeared during the Reagan era. These days, nobody has to let you say jack shit if they don't want to. The mass media is free to say whatever the hell they feel like saying to the masses. And if it happens to be a deception... or an outright lie... well, tough shit. None of us can do anything about it.

We can't make a public rebuttal anymore, because the "equal time" law was effectively repealed under Ronald Reagan's watch. As were so many other regulations and restrictions upon corporate America, during those years.

Media brainwashing is the main reason for all of the divisiveness within this country. The powers that be have spent several decades doing everything that they can to lie to us through the mass media. They've cleverly deceived all of us into thinking that we're divided by "red states and blue states," or by religion, or by race, or by whatever. Anything to keep us ill at ease and at each others throats... and distracted away from who our REAL enemies are.

Our enemies are the guys who wear Armani suits and have business degrees. Our enemies are the Donald Trumps and the Warren Buffets of this world.

Still not convinced..? Then check out what Congress... YOUR Congress... is currently trying to do behind closed doors. The whores in Washington have accepted enormous "contributions" (read: bribes) from the music and motion picture industries. And in return for those bribes, they are currently drafting a law which would place electronic surveillance and restrictions upon the internet in America.

Everything that you do on the web will be watched. And everything that you do on the web will be reported... to the new Media Police.

Sounds like something that you'd only expect to see in China, right..? It's downright Orwellian, in fact. Well, guess again. Internet censorship is right around the corner... and it's all because of corporate greed and power mongering. If this law passes, then your usage of the internet will be monitored... and controlled.

Start voting against the incumbents in every single election, people. Keep throwing these parasites out of Congress and the White House until we force their hands.

And then you'll see the TRUE nature of the Corporate States of Amerika.

[Ratcatcher]

Here's a couple of Canadian ads against Online Spying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwqIYHwRcxY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaEEm7tj-tk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp9xy9wtZwc

Short and to the point.