Exponential – that’s what it is

There doesn’t seem to be any question whether the #Occupy movement is going to grow in the short term or attract attention.  It’s doing both, and if our experience is like other cities, suburbs, exburbs, towns, this is going to be a heck of a ride.

Which begs the question, “to where?”  Explaining the the movement to a reporter (hey, it’s been THREE WHOLE DAYS, am I an expert or something?), I described that this was an “open source” movement, meaning that each new participant brings with them her or his own experience, issues, and causes.   We write our own agendas; they are not given to us by a Norquist, Limbaugh, or Palin.  Nor (at least as far as I know) are any of us beholden to a billionaire or Texas megachurch.   But we do know that things are terribly wrong, corporations and billionaires get richer, median income is falling, institutions (health care, education) are crumbling, the world is getting warmer, wars don’t seem to end, and Washington has abandoned us.

The theme of the originators of Occupy Wall Street was, “What is our one demand?” – and declined to fill in the blank.  That will be up to us, I guess.    One of us has brought up the dinner party analogy – we’ve just arrived at the party, we are still meeting folks and shaking hands (where’s the bar?) .  Lots of work to do.  We have a healthy disttrust of “leaders”, so we have to do it ourselves.  Someday, there will be a national General Assembly like the one going on NYC, and that will really be something.

Walnut Creek, and you can include Concord, etc. is a perfect place to organize.  We got Tiffany’s (sure, I go there regularly), Nordstrom, and an Apple Store.  We got million dollar-plus mansions all over.  We also have tons of folks in apartments, who send their kids to the public schools, use the libraries, and worry the heck over whether they have health care from one minute to the next.  And in the middle class neighborhoods, lots of people who have lost jobs, even professionals (they become “consultants” when unemployed), and who are losing their homes.  So maybe we are getting class consciousness at last.

See you tomorrow, cheers.