OWS is not our ally – Part III

Posted on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 by Doug Marquardt

Part 3 in my ongoing series on why Dems need to acknowledge that the Occupy movement does not support Democrats and they intend to vote third-party to punish Dems, effectively electing Republicans. We need stop hoping that they will have a last-minute epiphany and vote with us in November and focus on getting-out-the-vote efforts for our true supporters.

More quotes from actual OWS groups …

Occupy Dallas – May 15, 2012:

The Occupy movement scored its biggest slap at the Obama administration over the weekend when U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk was punk’d MTV-Ashton Kutcher style at the Dallas meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.

Occupy Des Moines – Dec. 17, 2011:

What we are doing here is trying to win back our bought-and-sold political empire. We need to dismantle it because there is no difference between George Bush and Obama.

Occupy Phoenix Comment – Dec. 15, 2011:

Republicans and and Democrats are identical at the core placating their bases with differing social issues.

From an independent, pro-Occupy blogger – Dec. 2, 2011:

If labor plans on building a strong movement with Occupy, ­ and they had better, ­ then these suicidal pro-Democratic Party policies must end. Labor cannot earn credibility within the Occupy Movement and then completely change course to campaign for Obama, in effect throwing all credibility in the garbage.

View the entire series, OWS Is Not Our Ally.

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  • http://www.definedontdefend.com Annie Walker-Leonard (@anne_tx)

    The unwillingness of OWS, as stated early on in the movement, to ‘allow a political party to high-jack the movement’, seems to be a bit egotistical. Anyone who has been involved in activism knows that in order to be effective, the group must pool their voting strength. Changes happens when people vote! But, if Occupy is not willing to mobilize to encourage and enlist voters, then what is the point? Where is their strength.

  • http://allthingsdemocrat.com Doug Marquardt

    Exactly! I quoted Occupy Los Angeles in Part II of this series (http://allthingsdemocrat.com/2012/06/07/ows-is-not-our-ally-part-ii/):

    Don’t waste any more time or energy on the presidential election than it takes to get to your polling station and pull a lever for a third-party candidate – just enough to register your obstruction and defiance – and then get back out onto the street. That is where the question of real power is being decided.

    What power is he talking about? Endless protesting? Getting mentioned on the nightly news or in a blog? If the goal is to get noticed, then mission accomplished. But if the goal is to change an unfair law, pass legislation to help someone in need, get the Republican Tea Party to stop obstructing attempts to change things for the better, then the movement is a miserable failure. They’ve only succeeded in strengthening the Republican Party, helping repukes surpass their fundraising goals by millions. They had a golden opportunity to align with nearly half the country, the Democrats, knowing the party shares their values and would work with them as a majority party in government. I think they’ve completely confused and turned-off many independents. And by telling Dems to fuck-off, they reduced their potential ranks from half of voters to about 9 percent of the electorate (everyone knew 99% was not even close to being realistic – http://allthingsdemocrat.com/2012/06/11/we-are-the-9-percent/).

    They’ve made unbelievable strategic blunders and it appears there’s no way back. They are beholden to the most militant members who insist on hating everyone and will never allow change. Unless they figure out how to work with others or branch-out into a group that can work with Dems and independents, the movement is doomed to be nothing more than another version of the right-wing militia groups that walk the woods in red states and talk of overthrowing the government.