The Suppression Is Encouraging

On capitalism there are going to be a lot of people that make money not from working, but from owning. That's really not legitimate. But obviously it's something that these rich people really like. Who wouldn't want to collect most of the money while doing none of the work?

The major threat to that gravy train is when workers figure out that they don't really need that owner. They can do it themselves, distribute that money to the people doing the work, and tell the owner to pound sand. If you are an investor this is absolutely frightening. So when other countries have tried it, like Cuba, Vietnam, Nicaragua, Iran, etc, we know what happened to them. Investors in this country and in the target country used their corporate tools, like the media and politicians, to try and frighten the population into thinking these countries were a danger. Then these places were attacked.

So far US residents haven't suffered as much suppression and violence. We live in a very open society. The law says we have a lot of freedoms. But like Frank Zappa pointed out, these are freedoms that are permitted only so long as they aren't used in a way that threatens the gravy train of the rich. As soon as you start exercising these freedoms in ways that aren't profitable, out come the billy clubs, pepper spray, etc.

There may have been no Occupy movement if not for the internet. I watched the development of Occupy very closely. I watched when the initiated a trial run at Wall St just to see what the cops would do before it was officially launched. I saw them be ignored in the main stream corporate media. I wouldn't have been able to see without the internet. And if I and others hadn't seen, it may have fizzled. How badly do the rich wish it had fizzled? Did it have an effect?

The answer is found in SOPA and NDAA, acts that could serve to block Occupy type action in the future. Our free and open society has now dispensed with the fifth amendment of the Constitution, which grants people a right to have charges brought against them openly adjudicated by a third party. Now you can literally be thrown in prison indefinitely based on the decree of an anonymous panel appointed by the President. SOPA gives the government broad authority to block the internet, preventing the kinds of activities needed to organize and question some perceived injustices.

This is kind of a bummer obviously. On the other hand, what do you expect illegitimate wealth to do when you present a real challenge to them? Are they just going to lie back and let it happen without pushing back? Is that what they did in Vietnam, Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Iran, Panama, Iraq, Brazil, Haiti, Chile, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, El Salvador, Italy, and on and on it goes? The suspension of freedom means what the people are doing is really scaring those in power, which means it's working. This is an inevitable step in the process toward progress. It will probably get worse before it gets better. That's how progress usually comes. We just need to keep doing what we are doing.