Proud of you Occupy Wall Street!!!

Since my being back in the US for nearly two years, many of the dominating political debates in the public sphere have been stagnant, myopic and embittered. The narrowness of the mainstream US positions have been frustrating to observe. While small pockets of hopeful change agency spring up and do make positive progess to strengthen community and society, the mainstream meta narrative is one of political gridlock and narrow arguments oblivious to the structural foundations that have allowed such economic disparity and widespread discontent. The Occupy Wall Street movement has been the first stretching sign of hope I've witnessed since being home. Occupy Wall Street, I am proud of you!!! Let's capture this space and time to solidify these sentiments into a concrete movement for change. We must not let up until we face these structural economic issues of our times head on.



For these reasons I've sent the following message it to my senators, representatives and local newspapers, if you feel the same I recommend you do so too! :)



---

In the spirit of Tahrir, Benghazi, and our own Selma-to-Montgomery

marches, the Occupy Wall Street non-violent people's movement is giving

voice to millions of Americans who are fed up with economic 'freedom'

trumping human rights and political partisan gridlock that doesn't hear

our concerns or reflect our values.



Let us listen to this universal conversation about our societal

priorities. It's more than just jobs, budgets, wars, and congressional

and private sector accountability. It's about where we place our

values and how the outcomes of these decisions affect our society and

our world.



We as a nation make choices between providing $47 billion in energy

grants to help low-income families afford heat or giving away $44

billion in subsidies for oil and gas companies. It was also a choice

to spend $445 billion on the Afghanistan war instead of productively

investing in education, clean energy, jobs programs, feeding the

hungry, and building community and peace in our country and world.



The ever-widening gap between the top 1 percent -- who control more

wealth than the bottom 99 percent -- and the rest of us is a recipe for

disastrous social instability and unrest.



The lack of regulation in favor of economic 'freedom' has dastardly

worn away at the protective fabric of the public sphere, domestically

and internationally. Our political representatives bathe in the

donations of wealthy interest groups focusing on reelection rather than

representation.



It is morally apprehensible that in the richest country in the world,

we do not ensure each citizen has adequate food, shelter, equal access

to quality education and economic opportunities. We need to make some

hard choices about the type of society we want. Let us listen to the

cry of these voices, our voices, and choose to rebuild our society in

favor of the common good.



Sincerely,

Ms. Ruth Harbaugh