Occupy the Food System

[nachoqtpie]

Here is my 2 cents... for what it's worth

I believe that until we take big business money out of congress, nothing will ever change. Our politicians are bought, not elected. If we all banned together to take out Monsanto, there would be NOTHING that we could do unless Congress passes a law against them. Will that ever happen? No! As long as Monsanto lines the pockets of the people making the laws, there will never be any laws against them. The politicians are too worried about "losing" money (that they never should have been getting in the first place) to pass a law against the company that is fleecing their paychecks! It's not just Monsanto either! There are TONS of companies doing it! BP, Shell, Philip Morris, Ford, Bank of America, etc etc etc... Until we take business out of our government, we will never truly have an America ruled "by the the people."

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Don't you think that it is the fed gov't and the corruption there that cuase most of the greif we are feeling. Are they not the ones who put their hand on the bible and swear an oath to the constitution and the people. Are they not the ones who pass these laws that further fleece the middle class. The occupiers are occupying the wrong space.

Our government is a structure that took hundreds of years to set in place. It is by any other description, it is a delivery system, and it is like a tool. It is like a hammer. It can be used for good, or it can be used to destroy. The major corporations are now in charge of my government. Their money buys my elected officials and their votes. I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE DOWN MY GOVERNMENT.

However, I do want to make the people running my government responsible for what they are supposed to do on my behalf.

My taxes should be taking care of me, and my fellow Americans and not into the pockets of WALL STREET, and not going into a war machine that kills people thousands of miles away for access to their resources like oil to enrich these corporations. I want my government to bring our jobs home again so that we can an economy that works for everyone. I want the rich to pay their fair share of taxes. The middle-class if one still exists, cannot shoulder all of this burden.

You cannot keep cutting the safety net, you cannot keep cutting taxes. There is nothing coming in, there is no revenue. This course of action is making for an insecure country.

The American people have been so dumbed down they do not know from where their common good comes from. It comes from the bottom up, not the top down. WE are the government. The Constitution says WE THE PEOPLE.why have we forgotten that?

 

[OldGuy43]

Thoughts on the subject of voting by an old man:

1. If you don't like the way things are going, do not put the same person back in office and expect change.
2. If you are not willing to educate yourself on the issues don't vote at all. It just encourages them.
3. When in doubt never vote for the incumbent. My theory is that we should always fire all of these bums and hire a bunch of new bums.

Sorry, only finished one cup of coffee, so I'm not real sharp yet.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Thoughts on the subject of voting by an old man:

1. If you don't like the way things are going, do not put the same person back in office and expect change.
2. If you are not willing to educate yourself on the issues don't vote at all. It just encourages them.
3. When in doubt never vote for the incumbent. My theory is that we should always fire all of these bums and hire a bunch of new bums.

Sorry, only finished one cup of coffee, so I'm not real sharp yet.

Love it!

Also protect your voting place. There is almost no evidence of 'voter' fraud. However, there is a great deal of evidence of "election fraud". No one needs to pass means tests before they can vote. Demand paper ballots in your area.

 

[Ridgerunner]

My opinion. We need big business. We cannot compete globally without big business. The world is round, much as some people hate to admit it. I do not have a problem with big business. I think tearing down and destroying big business would not only be extremely counter productive, but that this is mainly a red herring thrown out to distract many people.

I don't agree with throwing everyone in political office out and putting nothing but unexperienced rookies in. Running our government is like running a multi-billion dollar business and a lot of that business is providing services, not making a profit. No business is going to turn its management over to totally unexperienced people that have no idea how things work. Politics is a profession. It requires certain skills and talents. To do it well, you need to have experience, just like other careers. Successful big businesses change out ineffective managers all the time. I fully agree that we need to get rid of certain politicians on the national, state, and local level. Many of you would probably be surprised at which ones I personally would like to keep and which ones I'd like to see gone.

One thing I don't like is that instead of working to insure that it is possible for people to get rich and join the already wealthy ones, or at least improve their monetary status in life, certain members in power are working to protect the wealth of the the ones that have already made it, not help others join them. I think that is wrong.

