An Occupy Action I Can Get Behind...Sort Of.

Okay, so the protesters sound slightly like they're reading aloud from a Dr.Seuss book. They repeat like that in a ripple effect so that the entire crowd can hear them since they're not allowed to used a sound system. Occupy the Caucus is here!

I'm not a fan of the hyperbolic language they use:
"President Obama and the other bought-and-paid-for candidates who give us the brush-off when we try to ask real questions will be forced to hear us as we converge upon their campaign headquarters...we will chase the candidates and their Wall Street cronies around the state of Iowa, dogging their heels at all their black-tie dinners and staged media events, drowning out their empty rhetoric with the strong, clear message of the 99%."

However, there is one sentence in that I love, "We are taking American democracy back!" The difference between this and Occupy Wall Street is that they're bringing the movement to the source. They're doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing: holding elected officials and candidates accountable.

It's not just that I love crazy activists causing trouble at the caucuses that does not involve me. It's that, despite its insistence on working outside the system, the Occupy movement is starting to organize to have impact on elections.

"The presidential candidates – including President Barack Obama – are essentially representatives of the corporate agenda, not the people, because both political parties and their leadership are beholden to the same network of corporate campaign contributors, elite, wealthy donors, war profiteers, and army of big money lobbyists and special interest groups. Our electoral system naturally reflects this reality and the resulting public policy outcomes of each election cycle predictably serve the interests of big banks and multinational corporations before the interests of everyday people, hardworking families, and the environment...The only way to counter the power of organized money is with the power of organized people."

I hope the movement continues to move in that direction. All that energy for change in one place is too good an opportunity to waste for self-righteousness and lack of foresight.