Sarah Jaffe wrote this interesting article in Truthout, “What Occupiers Learned from Obama – And What He Should Learn From Them.”
Jaffe claims that many people who’ve participated in the Occupy movement got their first taste of political activism – and learned their organizing skills – in the 2008 Obama campaign. Many of them are now disillusioned with the president. Hopefully that doesn’t mean that they’ll stay home on election day in November. In fact, they need to understand that helping re-elect Obama – and getting more Democrats elected in Congress – is key to translating any of their ideas into real public policy. A Romney win would be a complete victory for the 1%. An Obama victory – along with wins for progressive Democrats in Congress – would make it possible (though not inevitable) for a wider and wiser progressive movement to put key aspects of their demands on the national agenda.
One of those goals is to eliminate private money from American politics and substitute public funding. The nonprofit group Public Campaign has been leading that good fight for years. It is part of the broader crusade for more democracy, fairness and equality, the broad goals of the Occupy movement and its union, community, and faith-based allies – to take the country back from the billionaires, big corporations, and their political allies who do their bidding.