I agree that certain programs need to change. They are there for a reason, and you need to understand what that original reason was, but I look at it from a point forward viewpoint. From this day forward, what do we want these programs to accomplish? A couple of examples. Unemployment. It was intended to help stabilize a family while someone looked for a new job. Now, it is often used as income. My nephew did not start looking for a job until his unemployment benefits ran out. Why? The jobs available were paying $8 per hour. Unemployment was paying $11. Maybe change unemployment benefits to $7.50?

Social security. Maybe it is time to means test. Instead of everyone getting it or getting the same amount, change it to where it keeps people from eating out of garbage cans, not help support a country club lifestyle? I'm fully aware that people will work the system; spend down, put money into trusts, give money or property to kids now instead of waiting, things to maximize their take. I don't know how you can word a law to prevent that. But at least make an effort.

Some "welfare" programs. This gets real complicated because there are so many different programs, but again try to change it to keep people from digging through garbage cans for food but make employment more attractive than living off the government. I don't want kids starving, but try to stop people from living off of it as a way of life by making it less attractive. But still keep it as a safety net for those that really need it. I think you need some really good lawyers and people that understand how government works to word these laws. Someone trying to do this that does not have the right experience and expertise will make it much worse, not better.

Foreign aid. Some politicians make you believe we are just giving money away as foreign aid. Most of these are smart enough to know better. They are either blatantly lying to you or don't understand what makes the world go around. There is some humanitarian foreign aid, but practically all of it is being used to buy something. It may be for national security reasons, like access to fly over to support our troops, access to markets for our businesses to sell goods, access to raw materials our businesses need. A lot of this translates to jobs for Americans. Blindly cutting all foreign aid would really hurt our citizens. I think it is very important to look at the different foreign aid and see if we are getting our money's worth, but as long as people are stirring up the masses with the lie that all foreign aid is just money being given away, you can't even have a rational discussion about it.

I respect people active in the Tea Party and the Organize movements for getting out there and trying to make a difference. I don't totally agree with either movement, but I am glad they are both there.

I could go on, but I probably have enough people mad at me already. Hopefully I've attacked enough sacred cows on both sides that everybody is equally mad at me. Have a nice day!

Editted for spelling.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16037798

And here is something to think about...speaking about corruption. The rest of the world is watching this country to see which way the wind is blowing. This is a little item form the BBC News. ( Britsh Broadcasting Company.)

 

[Ladyhawke1]

My opinion. We need big business. We cannot compete globally without big business. The world is round, much as some people hate to admit it. I do not have a problem with big business. I think tearing down and destroying big business would not only be extremely counter productive, but that this is mainly a red herring thrown out to distract many people.

I don't agree with throwing everyone in political office out and putting nothing but unexperienced rookies in. Running our government is like running a multi-billion dollar business and a lot of that business is providing services, not making a profit. No business is going to turn its management over to totally unexperienced people that have no idea how things work. Politics is a profession. It requires certain skills and talents. To do it well, you need to have experience, just like other careers. Successful big businesses change out ineffective managers all the time. I fully agree that we need to get rid of certain politicians on the national, state, and local level. Many of you would probably be surprised at which ones I personally would like to keep and which ones I'd like to see gone.

One thing I don't like is that instead of working to insure that it is possible for people to get rich and join the already wealthy ones, or at least improve their monetary status in life, certain members in power are working to protect the wealth of the the ones that have already made it, not help others join them. I think that is wrong.

I agree that certain programs need to change. They are there for a reason, and you need to understand what that original reason was, but I look at it from a point forward viewpoint. From this day forward, what do we want these programs to accomplish? A couple of examples. Unemployment. It was intended to help stabilize a family while someone looked for a new job. Now, it is often used as income. My nephew did not start looking for a job until his unemployment benefits ran out. Why? The jobs available were paying $8 per hour. Unemployment was paying $11. Maybe change unemployment benefits to $7.50?

Social security. Maybe it is time to means test. Instead of everyone getting it or getting the same amount, change it to where it keeps people from eating out of garbage cans, not help support a country club lifestyle? I'm fully aware that people will work the system; spend down, put money into trusts, give money or property to kids now instead of waiting, things to maximize their take. I don't know how you can word a law to prevent that. But at least make an effort.

