An Occupy founder says the next revolution will be rural

[xchrom]

http://grist.org/politics/an-occupy-founder-says-the-next-revolution-will-be-rural/

?w=470&h=265&crop=1

In a boarded-up hotel along a windy country road, a couple dozen activists are gathered for a workshop. They are mostly women, and mostly over 40. The workshop is being held by Micah White, one of the instigators of Occupy Wall Street.

After the dust settled from Occupy, White packed up his bags in the Bay Area and moved here to Nehalem, a small town in one of the poorest counties in rural Oregon. Nehalem sits on the Pacific Coast, in the shadows of popular vacation destination Manzanita. But White isn’t here for a vacation, and he came to town with a mission.

The demise of Occupy left everyone with one question: “Now what?” Almost three years later, White is helping the founders of Occupy, US Uncut, and others to launch The After Party, a new political party on “a mission to restore democracy” and occupy the ballot box in time for the 2016 elections. How? By organizing statewide ballot initiatives, ousting corrupt officials, and encouraging everyday people to run for local and county offices.

Inspired by the success of Occupy Sandy organizing efforts, The After Party also seeks to turn communities into self-sufficient hotbeds of social action. White and the After Party team want to create what they call “mutual aid flash mobs,” citizen gatherings where people can do things like start a time bank, plant urban gardens, fix local roads, organize free healthcare clinics, and build tiny houses for the homeless. Nehalem, population 267, will be a test lab.



Micah White

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micah_M._White

Biography[edit]
Micah M. White "was born to a Caucasian mother and an African-American father".[3] In middle school, he reportedly refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.[3] He attended Grand Blanc Community High School in Grand Blanc, Michigan. There he started a controversial student atheists club. As part of his experience he published an Op-Ed piece “Atheists Under Siege” in the July 21, 1999 issue of the New York Times. He was also interviewed on Politically Incorrect and received the 1999 Ruth Jokinen Memorial Student Activist Award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.[5] He earned a B.A. at Swarthmore[3] and a Ph.D. at the European Graduate School.[4]

In December 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle called Micah White one of the "most fascinating people in the Bay Area 2011"[6]

Political views[edit]
Micah White is in favor of a transaction tax on international financial speculation, the reinstatement of the Glass-Stegall Act and revocation of corporate personhood.[7] He is against advertisement and consumerism.[8] He is known for popularizing the term "clicktivism", which denotes a form of internet-based activism which includes signing online petitions that he argues is damaging to the possibility of political change.[9]

[RKP5637]

1. It is, IMO, what is needed, a catalyst for change. Organization in rural areas might be the best

hope by enabling a larger unifying force with focus.

[arcane1]

54. It doesn't get any more "local" than that!

[roguevalley]

64. this guy is my hero

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. rec!

[Bluenorthwest]

3. Kick for rural Oregon and beautiful Nehalem and Tilamook County

nt

[classof56]

27. I second that.

I lived on the coast in Tillamook County when my children were young, and my daughter attended Nehalem Elementary. Beautiful area indeed!

[rhett o rick]

4. The movement has started. nm

[LWolf]

5. I'll be watching this with interest.

I live and work in a semi-rural area. For the most part, the rural families that surround me would not reject White because he's biracial, as long as he attended church and was active in the local Christian community.

Activism for change that might feel "liberal," though? Not likely. Of course, White has chosen a town on the coast, and Oregon west of the Cascades is a hell of a lot more liberal than the vast rural areas east of the mountains. If rural people west of the mountains can make a visual difference for rural people, though, some in the tea party land to the east might take notice.

[randome]

6. It's about time someone came up with a plan for this group.

Still think they should change the name. 'Occupy' is a verb, not a noun. And they don't really occupy anything in this manner.

But more power to them if they can organize and get things done.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Aspire to inspire.[/center][/font][hr]

[RKP5637]

39. +1, n/t

[Victor_c3]

76. I kind of don't like the "occupy" name either

but at this point it certainly has a lot of name recognition. However, I'm not sure if that is a good thing if the group is trying to expand into new territory / and convert people to its cause. People that didn't support them initially didn't because they thought they were quasi-law breakers.

