Wall Street Protests

[GrayMatterWife]

I read as much of the Chomsky article as I could stomach. He's _so_ smart, but always impressed me as a big fat doodyhead.

Good grief, same here. He is absolutely insufferable and obnoxious. You should read "The Anti-Chomsky Reader."

[v-girl]

Thank you Rapunzel! We have Libertarian leanings but sure as hell don't want socialism!

[fluffhead]

I am aware of the extreme right and left's differing opinions on social nets and the like.
My point was that I'm hearing much of the same "can the banks, no bailouts" talk from both sides.
(I was a libertarian, too, in my twenties. I had my "Bill of Rights - Void Where Prohibited by Law" tshirt and went to meetings and all. Even read Ayn Rand's non-fiction, which was painful. And at my first job in a Very Large Corporation, I joined the Objectivist Philosophy Club, where we did a whole lot of nothing. I've since recovered.)

[reciprocity]

Exactly, socialists and libertarians can agree (and in this movement, are agreeing) that it is a bad idea to have corporations dictating economic policy - many (libertarian-leaning) people have pointed out that our current system isn't a pure capitalism at all.

Just because we can't agree on exactly what to do after we've decreased the amount of influence corporations have doesn't mean we should stop working together before we've accomplished that first goal.

[diggitydot]

Just because we can't agree on exactly what to do after we've decreased the amount of influence corporations have doesn't mean we should stop working together before we've accomplished that first goal.

Amen. Common ground exists.

[corn poffi]

It also grants us the right to protest.

[reciprocity]

also there's no grant of the right to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness in the constitution, those words are in the declaration of independence

the constitution says that the government can't take our life without due process (unless you're on some list apparently, but that's an entirely different debate thread), nor liberty or property, but nothing about happiness

that being said, I don't see why these nation-wide rallies wouldn't help to bring these issues more attention. the notion that they must be protesting in washington if they want to get the attention of washington isn't something I strongly agree with. they seem to be getting plenty of attention from people across the country. wall street is a powerful symbol and it being "occupied" is something that resonates with me, and it seems to have a similar effect on other people as well. it is certainly more dramatic than another "march on washington" or "rally in the mall" or something like that.