Some "welfare" programs. This gets real complicated because there are so many different programs, but again try to change it to keep people from digging through garbage cans for food but make employment more attractive than living off the government. I don't want kids starving, but try to stop people from living off of it as a way of life by making it less attractive. But still keep it as a safety net for those that really need it. I think you need some really good lawyers and people that understand how government works to word these laws. Someone trying to do this that does not have the right experience and expertise will make it much worse, not better.

Foreign aid. Some politicians make you believe we are just giving money away as foreign aid. Most of these are smart enough to know better. They are either blatantly lying to you or don't understand what makes the world go around. There is some humanitarian foreign aid, but practically all of it is being used to buy something. It may be for national security reasons, like access to fly over to support our troops, access to markets for our businesses to sell goods, access to raw materials our businesses need. A lot of this translates to jobs for Americans. Blindly cutting all foreign aid would really hurt our citizens. I think it is very important to look at the different foreign aid and see if we are getting our money's worth, but as long as people are stirring up the masses with the lie that all foreign aid is just money being given away, you can't even have a rational discussion about it.

I respect people active in the Tea Party and the Organize movements for getting out there and trying to make a difference. I don't totally agree with either movement, but I am glad they are both there.

I could go on, but I probably have enough people mad at me already. Hopefully I've attacked enough sacred cows on both sides that everybody is equally mad at me. Have a nice day!

Editted for spelling.

I can see that you have thought a great deal about this, and you have explained it very rationally. However, one of privatizations main goals is to provide profits to its shareholders. No one is calling for the destruction of ALL big business. Corporations are not people. Moreover, if you do not do another thing...you need to learn what this statement means and why is there a bill going through Congress calling out for a Constitutional amendment to end this travesty.

As for our social programs, as a very rich businessman in Germany said, who pays around 60% taxes, he said I had rather be a rich man living in this country and paying the taxes that he does, than be a rich man living in a poor country. Why is it in the other 139 industrialized countries, they have less crime, better healthcare and educational systems and more? Here we are rationed, here it is by the ability to pay that determines how one survives. How many oldsters do you know who can work until their seventies?

We are not all born alike and some are lucky and some no matter how hard they work.are never going to be able to beat the system. WE have been taught so long that it is every man for himself and we have learned to fight each other over the tiniest piece of the pie..we do not realize that we are all in this together.

Having gone to many OWS meetings and also hearing the same sentiments over and over from others .people are concerned about their communities as a whole, and they want to share resources and help each other. We are supposed to live in a civilized world, and I for one, with the help of others, I am going to try to keep it that way and improve all of our chances for survival.

 

[OldGuy43]

Do you recognize these guys? They had no "experience" at running a country or a big corporation.

Elbridge Gerry. Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery, Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott, William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross, Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas M'Kean, Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carrol, George Wythe, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton, William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Thomas Lynch, Arthur Middleton, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton, John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman, Rufus King, Nathaniel Gorham, Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, Alexander Hamilton, William Livingston, David Brearley, William Paterson, Jonathan Dayton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzsimons, Jared Ingersoll, Gouverneur Morris, James Wilson, George Read, Gunning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jacob Broom, James McHenry, Daniel Carroll, Dan Jenifer, John Blair, James Madison, Jr., George Washington, William Blount, Richard Dobbs Spaight, Hugh Williamson, John Rutledge, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler, William Few, Abraham Baldwin

That's right. They are the signers of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of The United States of America. I think they did pretty well for a bunch of rookies. They were merchants, farmers, lawyers and one minister. Not one of them considered himself to be a politician. They were men of high ideals who wanted nothing more than to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity" and get back to their gardens and chickens. We need a government run by people like that, rookies with ideals, not jaded, out of touch, self-serving professional politicians.
Finished my second cup. Feelin' good! :weight

 

[lighthawk]

Whew!
I hope you copy and pasted that list!

In those days there were no "Politicians" only Statesmen.
There are still a few. Very few.

 

[Collector]

I agree with old guy, the constitution is a guide for law makers to follow. If they want to write and pass legislation, show in the constitution where it would be legal. For to long they have written laws and twisted the constitution to accept them. We all need to get back to constitutional govt, we have representatives and senators who have been in office for 20-30-40 years and more. How much more better off are we right now with all their experience than we were before they took office. No need to answer just look around.