By Steve Holloway (New York) Out of curiosity, I watched Rachel Maddow last night as she and her cohorts chatted away about the Iowa caucus and what it meant for the Republicans, the Democrats and the country.

But in the end, it was all business as usual. Here’s what none of them said, and never will:

“Nothing will ever really change in our country until private money is removed from elections.”

Why don’t we hear these words spoken on any television or radio show? Because all of the big money raised by candidates goes straight to the television and radio networks and newspapers. Take money out of the elections, and the corporate media will lose billions upon billions from their bottom line. That’s why you’ve never even heard the idea mentioned anywhere except online, and on the streets.

It doesn’t matter which candidate or party raises the most money, makes the biggest promises or manages to get elected. As long as money buys influence and power, ordinary citizens will never have any real voice in public policy.

And CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, Clear Channel, The New York Times, The Washington Post  and the other big media players – will continue to win all of the elections, all of the time. The media has become the new arms dealers, creating controversies, hosting debates, picking sides and picking fights. In every election cycle, they sell the weapons of advertising to campaigns and super-PACs, let them attack each other, then laugh all the way to the bank. (That bank may be insolvent, by the way, but no worries, it’s too big to fail, and the chief officers and board of directors are laughing, too.)

Yes, I drank the Obama Kool-Aid. I really believed that once Barack and the Democrats kicked out the crooked Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld cabal, the skies would open up and light would chase the darkness away. Three years later, the same people who pushed our world and our economy off the cliff are alive and well and richer than ever. Unscathed, they are now planning the next war/financial instrument/trading platform/loan scheme destined to make themselves even richer, and the rest of us poorer.

I don’t dislike our current president as I did our last one, but I’m certainly disappointed and disillusioned. And watching the hilarious Republican debates, the caucus in Iowa, and imagining what’s coming up in New Hampshire and beyond, I’m puzzled that anyone, on any side of the “political spectrum” believes any of these knuckleheads or either of these parties will swoop into Washington and save the day. They won’t. They can’t. Most of these politicians are controlled and paid for by the unseen, unelected, and unaccountable creators of this mess. Whoever gets elected will only make the mess bigger if we don’t hold them to their promises.

That’s why Occupy Wall Street has already been effective. Groups of motivated people, young and old, gathered in political centers around the globe and DIDN’T LEAVE. They started pointing to the real causes of our problems, which are not simple right/left, liberal/conservative issues, but top/down inequality and financial corruption. Politicians may have the ability to enact positive changes for humanity, but they have no real motivation to do so. Instead, they’re motivated to pay their big donors back with big favors, and make new deals with the powers-that-be to get re-elected.

Mitt Romney, the runaway winner of last night’s Iowa caucus by 8 votes, is campaigning against Republican-created ideas such as cap and trade, mandated health coverage and The Dream Act, trying to pass them off as nutty liberal ideas. His co-winner, Rick Santorum, the famed opponent of gay rights, has now set his sights on the heterosexual community, claiming that states should have the right to ban birth control. Should states also have the right to ban religion? to ban Prozac and Lipitor?  How about ice cream? Aren’t we all living in the same country?

Thirty years ago, a young English poet named Sting wrote the words, “There is no political solution to our troubled evolution.”

Some people have criticized Occupy Wall Street protesters for sitting around and playing drums all day. (As a professional drummer, I could take some offense at that – there’s nothing wrong with playing drums all day, especially for a worthy cause.) Other folks are now gathering around their favorite candidates and raising money to get them elected or re-elected. Nothing wrong with that, either. In both cases, those involved feel they are making a difference in the world.

Personally, I’d rather support the thousands of regular people who are drawing attention to how badly the system has been rigged against us, than donate to these these rich, plastic, power-hungry presidential wannabes who make big speeches about their vision of America, but don’t really give a damn about anyone but the super-rich.

It’s important for all of us to participate, talk to each other, and sometimes show up and be counted, so that politicians and the big money behind them know we’re watching them.

http://youtu.be/-b9Bj72qzjg

(New York) Several members of New York Musicians Local 802 marched in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and thousands of other New Yorkers Thursday, November 17th, as part of a National Day of Action. Over 30,000 people from all walks of life let their voices be heard, and let it be known that clearing the campers out of Zuccotti Park was not the end of the movement, but a new beginning.

