I understand that we have a really big problem in America. That problem is corporations. I fully understand that corporations rule Congress who, in turn, rules America. However, I fear that the occupations are doing more damage than we might have anticipated. While it is true that the protests are raising a lot of awareness about the problem, I also think that the protest needs to move further in the right direction if it is going to garner more support.
What is the purpose of a protest? Sometimes a picket line tries to stop people from shopping at a certain store. In terms of the Occupation protest, I think the main goal is to get attention. The movement is spreading across America as a movement of the people, by the people, and for the people. Their goal is to get the attention of the media so as to…yea that's about it.
I can see quite a few inherent problems with that formula:
For starters, let's look at this through the eyes of a very well known news and media corporation, CNN. While it is true that CNN reported on the protests, they only did so for a few weeks. These protests have been going on for well over a month. Not only that, but why would a news company like CNN, who probably has a lot of money “donated” to politicians, want to report on something that essentially slanders their own name?
But I digress, let's assume that the protests did work, and the liberal media continued to report on it so much until it got the proper attention of Congress. I cannot think of a single politician that would support a bill that essentially lowers their own income. There are 0 members of the government, not even the President himself, that would support a bill that further limits or reduces the amount of money that corporations can give.
I fear that it might be too late. Corporations already have such a huge grip over our government that it might be impossible to separate corporation and state. Wall Street is already so closely intertwined with everything that happens in our government. The only way to start a change would be to start a mass boycott of big business. But no matter how many people join that movement, the businesses will always find a way to make more money. Wall street was figuratively built by corporations seeking another outlet for the common people to invest billions of dollars into their respective business. It was literally built by the 99% of 1903, who very likely got paid a dollar a week to build it.
Furthermore, I see a lot of problems associated with the fact that corporations rule everything. When I graduate, not only will I need to find a job completely on my own, but I'm also going to have a rather large debt looming over me. Now the thing about big business in this sense is that I shouldn't actually have a problem finding a job straight out of college. As a Mechanical and Aerospace Engineer, it is actually more likely that I should be able to find a decent job working for a technological giant like Boeing or Lockheed Martin. However, I must stress the word “decent.” With America ruled by big business, I don't think I'll ever be able to grow from that work experience. My dreams of starting my own defense company will be shattered if I can't start out working as a small business. Small business will soon be destroyed if the corporate rule of America continues. If small business is destroyed, then nobody will be able work up from a wage-earning job.