Occupy Wall Street how will you influence government? Will you be a flash in the pan or will you implement lasting change?
Now that November 17th is wrapping up we need to debrief. The police will be planning on how to stop any future marches. The people seeking to change the direction of America need to decide on their next move. Not only the next move but what is this for? What is the purpose of Occupy Wall Street?
The events of today made me realize how important keeping communications free and open are to democracy and the future of America.
Observing that several accredited news reporters were arrested today emphasizes the need to keep a free and open press. Not to mention that most main stream reporters are afraid to cover events when the police tell them to leave or they’ll lose their press passes. If they lose their press passes they lose their jobs.
I have noticed that the Occupy Wall Street movement has no cohesive message or goals. The measures I propose are inline with economic realities and traditional American values
I think we can all agree that America must have the tools needed for a modern society. America needs to have moderen tools to function competitively in a world market. It just so happens some of these same technology also makes documenting the wrongdoing of authorities much easier. We saw that today with live broadcasts/streams showing the peacefulness of demonstrators and the sometimes aggressive nature of those carrying weapons.
I propose one measure the Occupy Wall Street movement champion is access to the technology making this movement possible.
Not only would state of the art communication channels allow for more rapid change, it will also have an overall financial benefit for America as a whole.
We need to insist on keeping the web and open place for social exchange. We need a modern internet without limiting how much internet one is allowed to use. These are some of the reasons America needs net neutrality. Building a first rate internet is critical to our competitiveness as a country. Right now there are many counties with online connectivity much better than America. In America it is in the interests of large corporations to limit what kind of access Americans get. While it may not be good for America to have less that the best it is good for the internet companies. It’s a business decision; they make more money by making America less competitive.
Police transparency
Recently I’ve been reading about tactics the police are devising that would prevent news media from documenting police actions. Maintaining police transparency should be another one of Occupy Wall Street’s objectives. Police transparency could be maintained by passing laws that make it legal to video police officers and other officials in all states in America. There also needs to be a law that prevents the police from hiding their identity when making arrests. This includes police putting up barriers to work behind.
We also need to have measures in effect to ensure authorities don’t use sneaky ways to prevent communication devises and cameras from working or taking pictures.
- Our economic well being is tied to having world class communication infrastructure and service for all Americans
- We need a way to make sure police obey the law. While law enforcement may feel justified in hurting people they need to control themselves. The best way to make sure police control themselves is for the civilian population to have a right to monitor authorities.
- In a modern age the right to keep and bare cameras is as critical as the right to keep and bare arms.
It will take political fortitude for Occupy Wall Street to accomplish any the goal the movement deems worthy. Political will is not necessarily going to come from politicians. If the Occupy Wall Street movement wants to be true to their values they will not use traditional forms of coercion. That means they are not going to hire lobbyists. Nor will they donate large sums of money to political candidates.
To make better laws Occupy Wall Street supporters need to find a way to make the good parts of the system work without using the bad parts.