The Occupy Movement deserves credit for assailing Wall Street and bringing their malfeasance to the public’s attention. It was Wall Street and corporate bankers who tanked the world’s economy because the Bush-Republicans deregulated the financial industry and then bailed them out with taxpayer money and it is incumbent on Democrats to remind Americans that the economy would not be in the shape it is in without Republicans’ assistance. Indeed, Republicans are frantic to repeal the financial reform Democrats passed so corporate banking interests and Wall Street can revert to their Bush-era tactics of gaming the system to enrich themselves and their wealthy investors. Paul Ryan claimed President Obama should stop promoting his job creation plan and work with Republicans, but Republicans are on a path to repeat the Bush-era mistakes that put our economy in the shape it is in. If anything, the President should ramp up the pressure on Republicans and their policies that promote the income inequality the Occupy Movement opposes.
Republicans have controlled the House for ten months, and have made absolutely no effort to grow the economy or create jobs, but their spending cuts killed jobs and they have fought tirelessly to give more entitlements to corporations, the wealthy, and the oil industry; they have no intentions of changing course regardless the will of the American people or their continued downward spiral into poverty. Republicans can claim the wonders of America and the opportunity for upward mobility for all Americans, but for once, their rhetoric is being met with opposition from Americans who see no opportunity to make economic progress as long as the wealthiest 1% holds most of the wealth and all of the advantages.
It may well be that the Occupy Movement was instrumental in bringing income and wealth inequality into the public’s consciousness, but it is up to President Obama and Democrats to build on that momentum and hammer Republicans for their efforts to grow and perpetuate the gap between the 1% and the rest of America. Paul Ryan, the Heritage Foundation, and Republicans will continue to claim the President is encouraging class warfare by advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy, “pushing a divisive message that pits one group of Americans against another on the basis of class,” and traveling around the country to promote his jobs plan, but they are losing the message war and making matters worse for themselves every time they claim America is an upwardly mobile society and that there are no class distinctions in America.
There is a definite distinction between the 1% and the rest of America, and the Occupy Movement has highlighted that distinction admirably. Republicans cannot win this stage of the war because now the entire country is aware of the devastating results of inordinately awarding so much wealth and the country’s resources to a miniscule percentage of society at the expense of 99% of Americans. The Occupy Movement has started the proverbial ball rolling and it is up to President Obama, Democrats, and the American people to pound Republicans for their complicities in ending upward mobility in America and sending millions of Americans into poverty.
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