Occupying the legislature

I wrote a letter to the President of the United States last week.  He hasn’t responded yet for some reason...  Baha.  But what inspired me to do this?  I watched Obama present the American Jobs Act to the Senate. 

Obama called out all of the sh** that Occupy Wall Street is protesting 9 days before the protest even began.  He listed various ways of stimulating small business and entrepreneurship.  He wanted banks to help people refinance their homes. He called for fostering the production and exportation of American goods.  He suggested hiring privately owned construction companies to mend our roads and bridges. He asserted the necessity of an overhaul of our tax code to pay for it. He also called this “simple math” and asserted that these are REAL choices we can make and REAL things we can be doing.

But through all of this Occupy Wall Street wildfire, people got distracted from debating, refining, and implementing this legislation meant to help out the 99%.  Congress and the media have also COMPLETELY ignored this speech and this bill.   It’s really quite mind-boggling. 

It’s not a perfect piece of legislation.  It needs refining and it needs to be discussed by the people and our representatives.  To me, the bottom line is that the bill is based on being funded by a tax code reform that would eliminate loopholes for oil companies and the like, and make it so the wealthiest pay their fair share, something which for some reason makes our Congress REALLY uncomfortable…  And that is presumably why the media (owned by corporate giants) and Congress (also owned by corporate giants) are not discussing it and trying to let it fade away into nothingness. 

Obama’s getting frustrated with pushing this, guys.  He is a weary man.  So I wrote to Barack Obama to essentially tell him, “Dear Mr. President, I understand that you are working within a corrupt system.  I have noticed your American Jobs Act and I appreciate your efforts.  Let's talk about it and get Congress talking about it. Love and kisses, Danielle.”

After all, the only thing that’s been said about the bill by the Senate is that their economic discussions are focused on China right now, since obviously China is the real source of all of our problems in the U.S. (Ummm…really?) The House of Representatives has already vowed not only to vote a flat out NO on the bill, but also that they won’t even let it get to the floor to be discussed. 

So I have to conclude two things from all this.  #1: That our representatives aren't even going to talk about the issues that Occupy Wall Street is screaming about.  They are going to ignore this protest with the hope that the collective rage will fizzle out.  #2: They are going to ignore this bill that attempts to address many of the issues fueling the protest until it becomes a vague memory of a dream. 

But here's what I want to know:  IF 99% OF US WANT TO CHANGE OUR SYSTEM SO BADLY, WHY AREN’T WE TALKING ABOUT THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT???  This bill appeals to me because it is an implementable set of actions--it's a place from which to start a real discussion about the kind of changes we want in our society, and it works WITHIN the governmental system set up by our founding fathers.  I have watched OWS from afar with burning empathy in my heart but with wariness about the message and about the people who are unwittingly discrediting the cause.  I have wondered why so little of the protest is directed at our governing bodies as well as corporate fat cats.  I love the passion behind OWS, I'm inspired by impulse to fight our system, but seriously, it’s time to get down to brass tacks and make a freakin plan.  Lamenting the past and the present is only worthwhile if you also work towards changing the future.