The question is not whether the mayhem in Ferguson was caused by a “small” group of discontents, or whether the other protestors are sincere in their wish for a peaceful solution. The question is why such discontent is no longer staying within the usual boundaries of home, bottle, and pipe. Why are the most desperate among us taking every opportunity to voice their discontent as often and as violently as possible?
The party is over. The well fed minority that have put this country into the hopper must back away from the trough. Address poverty and racism or bear the consequences; the violence that is endemic among the dispossessed survivors of eat-your-own capitalism will be in all our streets, all our homes, all our neighborhoods.
The time for halfway solutions is past. To break the cycle of drop out-to-gang-to-convict-to-criminal:
Extend Public Education Through College
End the Reign of the Golden School
Free All Prisoners Convicted of Victimless Crimes.
Nationalize the Healthcare Industry.
And to pay for it? Well, in the past the privileges of the minority came from the sale of human beings (now it comes from privatized prisons, the Judge is extra).
There is a better way:
Replace All Entitlements with a Basic Income Guarantee and Healthcare.
And who is Occupy or anyone to be making that kind of “demand.” To which this editorialist says “There is no power like stating the truth: it’s time to share the wealth.”
Replace All Entitlements with a Basic Income Guarantee and Healthcare
was one of the 10 Objectives offered by the InterOccupy Strategy Group.
http://interoccupy.net/occupystrategy/2013/10/occupy-strategy-groups-top-10-recommended-strategic-objectives/
And, for the record the demands of the Black Panthers are here:
http://www.blackpanther.org/TenPoint.htm
Michael Brown is dead. So is Eric Garner. And Treyvon Martin. Stopping more such murders means trying a little harder than replacing a police chief.