Letter: Willis Miller on the Occupy Movement

Dear Editor, 

Watching the Occupy Movement rock the American Corporate Boat over these past weeks has been an absolute joy and yet for a political enthusiast such as my self, it feels very similar to a kick in the gut.

The images of bright young minds smoking hookah in the streets and sleeping out under the bright beautiful smog choked skies of New York to protest the very system that is in many ways responsible for the fiscal comfort and luxury we have all enjoyed for decades is a bright puke brown on the canvas of my aspirations for my homeland.

Now before I run the risk of putting off such an impassioned and empowered assemblage as the occupiers of the recent movements with an admitted unnecessary amount of sarcasm, let me say that yes, Occupy Wall Street is worth supporting, to quote your lifestyles editor, but frankly, where has it been for the past 10 years? Does it really take an economic disaster that threatens to cripple our country to pull us off our couches and start paying attention to businesses increasing influence on our own political system?

While the sluggish response of our nation’s masses is alarming, what really knocked the wind out of me is that after we lowly working class peons finally found our voices in the face of such glaring inequality in our social structure and an almost institutionalized monopoly on class advantage and congressional ear-time, it is still unclear to the vast majority of our fellow citizens what the point of such demonstrations is.

Simply because no demands are formally stated by some desk jockey in a party headquarters, we understand where a mob of sign carrying protestors is coming from. How can we hope to improve our own stations without the gut instinct that couples itself with taking a worthy cause to the streets and the critical thinking to understand why and how it’s happening?

For our government to work, it requires an educated and active populous, and no, having heard about the 9-9 plan on the O’Reilly Factor does not make you a well informed citizen.

This is possibly the most worrisome part of the Occupy movements; it gives us the superficial sense of security that we are affecting the change that can only come by really working at and participating in our government.

Trust me, we’ll all benefit from it.

— Willis Miller,
senior of Deer Trail, Colo.