Direct action plausable/possible?

"Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect. They know that basic human problems can have no final solutions, that our freedom, justice, equality, etc. are far from absolute, and that the good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes freedom, tolerance, and equity."

Eric Hoffer, The Temper of Our Time

This quote is one I have lived by most of my adult life. It implys that there is no broad stroking solution to our problems. And I agree with this. Especially after the arab spring. There was no organization, it was just a massive change in ideology not brought on by any one event.

But after reading an article about the decrease in support for the occupy movement, the writer started to persuade me that simple, direct assaults on the system might be our best bet. But is this feasible under current conditions?

Is there one goal that majority of the 99% can get behind? Like removing corporate money from elections? Seems like that is one thing alot of us can agree on. Could we get a good portion of the US to vow to not vote for any candidate who takes money from super PACs or corporations?
What are some other things that republicans, democrats, and independents can all agree on, that we can use our numbers as leverage and get some change?

Not.

The prevailing attitude in America is it ain't a problem until it's a problem, despite people saying that there is a problem and it's been existing for years and years and years.

But then where the is a problem, many people will run around saying "what the hell is happening! Why weren't we warned about this! What can we do to solve it RIGHT NOW!"

But you were warned. People have been warning you for years. You just dismissed it out of hand because it was inconvenient for you to change you ways.

That's why the 99% can't get behind any one solution, because of that kind of apathy.

The other thing that tends to muddy the waters a bit is the crap sayers. That is the people who make up a problem just to stir people up. There's an awful lot of those kinds of people in a free society, and it's hard to sort out those people from the genuine thing.

Those are the big problems of American society, and probably just about any other society in the free world.

reply to post by ubeenhad


Love the quote...

I am not sure what you mean by 'direct action'.

Simple measures that will STILL result in a leader class made up of rich, entitled people who are either unfamiliar with, or have forgotten the feel of, hard, physical work. If you allow prissy fools like that to lead your nation, then you are going to be left with the same mess, for the same damned reason.

My nation has a similar issue right now. All the candidates for leader ship here are hateful workshy cretins and buffoons at best, and thieving, scheming gutter mess at worst, and what is needed is a total replacement of the entire parliament with people who have done real work, lived on minimum wage for most of thier lives, and have been affected by the idiocies of the system to a degree. Only people of this ilk will have the faintest true idea of the body of work to be done, or indeed, how to bloody well get on and do it. Also, unlike the monied few, they will not accept delays or any other tactic of deflection.

A candidate who is from the majority (in my nation, despite what the Daily Mail would have you believe, thats WORKING CLASS folks, not middle class people) will have open ears to all his equals, not just those with wallets bigger than my house.

But if you are specifically speaking of direct action to REMOVE an entrenched and established government, with an enormous national security budget, the war and surviellance tech to find you, kill you, and bury you before you can fire your gun, wave your banner, or even ask the question "surely theres a better way" within a mile of an official, well then, bloody good luck.

All you can rely on to help you there, is the notion that some how an embattled political leader class will not order the mindless drones that they employ to protect them, to simply hose down any assault with minigun fire, FNP90's, assault shotguns, and indeed the ornamental contents of the White House lawn if ordered to do so. Or I suppose you could pray to whatever deity floats your boat that the people ordered to put down such protest or attack on the current status quo simply refuse on the grounds that the people giving them the orders are douchebags, but I would have thought relying on that is a good way of getting yourself air conditioned for free.