Occupy Wall Street and the Democrats

The following letter is an edited version of one published in the Kalamazoo Gazette Nov. 29, written by John Fraser.

The huge income disparities the Occupy Wall Street protesters so eloquently oppose did not come about by accident; they are the result of a deliberate political agenda. It has been the stated belief of the Republican Party since Ronald Reagan that the way to improve society is to reward the wealthy, the big corporations and the banking industry on the assumption that the benefits will eventually trickle down to the rest of us. The first part of the policy made the rich considerably richer but the trickle down part left the rest of us in the dust. There is another way. Yes, the Democratic Party has fallen far from its history of support for social justice, from the party of Roosevelt and Johnson and Carter. Elected Democrats have often proved to be timid, lacking in leadership and unprincipled. But the Democratic Party still represents the only alternative to the real class warfare which has been practiced by the Republicans for the last two generations.

If we want to let off steam we can occupy Wall Street. If it's actual change we want we have to pay our dues, hold our noses and engage in politics. And we have to get involved at the local level, not just with the charismatic figures at the top of the ticket. If we continue to reject politics as unsavory and ineffectual we leave the field open for those who have shown no hesitation in exploiting our democratic institutions for their own ends and at the expense of the community as a whole.

This article appears in the January 2012 newsletter.