Anyways, I think this is just another symptom and sign that we as a country are in for a huge progressive push in the coming years. Things are going to get better in the next couple of decades for the majority of Americans - and that is something I truly believe.

[randome]

81. I definitely see the tide as turning.

Occupy, for all its shortcomings, is one of many signs that things are going to get better.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[pipi_k]

7. Maybe out there, but...

judging from my own little rural community, I would say good luck with that.

As the saying goes, all politics is local, and that's exactly what happens here.

Most of my neighbors don't care much about life in general outside the town. It's a whole different mindset, and one would have to live here to understand what I mean.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Trust me I get it

And I don't live in a small town.

What happens in the big evil city 30 miles away, that will directly affect their lives, does not matter.

[Jesus Malverde]

62. There is nothing like someone from California, gong to rural Oregon

and telling them they are doing it wrong.

Good luck to him.

[customerserviceguy]

78. Good point!

Yeah, Northwesterners love to learn what they've been doing wrong from Californians!

As I recall, some Indian guru took over a tiny town in Oregon some years ago, until the surrounding folks put down their live-and-let-live attitude, and ran his ass out of the place.

[Chathamization]

79. Their "live-and-let-live attitude" included launching a massive bioterror attack against their

neighbors (I assume you're talking about the Rajneeshis).

[customerserviceguy]

94. It was the Oregonians

who had the live-and-let-live attitude, they really don't care what religion you are as long as you don't hurt your neighbors. And indeed, the Rajneeshees did launch the bioterror attack, and quickly wore out their welcome.

[Chathamization]

95. My mistake. I was reading that with the other meaning of "put down." N/T

[customerserviceguy]

96. No problem

I should have been clearer when referring to "their".

[L0oniX]

8. We need at least 500,000 people like him doing this.

[Lars39]

9. I've seen people in a small town protest with signs at the courthouse

with the media alerted and attending. Never would have believed the community I lived in as a youngster would get that het up about anything.
There is truly hope for this movement.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I doubt it, knowing my multiple local rural areas.

In that town, maybe.

[Bluenorthwest]

23. It's not at all the same. Example, SD County, population 3.1 million or so

Tillamook County in which this town sits, 25,287 people. Ponder that.

[Bragi]

12. A lovely man with a truly unworkable plan

I have no objection to Leftist takeovers of political and social institutions wherever they can, but I think the 1% would crush tiny, isolated rural revolutions even faster than they crushed the Occupy movement.

[pipi_k]

26. And there's also the fact

that it's a whole different way of life out here with regards to, say, free time.

Many of my neighbors own their own businesses. Those who don't, travel a good distance to their places of employment.


Many of my farming neighbors are just finishing up maple sugaring season and are getting their land ready for planting.

Another neighbor travels a good 100 mile round trip each day to work.

Yet another neighbor and his wife divide their time between their two businesses.

These people can't just shut down and occupy Town Hall in protest. How do they support their families...

And then some are elderly and just want to enjoy the peace and quiet of rural life without stress and drama.

[Dustlawyer]

13. I admire the selfless dedication of many of these Activists, but I still believe that fighting for

the full range of grievances is a mistake. The American public and our "sound bite" media cannot, or will not, absorb it all. The next big protest needs to attack the root of the problem which is the way we elect our politicians. We need to get rid of the legalized bribery of campaign contributions and go with Publicly Funded Elections. This would wrest control of our government from the Plutocrats. It will be a much tougher fight than what Occupy dealt with because they will not be caught off guard this time. Also, if we are successful, we would be deposing these Shadow Rulers and I doubt they will give up without a fight. If we are focused on just this one issue it will be easier to explain and understand to the rest of the terminally UN-informed.
When successful, we will regain our Representative Democracy and be able to address all of the other important issues that are not being addressed currently by our bought off politicians!
Wolf-PAC.com.

[TBF]

16. Blah blah blah ...

we have had enough of band-aids. It has gotten us nothing.

[ancianita]

30. You're right. Fixing politics is attending to symptom, not disease.

[RKP5637]

40. Excellent point! The root cause issues need to be dealt with, not just treating symptoms. Too

much is sugar coated. We have major root cause issues in this country, like a truly broken financial system which is now rigged to only serve very wealthy individuals, groups and financial institutions ... and these root cause issues cut across all party lines.