Friday morning New York mayor Michael Bloomberg dismissed the large crowd, saying it “didn’t really represent Occupy Wall Street.” Considering that Occupy Wall Street represents 99.99% of the population, the comment is absurd. The mayor said the protest “was just an opportunity for a bunch of unions to complain or to protest, or whatever they want to do.”

As a union musician, I find this comment highly offensive, as well as way off the mark.

Bloomberg has proven again that he doesn’t have a clue what Occupy Wall Street is about. Perhaps he’s still hoping that Tuesday morning’s raid of Zuccotti Park would end the matter. It’s a safe bet to say he’s sadly mistaken.

His insults didn’t stop there. Bloomberg criticized organized labor for protesting against wealthy individuals whose tax dollars support the city’s economy.

What is so hard to understand? We, the people, the marchers, the citizens of the United States, regardless of union affiliation, are not against wealthy individuals. Yes, we’re protesting that most of those wealthy individuals are paying far less of a percentage of their income in taxes than the rest of us. Giant corporations have so many tax loopholes that many have been shown to pay NO income tax whatsoever.

The wealthiest 1% have almost all the money and power now. Most of our budgetary problems have been caused by the reduced tax rates of the past 10 years, and most of them could be solved by simply letting those tax cuts for the wealthy expire.

No one questions that successful businesses are crucial to our economy. But we’re not only protesting unfair tax policy. Some (not all) of these wonderful wealthy individuals Bloomberg defends are downright corrupt, and have stacked the deck in their favor, hired lobbyists to change the laws to benefit themselves, paid off politicians, and accepted huge tax-payer bailouts while rewarding themselves with billions worth of bonuses and outrageous salaries.

Maybe when you’re a billionaire, you’re simply incapable of understanding what it’s like to not have billions of dollars. That seems evident in the continued actions of big banks and brokerage firms like Goldman Sachs. But if the mayor of New York is so disconnected from the 8 million people who live with the consequences of his decisions, perhaps it’s time for the him to step down.

While this was all going on, I was in Las Vegas, a place I call a second home, for a quick business trip. I made it a point to visit Occupy Las Vegas, which seems to have survived the (futile) national effort to squash the movement.

To it’s credit, OLV has had regular meetings with police and local authorities, and has been very successful in keeping the camp site safe and orderly. It’s located in an empty lot near UNLV and McCarran Airport, and seems to be accepted by government and citizens.

As I walked into the camp comprised of about 30 tents, I spotted an area of tables and chairs which seems to be the office, general assembly and kitchen. A man named Ish was finishing off a breakfast of biscuits and Vienna Sausages.

Ish explained to me that while there was some disagreement between occupiers (a splinter group has broken away, although without any real animosity) the current focus of OLV is centered on a gas station about a mile from the main Occupy site. The owner of University Sinclair, Katja Crosby, has been in business for about 25 years and has recently come upon hard times – quite a common story everywhere, but especially in Las Vegas, one of the hardest hit cities in the burst of the real estate bubble.

Crosby has tried to get the Bank of Nevada to change the terms of her loan so she can stay in business and continue to pay her employees. So far, the bank has refused, and is threatening foreclosure. It’s a typical, obvious case of big banks happily accepting big bail outs from taxpayers, but refusing to show any mercy or compassion on those same people when they need help saving their homes and business.

Since the Occupy movement is really about raising public awareness of the gross inequality that has been allowed to develop in our country over the past several years, this tactic seems to be working. Armed deputies from the  constable’s office entered the station Saturday and demanded all the money in the register (about $3500), an event that would have likely been ignored by the local news. But the immediate presence of tents and signs has made people very aware of what’s going on, and has given the station considerable press coverage.

How the battles of local businesses, homeowners, and even the entire Occupy movement play out remains to be seen. But it is clear that the primary purpose of OWS – raising awareness – is already working, and promises to grow far larger in the weeks and months ahead.

Nov. 15:  How silent and sterile Zuccotti Park seemed this morning, after the Occupiers had been forced out during the night.  Instead of the hectic, productive village of tents and tables and teeming activity, there were only cold steel barricades and several dozen police standing randomly around the square, doing nothing but preventing anyone else from doing anything.  It wasn’t really silent, of course, because there were many supporters crowded around the perimeter, chanting intermittently and waiting for something to happen.  But that wonderful energy that has characterized the park for the past two months, the vibrancy and palpable hope that made each visit there resonate long afterwards, had gone missing.

