What Are Your Demands?

Today was my first public demonstration. I, like many others, have felt that my government has failed me. I am not too sure if it ever was succeeding for me in the first place. Sure, I have had an education given to me through high school and I live in a free country that gives me the ability to write what I am about to write, but I feel that the ability to grow and to become successful in our current environment is hard at best. That is why I believe in the Occupy Together movement and stand in solidarity with those around the country in Occupy demonstrations. This morning, I had to become a part of the solution as opposed to just complaining about the problems.

I walked up to the park in front of the Selby Library at 9:30am to find a group already assembled and we talked one at a time to each other about what we were so against. It was a group of about fifty or so and the people came from all facets of life. There was young, old, rich, and poor. We all came from different angles of the social spectrum, but we all had a common voice. That voice spoke out to the fact that there is something fundamentally wrong with America, we have little say right now in how things are being handled, and that we wanted to find a way to empower ourselves again. After we all greeted each other, we took to the streets with our signs and our voices.

And we marched. We took our voices up and down Main St. We parked our campaign in front of major banking institutions like Bank of America and Suntrust Bank. As we walked and chanted slogans like, "WHO GOT BAILED OUT? BANKS GOT BAILED OUT! WHO GOT SOLD OUT? WE GOT SOLD OUT!", people not involved with the protests looked on in the beautiful Florida sunshine. Others in cars and trucks that drove by put there windows down to hear what we were saying. Most of the people that went by gave us the thumbs up, or smiled, and others honked their horns as they drove by. And yes, a handful of people yelled back at us to get a job, or that they disagreed and that we should go home. All of these were acceptable answers to us because even if you were displeased with what we were saying, our message was getting out there to the masses and that message would stick in the minds of those that saw and heard it.

We made our way back to the park around 12:30pm and we gathered to chat to passerby's who had questions for us. A lot of the people that had questions about our movement had similar questions and seemed to have been misinformed by the media as to what we were doing out there. Someone that I was talking to made it seem like the only goal of our operation was that we were looking for some kind of handout from the rich. This is far from the truth.

I can tell you what I was there for, and what a lot of others there would agree with. The government is corrupted by corporations. The corporations run today by the 1% of our nation have a stranglehold on our entire country and all that inhabit it. My goal in my life is to see that corporations are no longer allowed to be viewed in this country as a person and should not be allowed to donate a single penny to any political campaign or party. Politicians in this country are bought figures who do only as the corporations say for them to do. This country is for the people, not for the business of the elite. Politicians are put into office to represent the people and to accurately judge what the majority of people in their district want so that their lives become better. It is not to institute zero regulations on major businesses and help them to create a monopoly over the lives of the American public. Maybe if we instituted campaign finance reform to eliminate businesses from being able to influence politicians, and also create term limits for Congress, we can start on a road to what the people need again.

I read earlier in the week that the average politician is worth half a million dollars. Half a million dollars. How on Earth can someone who is worth that kind of money, who spends all their time in Washington D.C. know what it is like to be poor? To have debt up to their ears from college loans, or unethical credit card companies? To have to drive to work and have a job, if they are lucky, which has paid them the same wage over the past 5 years or so, while in that time span the average income for those in the 1% has gone up over 200%? Politicians don't know what it's like, and they don't care. What they are worried about is staying in power and continuing to stay in power and doing whatever it takes and shake whatever hand is necessary in order to maintain the status quo. Politicians in office today are parasites and they feed off the poorest of Americans, which is turning out to be more and more everyday, the 99%. Me and you.

People asked us, "What do you want? What are you goals? How do you plan on fixing all this?" It is a hard question to answer as we are in such a stage of infancy of this movement that the conclusions are unclear. What I can tell you is that this movement is not going away. Eventually, a consensus as to what actions need to take place will be made, but for now, voicing our concerns and our unhappiness will have to do. This displeasure is popping up more and more everyday all across the country from major cities like New York City to smaller cities like here in Sarasota. The goals of the movement are simply to affect change and to bring about social reform where the rights of all people are taken into account based on our Constitution and not based on the boardroom of a company out for itself and it's top shareholders. We are hear right now to let it be known that this is not going to take place on our watch anymore and that something has to give. And we can do it. And we will do it. There are more of us than them and all corrupt empires fall. We represent all of those that are oppressed: unemployed, employed, black, white, red, brown, teachers, policemen, firemen, small business owners. Anyone who has felt the backhand of our government over the past few decades. It is time to wake up and we are ready to go.

I had an extremely educational day. I have learned that for the most part, the media has gotten this wrong. There is no savagery. There is no unsanitary conditions. This was a peaceful day that promoted a message that we are all Americans and that as Americans we need to look out for each other because if you really think that the ones that we elected have our best interests in mind then you need to look up the word naive in the dictionary.

Finally, I heard many great things on my walk around Sarasota today, but one of the best things that I heard was when someone I was protesting with was asked what his demands were. He replied, "I am not a terrorist. I have no demands."

We are seeking true freedom and a true democracy in a peaceful manner.