[DesertDiamond]

69. The true root cause is the poison of greed. This can only be defeated when enough people wake up and

fight to defeat their own darkness and help others to defeat theirs. When we do that, then we will win and everyone will be able to enjoy a happy, peaceful planet. I say when and not if, because we are definitely going to make this happen.

[Le Taz Hot]

22. And how do we go about getting public

financing? The very people who would have to enact the legislation are the people who are benefiting from it. What makes you think they're going to turn off the spigot? (It's my standard question -- which has never been answered, btw, when anyone brings the "public financing" canard out.)

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Public financing will be dealt with sooner or later

but the problem people have is that they concentrate in a one fix to all solution.

But he does have a point, there is a reason the Koch brothers are now starting to play in mightily small rural pools in Ohio where board of supervisors races are rarely contested... they are trying to get people in friendly to their interests.

That said, that is just one of the many things that ail us. And alone it will not fix the problem

[PotatoChip]

44. My state did it nearly 20 years ago by citizen initiative. Public financing is not a "canard".

The Maine Clean Election Act

The Maine Clean Election Act (MCEA) established a voluntary program of full public financing of political campaigns for candidates running for Governor, State Senator, and State Representative. Maine voters passed the MCEA as a citizen initiative in 1996. Candidates who choose to participate may accept very limited private contributions at the beginning of their campaigns (seed money contributions). To become eligible, candidates must demonstrate community support through collecting a minimum number of checks or money orders of $5 more made payable to the Maine Clean Election Fund (qualifying contributions). After a candidate begins to receive MCEA funds from the State, he or she cannot accept private contributions, and almost all goods and services received must be paid for with MCEA funds.
http://www.maine.gov/ethics/mcea/

Arizona accomplished this as well, although in their case, I'm not sure how they went about it.

Unfortunately SCOTUS wiped out the matching contributions portion of the law in their Citizens United decision. Nonetheless, Maine legislators can, and still do, win using public funding.

[Le Taz Hot]

47. Unfortunately, there is no national initiative process

so the only way to go about it is state-by-state and that would work only for states that have the initiative process. Many do not. Also, your example applies to state-wide offices only, not federal such as Senator or Congressperson. Any attempt to enact something similar for federal offices in states with initiatives would be almost immediately struck down citing Citizens United.

It's the CONGRESS that has to enact public finance legislation and there is just no way they're going to remove the gravy train for themselves, at least legislatively.

Now, what candidates CAN do, is refuse to accept corporate funding and only accept limited monies from individuals and small organizations. Of course, the argument against that is that their opponents will not make such a pledge and it will make the playing field grossly uneven. But any candidate can take that pledge nonetheless.

[MADem]

55. Poor Maine needs to get rid of that absolute NUTBAG governor -- he is a disgrace to

the Governor's Restaurant chain....to think his picture will hang there one day; enough to put you off your meat loaf!!! Gaaaah!!!!!!

A walk down memory lane with that crazy shitbird...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/29/paul-lepage-obama-go-to-hell_n_743532.html



Has he told Obama to "Go to hell" yet? What a tool.

[dionysus]

74. good god don't mention lepage man.. he makes me ashamed of my home state...

and if he gets in because of another 3 way race i'll write off the state forever

[MADem]

83. Isn't he awful?

When I go rambling around Northern Maine, I meet all kinds, from blue to red and points between, but I've never met a soul that admits to voting for that cretinous turd!

[dionysus]

84. he won my town by literally a few votes my dad told me.

We saw what happened with a 3 way race last time...

[MADem]

86. I'll bet your dad and many of his friends wishes they'd just swung by

Bob and Edna's place (or name any few generic friends) and picked them up on the way to the polls!!

I drive people to the polls for most elections. Sometimes I just do a few (local elections) but for the nationals and "big" specials I am going for a good part of the day. I always have a horror of something like that happening here, and that's why I do it...plus, a lot of my "customers" don't drive anymore, or drive only in extreme emergencies or on set routes and are afraid to park in the tight parking lot they provide at the voting location.

When can ME get rid of that twerp? He's just awful, it seems like he's been there forever!