It will be back; there is no doubt about that.  It may change its shape or form, but energy like that, once ignited, can’t be snuffed out like a candle.  But the contrast between the two states of the same plaza, the fecund messiness of creative problem-solving vs. the sterile void of inactivity, inspires a new image of the proper use of public spaces.  We don’t need a tent city in every park and plaza to have an energized, productive conversation about where the country is headed and what we should be doing about it, but we should be gathering and talking and sharing ideas whenever and wherever possible.  The great course corrections of nations – from the Arab Spring to the largely peaceful revolutions of 1989 and countless other examples – began in public spaces, where people came together and argued and inspired each other and changed things.

Our neighborhood parks and plazas in NYC too seldom see use for anything but drinking latte or taking a shortcut across town.  Now that the great national conversation has been given a vigorous shot in the arm, thanks to strangers coming together in a public space, maybe we can make it a habit, whether or not we have a sleeping bag with us.

- Pat Hackbarth

There is already a huge, national call to action scheduled for this Thursday, November 17th. We can only hope that the outrage will be unprecedented, and that overwhelming numbers will hit the streets and tell the powers that be: “This aggression will NOT stand, man.”

–Steve Holloway

George Carlin died in 2008, but he will likely remain for generations in the upper echelon of all-time great comedians. One of his trademark techniques was pointing out things about our daily existence that we never really gave much thought, but once exposed, made us all laugh at ourselves. His insight into religion, society and politics was extraordinarily astute as well as hilarious. Of course, his routines were typically filled with shocking language and crudities that, to his fans, was part of his charm.

In one particular rant from his 2005 HBO special, “Life is Worth Losing” Carlin brilliantly summed up the small group of powerful businessmen and politicians that have come to be known as “The 1%”. Yes, George was 6 years ahead of Occupy Wall Street.

Here are some excerpts from that routine, with the profanity removed, to not distract from his message. If you love Carlin’s style and haven’t seen this, it’s worth a YouTube search to watch it.

“It’s A Big Club, And You Ain’t In It!” – by George Carlin

The REAL owners of this country are the really wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions.

Forget the politicians. Politicians are put there to give you the idea you have freedom of choice. You don’t.  You have no choice. You have owners. They OWN you. They own everything. They own all the important land, they own and control the corporations, they’ve long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State Houses, the City Halls, they’ve got judges in their back pockets, and they own all the big media companies so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear.

They spend millions of dollars every year lobbying to get what they want. We know what they want, they want more for themselves and less for every body else. But I’ll tell you what they don’t want. They don’t want a population of well informed, well-educated citizens capable of critical thinking. That doesn’t help them, that’s against their interest. They don’t want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they’re getting abused by a system that threw them overboard 30 years ago.

They don’t want that. They want obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly awful jobs with the lower pay,  the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears as soon as you go to collect it. And now, they’re coming for your Social Security money, they want your retirement money. They want it so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They’ll get it – they’ll get it all from you sooner or later, because they own this place.

It’s a big club – and you ain’t in it! You and I are not in the big club. The game is rigged.

Good, honest, hard working people, blue collar, white collar, it doesn’t  matter what color shirt you have on, people of modest means, continue to elect rich people who don’t care about them. They don’t care about you. They don’t care about you at all.

The owners of this country know the truth: It’s the American dream, because you’ve got to be asleep to believe it.

I like to think that George Carlin would be happy to know that, as unlikely as it seemed 5 years ago, the citizens of these United States are waking up, becoming very well informed, and are starting to think very critically about the Plutocracy we call Wall Street and government. And though he’s no longer with us, I still want to make him proud.

- Steve Holloway

Sometimes the best way to lose an argument is to propose good questions and then offer really terrible answers.  Take the discussion on the Millionaires’ Tax, for instance, a subject of many a poster at Zuccotti Park and other OWS sites.  The question is, why should millionaires pay taxes at a higher rate than other taxpayers?  The answer most often given, even by the politicians who support the idea, is:  “Because they can!”  What kind of an answer is that?

Just being able to do something – like climb into a polar bear’s cage or set your hair on fire – isn’t enough to make it a good idea.  And we’ll never persuade the wealthy or their henchmen in Congress with that argument.  The real problem is, we seem to be accepting the idea that the bill they’ve run up at the store isn’t actually any bigger than ours, it’s just easier for them to pay it.  But is this really true?

