Dear Editor:
The media are making much of the Occupy Wall Street doings and the other areas of this nation where some people have occupied downtown areas of cities. Supposedly this is to protest against “the rich”, for a redistribution of wealth, people wanting what they haven’t earned. If one really looks at the pictures/scenes of these gatherings they will see a return to the drug filled hippies movements of the 60′s. There are many signs displayed, of which the spelling is about 5th grade level. The behavior of the participants in damaging property is disgusting.
Why attack the rich? A great many of “the rich” have worked hard, have built businesses that have employed thousands, have made goods and jobs available that previously were unavailable to many. This is not to say that I agree with the cheaply made, inferior products imported from other countries.
Sam Walton started with nearly nothing and built the Wal-Mart Empire. Of course, now that he is out of the picture we see many changes from what he started. Why haven’t these protestors demanded anything from such as Wal-Mart, which is now among the 1%?
These people should be challenging Congress, where the laws have been made that have allowed the loss of jobs; the unions that foment upset using mandatory dues to support political candidates not of the choice of all of the union members; laws that allow other nations to siphon off oil from our shores while Congress penalizes seeking oil from our huge reserves; laws that penalize production so that businesses have moved offshore leaving people without jobs.
The protestors are complaining about Social Security, the funds from which used to be in a trust fund until the Lyndon Johnson Congress placed the funds in the general fund to be spent frivolously for pet projects. Why shouldn’t we who paid into Social Security for many, many years, be allowed an income from what we contributed? This is no different than if you were to have a savings account for many years and then protestors say those funds should be theirs.
What about issues/laws that have been voted for nearly unanimously by the populace just to have some judge say it is illegal. By what right does one person have to overturn the will of the people? What right does our present government have to overturn our Constitutional Amendments, now trying to take away our right to bear arms? Why? So we can’t fight back against tyranny? The Japanese didn’t attack on our land because they knew we were armed.
To say I am disgusted with the road upon which this nation is presently traveling is to put it mildly. We are allowing immorality and personal greed of some elements to set our paths. Why do these protestors go after the “rich” yet think nothing of the money going into the pockets of actors and sports persons without complaint? Why do they listen to actors and actresses spout about most any subject when many of them have only a 9th or 10th grade education and publicly lead less than a Christian life style? Are we so simple that we can be led around by these immoral people just because we recognize their faces or enjoyed a movie they were in?
Are you familiar with movie mogul Michael Moore? Left-winger Michael Moore has been touring Occupy Wall Street demonstrations across the country-including some of the most violent, such as Occupy Oakland-urging activists to continue their fight against the wealthy “one percent” of Americans. Via the Internet I’ve seen an exclusive photograph of Moore’s waterfront mansion. It is the kind of luxurious summer home that 99 percent of Americans can only dream of owning. So, what is in this occupy mania for him? We don’t hear of him giving to the poor.
Before you join with these mostly unemployed, liberal educated, socialist thinking people, remember back to before the 1960′s when life was not always easy, but was certainly tolerable. Remember the thousands of our military who gave so much, many their lives, that we could live in this, our Democratic Republic, in peace; these thousands who fought so that we were not under the heels of the Hitlers, the Lenins, the murderous despots of other nations.
I don’t have the answers but I do recognize our present path to socialism, which has been a failure in nation after nation. Before you jump on the “Occupy” bandwagon, look at them with open eyes. Also, look carefully at the many candidates wanting to lead this nation. Look at their histories, their abilities, their goals. See if any of them have ever had a job like one might find in Ava, Mo., or anywhere else in these Ozarks, the grassroots of America. Look at those presently in Washington, D.C. and decide carefully if you want another four years of their leadership; leadership from someone who doesn’t know the front of a cow from the back; doesn’t know a tractor from a 4-wheeler…and doesn’t give a hoot.
Carol Boeddeker-Genet
Rural Douglas County