[dionysus]

87. he said he's done with politics if lepage gets in again (of course he won't,but it's dramatic ;) )

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

68. So your crack-pot legislators got elected

by sucking the public tit? I don't think Maine or Arizona should be held up as examples for anything near good governance.

[Dustlawyer]

45. My 1st suggestion since the corporate owned media has been subverting our country for so long is to

require the TV and radio operators to donate the political ad time as a cost of their FCC license to broadcast. Limit the time frame for political ads to a month out from the election so we don't have to live with the nasty ads for a year or more like we have now. That takes care of the most expensive part of the campaign.
Given all of the self interests that have had the regulatory and tax codes written for them the last 30 years, the cost of the elections for the tax payers will be dwarfed by all of the savings we will have by ending all of the subsidizing of oil companies, offshore tax havens, extreme excess in military spending and the like. We would end the tax loopholes that the Plutocracy had instructed their politicians to pass for them. This revenue that they should have been paying all along would be more than enough to fix infrastructure and education, and will allow us to incentivize green energy as we should have been doing since Jimmy Carter was President.
Most of our countries problems stem from the corruption of our politicians, Courts, and media. If we can find a way to motivate the people (wish I had the answer for this), we can get out and fight with single minded focus for campaign finance reform and publicly funded elections. It will take either a triggering event or a major Progressive leader to push for these vital reforms. In the meantime we elect the usual suspects who are either corrupt already, or get that way once they get to Washington. Very few stick to their ideals and fight the good fight. Elizabeth Warren is an example of the selfless idealism that we need more of. I would encourage all of you to attend town hall meeting and candidate meet and greets and try to elicit a promise to fight for publicly funded elections and campaign finance reform. Politicians should not be out raising money way more than they spend doing the People's business.

[Le Taz Hot]

48. And all of your suggestions

would have to enacted on the federal level and, again, there is no way they're going to cut off the gravy trains in terms of campaign contributions, perks and cushy lobbying jobs once they get out of Congress.

Personally, and I know this is pie-in-the-sky, but I would like any honest candidates out there to refuse to take corporate monies and rely only on small donations and feet on the ground as the methods by which they run for office. I am of the opinion that it would be a GREAT talking point, particularly in contrast with an opponent who does take corporate monies.

[Dustlawyer]

57. I agree that my suggestions are not likely to

take root anytime soon, but I believe that is what it would take.
I too would like to see politicians refuse corporate cash, but as a talking point it would not fly. Without corporate free $ Speech, they would not have enough speech ($) to be heard! Politicians with enough National recognition like Elizebeth Warren can raise enough from small individual donors, but most would not get enough speech($) to be viable.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

51. You keep complaining our politics are bought and paid for only to suggest political solutions.

Who is going to pass these laws you keep demanding? The politicians you say are corrupt?

It will take either a triggering event or a major Progressive leader to push for these vital reforms.

A leader? As in singular? You do realize that 1 of anything gets nothing done in a democracy/republic.

The system isn't corrupt, insofar as it is a system. It works exactly as it was designed to work. By its very nature it is exploitable and draws the corrupt into its folds. As soon as WE said we wanted a system we gave them the means to rob and oppress us. There is no fixing the system. The fact that it is a system is exactly the problem.

Any/every system is exactly that way. Some degrade sooner than others while some are born degraded but they all end up the same. Sooner or later they become indistinguishable. Some may claim government is for the people but as soon as the people say they don't want it the government will turn its guns on the people to protect itself as if it were an animal fighting for its own life. Or worse, it will seize on fears of some foreign Other and claim the people must go murder them so as to keep the people distracted.

Screw the system. All of them. Refuse to play.

[Dustlawyer]

59. So you advocate giving up?

I understand that there is no perfect system. I also understand that with focus and enough pressure, change can take place. My proposal would make things much better after it is enacted, but there is no way to exclude all of the money. I am not the type to give up, and ignoring our political system only makes it easier for them to really screw us over.
I will continue to tilt at the windmill and you can sit back and let them have their way with you, neither sounds great!

[Nuclear Unicorn]

60. And who is going to pass your proposal?

ignoring our political system only makes it easier for them to really screw us over.

Only if you insist on having a system.