If the USA were a membership organization, where every member got the same perks – protection from attack, mail delivery, the right to use the highways and the courts, etc. – it might make a certain amount of sense to come as close as feasible to collecting the same taxes from everyone.  But it isn’t, they don’t, and it doesn’t.  Let’s consider just one element of the federal budget:  the military, which accounts for nearly a quarter of our annual spending.  In 2010 military spending represented some 872 billion dollars.  With a U.S. labor force of approximately 155 million people, that leaves the average taxpayer contributing roughly $5600 per year to support the military.

And what are we getting for this sizable contribution?  Among other things, some very costly actions abroad that have little to do with protecting American citizens from foreign attack, and much to do with protecting resources and markets for corporations that have shipped much of their production (read jobs) overseas and do much of their selling there.  Most of us benefit very little, if at all, from a large portion of what our military is doing overseas.  But we’re paying in spades for it.

The media, and the people who have their ear, are fond of saying we’re fighting to protect the American way of life.  In fact, those we have violent disputes with don’t care two figs what we do within our own borders; they only care what we do within theirs.  But in a perverse way, there is some truth to the claim:  Our way of life apparently involves massive resource extraction and domination of global markets.  But that doesn’t benefit most of us.  It benefits mega-corporations and that “one percent” we’ve been hearing so much about lately.  Representing our military activity as a response to an attack on our way of life is supposed to persuade the American public that we all have an equal stake in it.  It seems to be working pretty well, too – and will continue to until we start to notice what’s really going on.

It would be an interesting exercise to go through the rest of the budget and identify the other costly expenditures that benefit the wealthy far more than they do the rest of us.  Then maybe we could begin to have a productive conversation about who should be paying what.

(New York) Friday afternoon, a small group of musicians met again at the epicenter of Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park. It’s a dynamic, always changing sea of people, signs, tarps, policemen, spectators and news vans. And its vibrancy has grown even stronger in recent days, perhaps as the full-time protesters and organizers gird themselves for winter. When asked how people can help, volunteers at the food table requested cans of protein, such as tuna and beans, so the occupants can stay healthy.

Every time I’ve visited “Liberty Plaza” and witnessed this remarkable camp of enlightened humanity, I feel it is the heartbeat of America. For New Yorkers it may seem like a local phenomenon, but Occupy Wall Street is so much more than what’s going on downtown. A few critics continue to misunderstand and misread the movement, as Herman Cain did again yesterday, claiming that “nobody knows what their cause is. They should go home, get a job and get a life.”

Politicians who criticize the mood of America today do so at their own peril. The protesters know exactly what their cause is. And Occupy Wall Street is not a small group of kids camping out in a square in Manhattan. OWS is also the millions of Americans who would love to go home and get a job and a life, but they’ve lost their jobs to factories in China, Indonesia and India. They’ve lost their homes and their savings to predatory lenders and robo-forclosures by our country’s biggest banks. And they used to “have a life”, but are now uncertain and uneasy about their future.

Contrast this to that tiny, elite group of rich and powerful men in top positions in government and in corporate cartels. They’ve brought the global economy to the brink of collapse, but still have somehow made out like bandits. Have any of them lost their jobs? Their homes? Their health insurance? Do they even know anyone who is struggling? Not likely. But the other 99% of us are all too aware of what the robber barons of government and finance have done to our country.

Recent polls have shown that approximately 45% of Americans agree with the views of the movement. Even more remarkable, Fox News Channel, which has repeatedly bashed and mocked the protesters, did a poll that showed that 69% of Fox viewers said “Yes, these folks are right about corporate greed and what’s happening to the little guy.” Wow.

And now, more and more people are paying closer attention, and reading news stories that are not just corporate media editorials (remember, all the major news organizations have billions of dollars at stake in maintaining the status quo.) At this rate, soon the only opponents to Occupy Wall Street will be the self-serving multi-millionaires and megalomaniacs that are firmly imbedded in Washington and Wall Street.

So if you’re in New York City, you really should take a walk through Liberty Plaza and see and feel the energy for yourself. Bring a can of beans or tuna fish. But you don’t have to be near Wall Street to be part of this movement. In truth, we’re all part of it. So keep reading, thinking, and talking to your family and friends about how our cities, country, and our world can be such a better place when we all stand up and say “Enough! “