An Open Letter to the Occupation:
Greetings fellow concerned citizens. I hope this letter finds you in good spirits and of an open mind. I have been watching your movement grow in the example of the Arab Spring. I, like most Americans are concerned with the direction of our nation and commend you on embracing your constitutional right to assemble and decry the malaise we are in as a country. I sat down and dreamed up an entire platform covering the myriad of issues facing our country in anticipation of visiting my local OccupyChicago general assembly. I typed out my thoughts and did indeed visit the campsite. What I saw made me mentally vomit.
The minority of people on site were good citizens who lost their jobs, homes and/or retirement of no fault of their own. These angry individuals were looking for a forum to voice their discontent and were hungry for solutions; I applaud them. However, the majority of the people making up the encampment were of leftist splinter groups promoting everything from anarchy, abortion, amnesty for illegal immigrants to the outright destruction of our capitalist system for a neo socialist society. I respect everyone’s freedom of speech but I hope you understand when I say, I personally could not associate myself with such views.
Occupy identifies itself as a movement representing 99% of Americans. I can without a doubt say that is a misrepresentation and you do not speak for such an overwhelming majority. Americans recognize our political and financial systems may stumble… but our system works. Americans recognize that what started as a pure manifestation of the democratic process has been co opted by big labor and extremists seeking photo ops of people being oppressed at the end of a police baton. First Amendment rights are dear to me but to be clear, no one is curtailing your constitutional rights. You are simply spoiling for a fight and looking for trouble to breed sympathy for your cause. A well played yet very transparent strategy.
The current actions of the Occupy movement waste taxpayer money and remove police from their duties. Setting up stand offs with law enforcement then crying foul when you are detained is foolish at best. You are discrediting yourself by your actions and by the company you are keeping. Going forward I hope that you throw off these distractions and get back to the more pressing matters of economic growth and rejuvenation of this great nation.
Respectfully,
Dan Braxton
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6 Comments
@Chris and @Amy, thanks for visiting and commenting.
@John I actually did stick around for the GA that evening. I heard logical arguements about uses of resources other than occupying Grant Park. Of course, I heard some alarming things as well that were left out of my post.
[...] to erupt. I broke my silence last week and I’m grateful to those that took the time to read my “Open Letter to The Occupation”. I have never been someone to point fingers at problems without proposing solutions, so this [...]
Dan, I appreciate that you came down to the Occupy Chicago sidewalk site at LaSalle and Jackson and did your own field work on the event. I’m sorry that you walked away with such a negative impression of the people you encountered.
Of course, those “leftist splinter groups” you describe do take up a lot of sidewalk space and are quick to bend the ear of anyone who stops by to get acquainted. That’s their strategy, in fact. They are opportunists and gadflies (they supply manpower thinking they are subverting from within). It’s all very amusing, actually.
Had you stuck around for the evening “General Assembly” however, you would have seen how little these self-styled “revolutionary cadres” actually contribute, let alone control, any of the real organizational body of Occupy Chicago.
As for police manpower and tax dollars, ask the mayor and the police superintendent how much they are willing to waste enforcing a minor park curfew ordinance in the face of overwhelming public approval. (See Pew and Gallup)
Dan, nice post. Food for thought.
Well said. The “occupy” movement doesn’t speak for me, but this letter does.