[Dustlawyer]

61. What is it you would have? From what little you said it seems that you are not going to vote and

would have others do the same. This would allow the Plutocrats to get everything they want very fast since there would be no opposition. Do you want Anarchy? It is easy to poo poo what I propose, but much harder to come up with something constructive.
I believe in the end it will come down to the environment and the growing inequality. If things get really bad the 99% will all start demanding real reform. This seems more likely to happen than not voting and expecting things to improve.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

63. You keep dodging this very basic question.

Every proposed course of action must be feasible or else it is not worth proposing. You have to find (435 + 100 + 1) * .51 non-corporatists politicians and do so through multiple election cycles.

This would allow the Plutocrats to get everything they want very fast since there would be no opposition.

What they want is power and control over people.

Do you want Anarchy?

1. Have you seen my avatar?

2. If the bastards want power and control let's not amass power and control for them to take. All we're doing is giving them the tools to enslave us. There is nothing they can promise us that we could not provide for ourselves on better terms.

3. Have you seen my avatar?

It is easy to poo poo what I propose, but much harder to come up with something constructive.

Define "constructive."

As I have been saying: Having a system is the problem. All systems become corrupt. All governments cease serving the people and they invariably turn against the people or turn the people against each other to serve their own ends.

You say you want corporate money out of politics. Good. Awesome. Sounds great. But I'll wager that given enough time whatever laws you propose will soon become so distorted that only corporations with the deepest pockets and the dirtiest lawyers could navigate the complex regime of regulations while citizens who wish participate are choked out of the public arena due to cost and threat of legal action.

Ya wanna get money out of politics. I wanna kill politics.

If things get really bad the 99% will all start demanding real reform.

Voting for whom, exactly? You started this sub-thread by noting -- factually -- that the game is rigged. You can't unrig the game because you don't have the reformers in office. You can't get reformers in office because the game is rigged. And around and around we go.

How do you plan to break that cycle?

[mountain grammy]

14. To me, Micah White is a hero.. talking the talk and walking the walk.

and I want to add: under the radar, without huge resources, doing the work.. reaching out to Americans, changing hearts and minds.

[RKP5637]

41. At minimal, he has the guts to try! And to me, that is a hero! n/t

[TBF]

15. Solidarity, brother. nt

[Tippy]

17. K&R

[Matariki]

18. smart. this was pretty much the strategy that the far right used

and it worked to get them a seat at the table - running for school board or whatever local office and working up from there.

[Nay]

24. Yes, it worked for them wonderfully, and it is a complete mystery why

the Democratic Party refused to go gangbusters with something like Dean's 50-state strategy AND full attention to local races, rather than ignoring anything local. Ignoring the success the RWers had in filling up local offices with every sort of RWer and teabagger is deadly, IMO.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. It is not a mystery if you listen to party poobahs

which I tend to do. They simply do not think rural areas are worth it. There are many reasons. When you ask them about school boards, they have that look of absolute boredom. They are interested in City Halls and above, and city halls only if they are mid cities and above. Small towns, they do not care.

It also has to do with how they view poor, marginalized communities, which includes rural populations.

It is amazing to watch.

So no, I am not surprised, and I am all but shocked that these marginalized populations hate democrats, The only reason urban marginalized populations with more melanin content still somewhat vote for dems is the inherent racism and hate for them from Republicans. If republicans overcame their racism, that is a population ripe for the taking.

[zeemike]

19. Well that is how the right wing did it.

By taking over local government positions from dog catcher to city councle...There is more power there than we know....it is time to take it back.

[RKP5637]

42. And the radio and TV waves in these small communities. It's hard do be in a small community and not

here anything other than RW politics and RW religious broadcasting, and it eats brains. To me, a major problem has been the democrats have let the RW own the airwaves.

[KoKo]

46. Definitely.

[zeemike]

50. Well they own the radio and TV stations.

But even so the democrats concede it to them.

[RKP5637]

58. So true, the dems often look to the R's to see which way the wind is blowing and then try

to outrun them. I'm really really tired of it.

[pipoman]

20. I agree

The DNC and RNC love to divide and conquer. If you listen to news reports and political speak you get the idea that occupy and teabaggers have nothing in common, when the truth is the grassroots of both have far more in common than the rank and file of either party...shhh...

