We have a PROBLEM – And Rallies Do Not Solve It!

I have been watching the Occupy Wall Street protest and following several other efforts around the country to get the message across to our leaders that they need to change the way that they govern.  There is a problem though with all these protests and rallies:  Besides the fact that they are not working, they have no single message except that Americans are unhappy!  “So what if they are unhappy”, is the reasoning of the Koch Brothers or Karl Rove or Barack Obama or Bill Clinton?  “They are not the ones who fund our campaigns anyway.  And by the way, what exactly is there problem?”  And therein lies the problem with the rallies and protests.

When several people were asked why they were at the Wall Street protest and what they were protesting about, the response was varied and finally one organizer states on Countdown that they were still working on getting a consensus so they could make a demand!  WAITING FOR A CONSENSUS!?! For heaven’s sake, if you do not know what you are protesting for you will never be taken seriously by anyone!  No cohesive message because everyone has something different to protest is the problem with these movements we are seeing crop up – they all have different agendas and offer no solutions!  The protests of the 1960s and 1970s all had cohesive messages:  End the War! and civil rights and women’s rights.  And they were always focused in each rally or protest on just one of these things so the media could attack or support the idea on its merits.

On October 6th there will be a rally in DC to address a variety of issues – but here again, not just one issue with one message.  They have not yet reached a consensus of what Americans want or what the message should be.  Well, here is a suggestion:  stop looking at all your various special causes and focus on just one collective cause.  I call it the 4Es: Economy, Environment, Energy, Education!  These are all interconnected and have a basis in solving the problems we face today.  If you look at them as a whole and demand action that addresses them as a whole from this government, then you have a cause and you have a message.

I can even offer a solution:  federal jobs programs that focus on all four at the same time.  Three programs that deal with energy, the environment, and education, while paying a living wage to address the economy.  Simple solution for a message.  Follow it up with a concentrated political campaign based on the idea of voting for America first: putting American jobs, American family farms and small businesses, American free public education, America the Beautiful up against offshoring, mega-corporations and banks, polluters, energy dependency, industrial ag, privatized schooling.  If all these organizers and protesters would focus on just this message and demand this kind of jobs program, we would have start for a real revolution of the electorate across this nation.

Right now what we have is a group of people who are being demonized in the media as “young hippies”, “violent protesters”, and worst of all, being ignored.  Organizing protests is great, it starts the ball rolling, but if you do not have a message – a demand if you will – that is clear and easy for these clowns in DC to understand; if you do not have millions of people backing the idea because they can understand it without being confused by multiple issues and opinions; then you have little power and no relevancy.  Sadly, that is the way it works in America today.  FIND THE MESSAGE – PUSH IT AT THE RALLIES – STOP THE CONSENSUS BUILDING AND START OFFERING SOLUTIONS!  When you do that, then the progressive American movement will spread like wildfire.  Until then, you have little to offer and little relevance to the people in power except numbers of people with a confused and incoherent message.