FROM THE AMERICAN DREAM MOVEMENT
On Thursday, over 70 members of the American Dream Movement, led by MoveOn.org, formed an unemployment line, waved signs to motorists passing by, and chanted outside of U.S. Representative Heath Shuler's Asheville office to demand that Washington make Wall Street and millionaires pay their fair share to create jobs, rather than make cuts that hit the middle class and poor. The event, called "Line Up for Jobs," was part of a national week of action organized in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and is part of an escalation of American Dream Movement events that have been taking place all summer.
For months, hundreds of thousands of members of the American Dream Movement have been urging Washington to focus on creating jobs and make the tax system work for all Americans, not just the super-rich. Yet there are still politicians in Washington who would rather force deep cuts to important programs that the middle class depends on just so they can give tax breaks to the rich—all the while doing nothing to create jobs.
“The politicians in Washington are completely out of touch with the struggles Americans are going through,” said Stephanie Hellert, a local MoveOn member. “It’s as if they didn’t know there was a jobs crisis happening in America. Instead of creating jobs, Washington has been focused on budget cuts and gutting vital programs the middle class depends on."
“We're sick of politicians in Washington putting the big banks and corporations before working families,” said Hellert. “We need an economy that works for all Americans, not just the richest one percent. Americans need jobs, not cuts, and we should pay for them by making millionaires and corporations pay their fair share in taxes just like the rest of us do."
The event in Asheville was organized by the new American Dream Movement. The American Dream Movement is a grassroots effort inspired by protests in Wisconsin and fueled by the brutal right-wing attacks on the middle class and the poor. The American Dream Movement is made up of millions of ordinary Americans, along with over 80 leading grassroots organizations, fighting together for good jobs for all Americans, securing a future for our children and our communities, and finally making corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share in taxes.
On Thursday, over 70 members of the American Dream Movement, led by MoveOn.org, formed an unemployment line, waved signs to motorists passing by, and chanted outside of U.S. Representative Heath Shuler's Asheville office to demand that Washington make Wall Street and millionaires pay their fair share to create jobs, rather than make cuts that hit the middle class and poor. The event, called "Line Up for Jobs," was part of a national week of action organized in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and is part of an escalation of American Dream Movement events that have been taking place all summer.
For months, hundreds of thousands of members of the American Dream Movement have been urging Washington to focus on creating jobs and make the tax system work for all Americans, not just the super-rich. Yet there are still politicians in Washington who would rather force deep cuts to important programs that the middle class depends on just so they can give tax breaks to the rich—all the while doing nothing to create jobs.
“The politicians in Washington are completely out of touch with the struggles Americans are going through,” said Stephanie Hellert, a local MoveOn member. “It’s as if they didn’t know there was a jobs crisis happening in America. Instead of creating jobs, Washington has been focused on budget cuts and gutting vital programs the middle class depends on."
“We're sick of politicians in Washington putting the big banks and corporations before working families,” said Hellert. “We need an economy that works for all Americans, not just the richest one percent. Americans need jobs, not cuts, and we should pay for them by making millionaires and corporations pay their fair share in taxes just like the rest of us do."
The event in Asheville was organized by the new American Dream Movement. The American Dream Movement is a grassroots effort inspired by protests in Wisconsin and fueled by the brutal right-wing attacks on the middle class and the poor. The American Dream Movement is made up of millions of ordinary Americans, along with over 80 leading grassroots organizations, fighting together for good jobs for all Americans, securing a future for our children and our communities, and finally making corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share in taxes.
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Sure enough, Cecil's campaign buried the phrase 'unemployment line' midway in their email notification of this event. I went to this event to be supportive...but I have a business. I am not in anyone's 'unemployment line', whether it be literal or figurative context. I want unemployed people to be seen a real people in need of real solutions. This event was not an event most unemployed people would have time or the resources to participate in.
What I was responding to was President Obama's 'line in the sand' regarding the American Jobs Act. Why didn't Move On break down what the AJA was about? The American Dream Movement is a fairly relevant Move On action. But for whatever reason this post leaves out the associated URL: http://rebuildthedream.com/ (the only way you can see what this is about is by going to this other link > http://contract.rebuildthedream.com/ ). That's where one discovers Move On's 'Contract for the American Dream'. This is a strategy that speaks to the unemployed, but is more of an economic reform plan. Addressing unemployemnt and adjusting the US Economic System to be more innovative in fundementlly positive and ethical ways for the 99% are adjancencies, but again... it wastes time to call a straegy as powerful as the 'Contract for the American Dream' an 'unemployment line'.
People who are looking for something like Move On's 'Contract for the American Dream' are happy to be exposed to the ten points directly. One-dimensional signs and chats just bury the strategy. It's a case of being 'too smart'. Move On took their cues from a web design shop or the progressive 'intelligentsia'. I'd like to see the American Progressive Movement gain control of the US Capitol in 2012. But they are unlikely to do so at this pace.
Fewer Americans will actually be exposed to Move On's 'Contract for the American Dream' the way they currently promote this vital, relatively straight forward strategy.
Don't be afraid Move On. Many Americans either understand or can look up the term 'strategy'.
Move On's 'Contract for the American Dream' is something a essentially agree with. It looks like a smart ten-point plan. Why even introduce this as an 'unemployment line'. Why make the 99% look like beggars. The unemployed need back up.
But why not just describe the event as citizens approaching Shuler for his input on the US Income Gap... or some other bigger concept? The news media reflecting on Shuler's response in a live interview to each of the ten 'Contract for the American Dream' points is meaningful. More protest signs and chanting is less so.
I regret being associated with a stunt the plays on the realities of unemployment 'lines'. Over 100,000 WNC residents live in poverty ($10 k: individual, $24 k: family of four). Most of the people yesterday were retirees. God forbid if they were looking for work.
I have zero trust in the Move On crowd generating either the necessary tactics or candidates to get us out of this mess. I think these goofy sound bytes are unbelievably stupid.
'Unemployment Line'. Actual unemployed folks should be enraged. It's like doing the Tea Party in reverse.
So what? Now I remember why I am happy to be on the outside of Move On, the Democratic Party, etc.
And believe me, the Tea Party (Republican Party) is stuff I imagine flushing down the toilet.
By Viking
10/14/2011
What a crock of crap..MoveOn.org
Should be "MoveOn-if-you-have-any-Brains.org".
Liberate, innovate...and gain.
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
By Brian
10/14/2011