[Le Taz Hot]

21. One of the worst mistakes the Democrats

CONTINUE TO MAKE is not only ignoring rural areas and their residents, but denigrating them in the process. Rural residents know all about self-sufficiency and the suggestions in the article, i.e., rural community gardens, low-cost or no-cost health clinics, etc., would fit nicely into that tradition.

[ancianita]

31. Absolutely. nt

[Kali]

32. bingo

rural and working class NEED Democratic policies/leaders, but the repukes speak their language better (god and guns) This needs to change.

[RKP5637]

43. Definitely !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[FarCenter]

28. In most rural areas they will find that the local government is already occupied.

[jtuck004]

71. That's what they said when the TeaParty started their local organizing a few years ago. Sent out

CDs with info, had house parties, built support. And in the process captured hundreds of local positions across the nation that everyone thought were "already occupied", full of people completely unprepared to run a campaign. And then took Congress.

And there are hundreds more positions out there just like them. Some might require a little funding, and now some are on notice, but many just require someone that is will go work a little harder to get it won - standing on a street corner with a sign saying "vote for me" is often the difference, whether one is running as Republican or the middle party.

[ancianita]

29. As it should be. We need to reclaim our land and drive all "expert" middlemen out. Out, I say.

I'm with this guy and Wendell Berry on better focusing on and fixing the causes rather than the symptoms of our country's brokenness.

[sabrina 1]

33. The second phase of the movement. I think starting with local politics is where it has to begin

to change the direction of this country. I hope, actually I believe it is, this is going to happen all over the country.

Focusing on National WH races eats up energy and donations and uses up years of time and in the end doesn't do much for the issues people care most about. But local and state elections CAN begin the changes that are needed to address the interests of the people.

National politicians don't need our small donations as they are all hugely funded by Corporations. That money would be better used to elect local and state politicians who are not funded by Corporations.

I hope they make corporate funding poison in every election from now on.

People can vote for their party politicians on a national level in the end, but first make sure that Congress, their Reps are going to actually represent them and will actually use the power given to them by the people to block policies that are not beneficial to the people.

It was inevitable that OWS would move into the political arena, and I am glad they are doing so.

[randome]

37. So 'inevitable', you refused to listen last year.

Now even one of the organizers is saying what needs to be said.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]

[sabrina 1]

70. Airc, you were the one who was not listening. You demonstrated a complete lack of understanding

of what this movement was all about, constantly repeating talking points, which I recognized and advised you to find sources other than the right wing sources you were depending on to slam this movement at every opportunity.

It was obvious of course to those who did understand it that the initial, and hugely successful beginning phase was just that, the first phase. OWS moved into another phase over the past few years, which I doubt you were even aware of frankly.

Now that we know for sure that there were actual plans to 'kill the leaders' their refusal to name any leaders was brilliant, something you and others NEVER understood.

You are in zero position to offer any 'advice' on a movement you were opposed to from the beginning.

And THIS phase is just one more step towards the next one.

This his is NOT the first OWS member who ran for office, but I wouldn't expect you to know that, you were mostly busy in every OWS thread trying, although not very successfully, to denigrate the movement which as you were told many times, was in its infancy.

It isn't going away, because the issues are not even close to being resolved, and there will be many, many more aspects to this Social Justice movement as you were reminded over and over again, has always been the case with any movement that resonates as quickly and as overwhelmingly as this one did. It was and is a huge threat of course, which we saw by their despicable reaction, to those who prefer the status quo.

[randome]

82. Maybe if you wish really, really hard, the things you say might come true.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[sabrina 1]

93. Lol, I didn't have to wish very hard to get that response, thanks for remaining so

so consistent on Social Justice issues. I would expect nothing less.

[nadinbrzezinski]

38. As I reported early on

They started doing this early on.

I could link to those posts, but really I don't care anymore.

[sabrina 1]

72. Yes, I remember your reporting on it. In fact I just mentioned it in my response below to someone

who airc, opposed this movement from the beginning.

[ProSense]

35. Will most

White calls Occupy a “constructive failure.” Urban street protests, he says, only have a life cycle of about a month before their time is up. The encampments, the People’s Library, and the spirit of the general assemblies are all fun and games until everybody gets kicked out of the park. “It was magical thinking,” he says. For White, Occupy Wall Street challenged the core assumptions that activists have about how to achieve social change. “We believed that people’s assemblies were enough to gain political sovereignty. This turned out to not be true. To gain political sovereignty we must win elections.”

