America at a Crossroads 2012

The Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, and the General Anathema in America (2012)

by Tommy Lee Jenkins, III

There is something gravely wrong in America today.  Yes, there is extreme income inequality and disparity coursing through our society.  Yes, we are a nation still at war.  Yes, we find ourselves in trying times and the future seems uncertain.  All of these things are correct, but there is something else wrong.  I feel that we, as a nation, are beginning to realize that something is wrong, but we just can't figure out what it is.

America is at a crossroads in 2012.  It is an election year.  We are in the midst of our third Great Depression.  Those familiar with American history know that there was a Depression in 1893, 1929, and by all definitions 2008.  The fact that most public officials, journalists, and politicians avoid using the word "depression" doesn't change the fact that we are in one.

When Barack Obama was elected for President, a lot of things were going on in America:  We were at war in two countries, the World and U.S. economies collapsed, unemployment shot to record highs, the price was shooting into 3 digits per barrel, Iran launched its first rocket into space, pirates re-emerge as a leading threat to cargo ships off the Horn of Africa, and President George W. Bush signs the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law.

Let mw start out by saying that I like the Republican Party (at least, I like the ideals that they claim to espouse in front of the camera).  Limited government, keeping taxes low, promoting free market capitalism, reigning in spending, and being strong on defense.  These are ideals that the Republicans had plenty of opportunities to prove their expertise in from 2000-2008 and every time, they failed to live up to their own ideals.  This is so much so, many frustrated Republicans led a movement to break away from the establishment Republican Party.

THE TEA PARTY

I have been disappointed with the Republican party, but I really didn't find anything appealing about the Tea Party either.  There was something artificial about the Tea Party.  It didn't seem like a genuine movement.  It was bought and paid for by the Koch brothers.  The majority of the members of the Tea Party were White Americans.  They were more well-off than most Americans, which is probably why one of their biggest gripes was the elimination of taxation.  They would show up to Tea Party protests wearing loaded guns.

Their list of demands in the interest of a better America were:

1. Identify Constitutionality of every new law
2. Reject emissions trading
3. Demand a balanced federal budget
4. Simplify the tax system
5. Audit federal government agencies for waste and constitutionality
6. Limit annual growth in federal spending
7. Repeal the healthcare legislation passed on March 23, 2010
8. Pass an "All-of-the-Above" Energy policy
9. Reduce Earmarks


The Tea Party was too divided.  Their organization was not centralized.  They were not inclusive and they had all kinds of zany ideas which called into question how they were able to make the big paychecks they were pulling down.  I did, however agree with them when they saw and acknowledged that there was something drastically wrong with the Republican party.  Out of the list I agree with demanding a balanced federal budget, simplifying the tax system, auditing federal agencies for waste, and passing an "all-of-the-above" energy policy.

OCCUPY WALL STREET

Occupy Wall Street was the cry of the rest of America.  There are 2 origin stories for Occupy Wall Street.  The official story about the Occupy movement was a blog post from the Adbuster's Media Foundation.  It can be verified and it is a fact.  I call into question the origin of the Occupy movement because something similar to it went on before the blog post and it was the 2011 Wisconsin protests.  This is working class America.  This is white collar America.

The Occupy Movement represented a more diverse and larger segment of the American population.  I found that I could relate more with the Occupy movement.  There were homeless people there, trust fund babies, and secretaries.  There were lawyers, documentary film-makers, and teachers.  These people weren't griping.  They were going through real financial and social upheaval and they took to the street so their voices could be heard.

The Occupy Movement could agree that they wanted:

1. More and better jobs
2. More equal distribution of income
3. Bank reform
4. Reduction in the influence of corporations in politics
5. Economic justice
6. Re-implementing Glass-Stegall
7. Term limits
8. Fair tax code
9. Student loan forgiveness
10. End outsourcing
11. Abolishing the electoral college
12. Foreclosure moratorium
13. Reform public education
14. No censorship of the internet
15. End the War in Afghanistan

As much as I dislike the Tea Party, there are some obvious overlap in what the Tea Party wants and what the Occupy movement wants.  Both want an overhaul of the tax code.  Both want a balanced federal budget (the Tea Party wants to cut programs and lower taxes; Occupy wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations).

Long live Occupy... Occupy will never die.

AMERICAN INDEPENDENT VOTERS

That brings us to me -- the American Independent voter.  We don't want anything really.  We just want to get up, go to work, come home, wind down, and relax.  It becomes hard to lead a simple kind of life when it feels like your world is collapsing around you.  We appreciate our power as voters and wield that power with all of our might.  We recognize that we have to do more than just vote.  This year its our turn to react to the unjust practices in our political system, but we haven't quite figured out how to respond to the injustice yet.