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By Chad Arias / Staff Writer
(Illustration by Dylan Slusser)
By Chad Arias / Staff Writer
America, land of the greed, home of the slave, if the founding fathers could see what our nation has turned into they would not doubt convulsively vomit.
The ideals of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and so many others have been lost in the hustle and bustle of our materialistic ways.
Our elected officials are in bed with corporations for their personal gain at the expense of the every day citizen.
While the majority of the public is plugged into the “matrix” the few who have awoken banded together to start the occupy movement.
Nearly three months ago the first wave of protestors set out to remind America what it has been missing, a voice.
Hundreds at first then thousands later flooded the streets of numerous cities in the U.S.
Opposers scoffed and spewed ignorance at the movement yet here we are three months later still carrying the message.
As of late the cities being occupied have started to grow weary of the constant demonstrations.
Excuses such as public health and safety have been used to justify the coming evictions.
Many camps have told officials that they are not going anywhere.
Physical altercations have yet to escalade leaving the movement true to its roots, a non violent means of protesting.
Criticizers of the movement can’t deny the immense determination that these occupiers are showing.
One might say it takes a level of insanity to spend over 100 days camping in a tent.
New York City in winter time is no paradise, but there they sit driven by hope, inspired by change.
Every night when the oblivious public goes to sleep in their nice warm beds think of the thousands of Americans sleeping in tents across the nation, they are fighting for you.
The occupy movement has continued to evolve through its existence.
California has witnessed the movement spread through UC campuses by the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the ’60s.
The UC Davis “pepper spray” incident has brought a fire storm of bad press on law enforcement and the universities chancellor.
Keep in mind that these are students who were harmed not your run of the mill occupier.
With every act of police brutality more and more students are joining the demonstrations.
The real mystery is why so many congressmen and elected officials are opposed to the occupy movement.
They ponder why the people are so upset when the government proves to be ineffective time and time again.
Democrat and Republican politicians argue over petty details while the working class citizen sinks deeper into the muck.
How dare they criticize the citizens who elected them.
In three months we’ve seen more action from the occupy movement than our own government.
People forget the very ideals that this country was founded on.
Didn’t everybody learn about the American Revolution?
Our country was founded on the backs of rebels who died fighting the very tyranny we are witnessing today.
Jefferson sought to have government that supported the people not oppressed them.
The Constitution talks about the separation between church and state, but what about the separation of corporation and state.
When the men we vote for stab us in the back what choice do we have other than to take to the streets.
The flower power and civil rights movements brought change to our nation in all positive ways.
The occupy movement has sought to continue the charge into a bright new future.
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
These words spoken by Jefferson ring through the notion that the occupy movement is valid and should be respected by those in power.
There is no way of foreseeing what the occupy movement will evolve into but the one constant is change.
Many will seek to tear them down but how do you stop individuals with nothing to lose?