...people go to the link and read the entire piece? "Elections" are key. They always were. Protests raise awareness, but they have to lead to actions, results. It's like the 70s environmental movement leading to political action. It can work in cities too.

The Revolt of the Cities

During the past 20 years, immigrants and young people have transformed the demographics of urban America. Now, they’re transforming its politics and mapping the future of liberalism.

Harold Meyerson

Pittsburgh is the perfect urban laboratory,” says Bill Peduto, the city’s new mayor. “We’re small enough to be able to do things and large enough for people to take notice.” More than its size, however, it’s Pittsburgh’s new government—Peduto and the five like-minded progressives who now constitute a majority on its city council—that is turning the city into a laboratory of democracy. In his first hundred days as mayor, Peduto has sought funding to establish universal pre-K education and partnered with a Swedish sustainable-technology fund to build four major developments with low carbon footprints and abundant affordable housing. Even before he became mayor, while still a council member, he steered to passage ordinances that mandated prevailing wages for employees on any project that received city funding and required local hiring for the jobs in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ new arena. He authored the city’s responsible-banking law, which directed government funds to those banks that lent in poor neighborhoods and away from those that didn’t.

<...>

Peduto, who is 49 years old, sees improving the lot of Pittsburgh’s new working class as his primary charge. In his city hall office, surrounded by such artifacts as a radio cabinet from the years when the city became home to the world’s first radio station, the new mayor outlined the task before him. “My grandfather, Sam Zarroli, came over in 1921 from Abruzzo,” he said. “He only had a second-grade education, but he was active in the Steel Workers Organizing Committee in its early years, and he made a good life for himself and his family. My challenge in today’s economy is how to get good jobs for people with no PhDs but with a good work ethic and GEDs. How do I get them the same kind of opportunities my grandfather had? All the mayors elected last year are asking this question.”

They are indeed. The mayoral and council class of 2013 is one of the most progressive cohorts of elected officials in recent American history. In one major city after another, newly elected officials are planning to raise the minimum wage or enact ordinances boosting wages in developments that have received city assistance. They are drafting legislation to require inner-city hiring on major projects and foster unionization in hotels, stores, and trucking. They are seeking the funds to establish universal pre-K and other programs for infants and toddlers. They are sketching the layout of new transit lines that will bring jobs and denser development to neighborhoods both poor and middle-class and reduce traffic and pollution in the bargain. They are—if they haven’t done so already—forbidding their police from cooperating with federal immigration authorities in the deportation of undocumented immigrants not convicted of felonies and requiring their police to have video or audio records of their encounters with the public. They are, in short, enacting at the municipal level many of the major policy changes that progressives have found themselves unable to enact at the federal and state levels. They also may be charting a new course for American liberalism.

New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio has dominated the national press corps’ coverage of the new urban liberalism. His battles to establish citywide pre-K (successful but not funded, as he wished, by a dedicated tax on the wealthy), expand paid sick days (also successful), raise the minimum wage (blocked by the governor and legislature), and reform the police department’s stop-and-frisk policy (by dropping an appeal of a court order) have been extensively chronicled. But de Blasio is just one of a host of mayors elected last year who campaigned and now govern with similar populist agendas. The list also includes Pittsburgh’s Peduto, Minneapolis’s Betsy Hodges, Seattle’s Ed Murray, Boston’s Martin Walsh, Santa Fe’s Javier Gonzales...“We all ran on similar platforms,” Peduto says. “There wasn’t communication among us. It just emerged organically that way. We all faced the reality of growing disparities. The population beneath the poverty line is increasing everywhere. A lot of us were underdogs, populists, reformers, and the public was ready for us.”

- more -

http://prospect.org/article/revolt-cities

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024859982

[randome]

36. Wow. Some hard truths there.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]

[arely staircase]

49. most rural Americans are very conservative

noy exactly your anarcho syndicalist comune types

[KamaAina]

53. Depends on where in 'Murka.

The Northwest, which I mentioned, and New England, especially southern Vermont, serve as counterexamples.

