I marched against the war in Iraq. I was in Tokyo. There were millions of us around the world. We were ignored. The war went ahead.
I expect governments and corporate bodies are similarly waiting for Occupy Wall Street to go away.
The Occupy movement should inspire the rest of us to discuss what kind of society we want to live in. It’s utopian to expect government/corporations to bow out and let us set up a new order. But perhaps there’s a purity to idealism that makes it worth talking about.
Here’s what I’d support for starters:
One common suggestion: income taxed at the necessary level to provide public services, and food, shelter, education and healthcare as a right for all. People who want more than a bare minimum will choose to work/pay taxes.
One less common idea: Jobs paid according to their desirability/popularity: for example, if more people apply to be university teachers than people apply to be cleaners, then teachers' pay is lowered and cleaners' pay is raised to the point that the popularity levels out. The desirability of making a difference to a classroom of students rather than making a difference to the cleanliness of a bathroom will still inspire some of us to go to school to be qualified as teachers. And the higher wages of cleaners will make that calling a desirable one with its own dignity and status.
I’m open to negotiation on all of this. If not in the comments of this blog, then with friends over our next beer.
Meanwhile: Power to the people.
--Julian