Standing around yelling, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!” isn’t going to get anything done. Here’s a thought; why not head towards the state capitols and start calling for a Constitutional Convention so you can try and put things like “fairer” income tax laws and specific rights to universal health care into the Constitution? (If 34 states call for a Constitutional Convention, it can pass amendments that don’t need the 2/3 votes in the House and Senate to be presented to the states for ratification.)
(While they’re at it, they should request that every state have a law similar to (I think) Colorado, where a plurality vote of the people can “act on the legislature’s behalf.”)
Except regular citizens can’t “call a Constitutional Convention” unless they overthrow the current government entirely. We live in a representative democracy, and making it known to the representatives what our views are is the only way that we can get them to… ya know, represent us accurately. You understand how representative democracy works, right?
The OP seems to presume that the OWS movement hasn’t already acomplished anything. I think that they have been very successful in changing the conversation in American politics. Prior to this movement, there was very little talk in the press about income inequality in the US and what a taxpayer’s fair share of the burden should be.
You also don’t get to call a Constitutional Convention with a limited agenda. Anything and everything would be on the table. The changes the protesters would like are much simpler than would require a constitutional change. Tighter banking and corproate regulations, and a tax code that resembles something closer to what we had 40-50 years ago would probably do it.
A Constitutional convention has too much potential to turn into a runaway jury. Considering the political climate in this day and age, you could call for one for the purpose of fixing income equality, and they’d end up submitting amendments to ban gay marriage, require Christian prayer in schools, abolish birthright citizenship, and put the Irish in concentration camps.
I agree that OWS has changed the conversation - but I also agree they need to do more.
One thing is to identify state and federal legislators who have voted for the 1% and against the 99% and occupy the area in front of their offices (not blocking anything) with informational signs and talk. They should make sure they do this to both parties to show this is not a Democratic movement.
In many places, all you need to do is to change a few votes.
