Occupy Wall Street

I am a supporter of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I find that it is an honest grassroots movement to help end the corruption of our financial system and the role that money plays in our electoral system. Until we are able to have honest elections that are not bought by big money, corporations and special interest, I don't believe that the system will get better.

I have been a part of the protests and one of the best parts of being there in the "thick of things" was seeing the people. I walked along side an old man using his cane, a blind woman, babies in strollers, college students, middle aged people, veterans of the current conflict and veterans of past conflicts, even members of the Tea Party. It truly was a representative group of our nation. I am smiling as I think about this eclectic group of people. It makes me think of the children's song:
"Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world."

The message is not clear cut and all the people who work in the financial section are not crooks. However, until the crooks that are there are punished, it will continue to be percieved as such. Regarding the message, I think that one thing that is clear is that our system is not fair. It favors the super rich. Since this was such a controversial subject, I have done my research and have thought long and hard about such a movement. Is it perfect, No. We saw where groups with their own agenda can hi-jack the peaceful  protests marches, such as what happened in Rome. It does not take away from the movement itself however.

I am amused by some of the media coverage and some of the back-pedaling by politicans regarding this movement. The media wants short and sweet sound bytes. Not easy for them to cover the message in a bumper sticker mentality. The politiians who were so hard nosed in the beginning (read this Eric Cantor) are now seeing the direction that the wind is blowing and have toned down their hate-filled rhetoric.

The biggest and best of the objectives was to wake this country up and get them involved in the process. It is hard to get this slumbering giant awake but we saw that it can happen (think the civil rights movement of the 1960s). Some of the same things that people were saying then about that movement are the same things that were said to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Read his response to some of those white religious leaders in his Letters from a Birmingham Jail.

The founders of our nation foresaw things like this happening in the future of the country. Therefore, they built rights into the constitution to make sure that the people had a way to make their voices be heard by those in power. I hope that one of the things that this movement does is help people register to vote and be a part of the process.

On another note: I saw four clergy people at the walk in my city. A Presbytarian, a Roman Catholic and two United Methodists. I hope that those who are members of the clergy support this movement and don't wait on the side lines. It is scary to step out in faith and risk alienating members of your congregations, but sometimes we have to make a stand.