The Occupy movement is washing across America. The economic leviathan of unmonitored capitalism is destroying families and small businesses. Lobbyists for big businesses get front row treatment in Congress. Senators check with billionaires before making policy decisions. The 1% of Americans with the lion’s share of the country’s assets are drowning the remaining 99%.
Our standing is crumbling. We are the disenfranchised. Unrepresented, uncared for and unhappy with our lot. The economy is getting worse but the upper 1% are barely feeling the pinch. Meanwhile, houses stand empty from mortgage scams and the lines to the homeless shelters extend out into the streets.
The Occupy Wall Street movement wants to save lives. The economy needs a shake up. The status quo is not acceptable. Now is the time for change.
Occupy Eugene - 1st Meeting Before the Protest
I am not an economist. The Herbalist Manifesto does not pretend to represent a voice for economic revolution. I do make my stand for sustainability. Our current system is obviously not sustainable. (See Professor Dumhoff’s in-depth article “Wealth, Income and Power” on a realistic view of how much the upper 1% controls in America.)
Without economic justice, the lower 99% will continue to sicken and die. We need health care. We need access to education so that more of us can properly care for the health of others. Healthy, organic food should not be reserved for the wealthy. Proper health care should not be reserved for the wealthy. Wall Street should not decide what medicine we have access to. It’s just not right. (See the Institute of Medicine’s report “Insuring America’s Health: Principles and Recommendations” for more information on how the current inequalities in our health care system is crippling America.)
The Herbalist Manifesto stands for a healthy America. I live in a tiny town at the edge of America. Occupy Wall Street is coming to Eugene. I am there, in the rain, with my little blue umbrella and a eye on my friends holding cardboard signs. I am just one person; one voice in the dark. I am speaking to any one who, like me, wants a better future. I am adding my voice to those commanding the bloated 1% to get their hands off our neck and let us breath.
*Thanks to David Sierralupe for the photo.