[arely staircase]

56. I said most. not all nt

[KamaAina]

52. I could totally see that happening in Ecotopia

i.e. the Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades, extending down into California at least to the Bay Area, if not the central coast, and up into B.C. and southeast Alaska.

edit:

[roguevalley]

65. hear, hear. i owned that book

[DeSwiss]

66. Because that's where we should be.

- Out and about with Nature. Some have already started without the rest of us:




K&R

[notundecided]

67. I believe politics follows social movement

If more people had come out for OWS it would have changed our politics.

[maggies farm]

73. Occupy Bundy hmmm...

Many in the rural community claim stewardship yet use roundup if you catch my drift. How do you encourage Ecotopia?

Environmentalist are being labeled agenda 21, NWO, on and on


First the militia and anarchist will go after the feds, then might is right and they impose an ideological theocracy, Then they will kill the environmentalist, and the next, and the next, until finally for good measure they kill the anarchist.


Meanwhile the bankers and men and women behind the curtains drink our blood like a fine wine.


OWS intertwined with the rural militia is rather curious.

[Sunlei]

75. "ousting corrupt officials" Micah M. White, thank you!

""How? By organizing statewide ballot initiatives, ousting corrupt officials, and encouraging everyday people to run for local and county offices.""

We have some really corrupt local officials because no one really audits them or watches the flow of state/federal fund into their very small local Gov. coffers. We Americans can not afford the corruption like the following person who was convicted in late 2012.

$53.7 million
Criminal status
Imprisoned at Federal Correctional Institution, Waseca; projected release date of March 5, 2030
Conviction(s)
November 14, 2012 (pleaded guilty)

Rita A. Crundwell (born January 10, 1953) was the comptroller and treasurer of Dixon, Illinois, from 1983 to 2012, and the admitted operator of what is believed to be the largest municipal fraud in American history. She was fired in April 2012 after it was revealed that she had embezzled $53.7 million from the city over 22 years to support her championship American Quarter Horse breeding operation. [1][2][3][4] She pleaded guilty to her crimes and was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison.[1]

Crundwell's Quarter Horse operation, RC Quarter Horses, was one of the best-known Quarter Horse breeders in the country; her horses won 52 world championships and she was named the leading owner by the American Quarter Horse Association for eight consecutive years prior to her arrest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Crundwell

[RBInMaine]

77. Occupy was a FAILURE because they refused to become a viable POLITICAL force. Simple as that.

[djean111]

80. They refused to ALIGN themselves with corrupt political forces.

They refused to be used for political gain.
The hoots and hollers for leadership names were really just attempts to Snowden leaders. Can't handily smear an entire movement that refuses to cooperate with that.

[brooklynite]

85. ...or attempt to change them.

We have a political system and a Government. They set policy and make decisions. If you withdraw from the political process, how do you expect to implement change?

[djean111]

88. I understand that, but as far as I can see, our current political system and government are

mostly about preserving the status quo, gathering in campaign mney, catering to Wall Street, and getting reelected.
In fact, most legislation looks to me like the first, second, and third most important things are how does this affect my chances of reelection? Actual service to citizens comes in a distant fourth. IMO, etc. We even approve of it here - like hey, the Keystone Pipeline reeks, but better okay it for reelection purposes.
A farce.
Does anyone think that Hillary, the DNC, and the Third Way are going to take on Wall Street and the banks - for anything but donations and fancy dinners? I don't.

[brooklynite]

89. In that case, if Occupy et al won't, it won't happen at all

But it's always nice to have a ready excuse for failure...

[djean111]

90. I doubt Occupy cares about your put-downs.

And I doubt put-downs like yours have any effect whatsoever on what Occupy is doing.
But, hey, have at it. Pointless.

[brooklynite]

91. I don't care what Occupy thinks at all...because they're irrelevent

I'll keep working through the political system we have to achive the changes we need. Those who want to dream about a "revolution" can continue to do so...until they wake up.

[djean111]

92. Wow! You really really dislike them! Can't imagine why - is it because they refused to

support Obama? Because, really, I do not see why Occupy bothers some people so very much.
I do not think the political system we have now is open to change - it loves that big big money too too much.