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Will Occupy Wall Street Be Co-opted?
Much of the recent commentary about the Occupy Wall Street movement focuses on whether or not this radical movement will be "co-opted" by the unions, or the Democratic Party, or other liberal forces. This seems to be the concern of many academic lefties and activists, who are quick to warn the Occupy Wall Street activists to avoid "co-optation" at all costs.
In other words, these lefties view "co-optation" as failure. I disagree. The success of every radical movement in American history has occurred when it is co-opted by the forces of reform. Read the 1892 Omaha Platform of the People's Party, or the 1912 platform of the Socialist Party, or Upton Sinclair's 1934 "End Poverty in California" platform for his campaign for governor of California, or the 1948 platform of Henry Wallace's Progressive Party campaign for President.
Many of the ideas proposed in these documents -- including a progressive income tax, the 8-hour day, the direct election of Senators, old age insurance, and voting rights for African Americas -- were considered radical in their day. Eventually, many aspects of these platforms were adopted by one of the two major parties, in somewhat watered-down versions. Is that a failure or a victory?
When there's enough political pressure, the reactionary and conservative wing of the establishment tries to beat the movement back using repression. But the moderates and liberals within the establishment use the fear of disorder and radicalism to push through reforms that are modest versions of what radicals have been demanding.
The moderate wing of the establishment hopes this will knock the wind out of the sails of the movement, but if the movement views these as steppingstones to further reform, then it is not co-optation, it is a way to build on victories. That's the story of the New Deal -- pushed by protests among farmers, workers, the jobless, renters, veterans, and others -- and every other era of reform in our history.
In their book, Organizing for Social Change, Kim Bobo, Jackie Kendall, and Steve Max (long-time organizer trainers at the Midwest Academy) write that organizing has three goals:
- Win concrete improvements in people's lives
- Give people a sense of their own power
- Change the relations of power
We should judge the Occupy Wall Street movement on those terms. The veteran community and union organizers now talking with the Occupy Wall Street folks are trying to figure out how to keep the movement from fizzling out. They understand that they have to win victories for real people, keep a sense of urgency in the air, keep the media interested (in the reforms, not just the spectacle), get politicians to take advantage of this growing momentum to push for legislation that didn't seem possible a month ago, and keep the leaders of America's biggest corporations up at night worrying about this new economic justice movement that is putting the richest one percent on the defensive.
This movement eventually has to be about the 1% paying back the money it "stole" from the 99%. How?
- Stop banks from foreclosing and evicting homeowners who were victims of predatory lending or economic hardship.
- Reduce mortgage principle for underwater homeowners.
- Reduce student debt
- Raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires
- Make banks pay for local costs/damage caused by foreclosures(similar to ACCE's proposed California law to make banks pay $20,000 per foreclosure).
- Make banks that got federal bail-outs spend the money helping homeowners and small businesses. (We need an accounting of where the money went and which banks are hoarding it as well as have paid huge compensation to top execs).
- Pass a public works jobs plan that focuses on creating jobs by repairing the nation's crumbling infrastructure and schools
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50 Comments so far
Show Alla lot of articles like this today (suggested reforms), indicating that the elites are freaked out by the demonstrations. many are cautiously approaching the subject, afraid of the consequences if they make the wrong call. but in the back of their minds (the centrists) it isn't the question, ? will occupy wall street be co-opted ? - rather - ? when/how will the OWS demos be co-opted ? disappointing.
...peace...
None of Drier's seven proposed solutions are structural solutions that are .needed to solve any of the problems created by the 1% .
Until structural reforms like FDR's New Deal financial industry regulations are restored and private money is completely eliminated from political campaigns wiill any of Drier's proposed solutions actually solve anything.
limousine liberals.
Have the luxury of waiting for their great liberal savior who never comes.
Especially University Profs. I wonder if he wants to see his student tuitions drop? I doubt it.
All great comments.
The Professor is part of the Teaching Team that helped propel us into this situation. Despite his status, he doesn't have a clue. Not one. He, like Reich, lives in a fantasy world. Their lips and wallets permanently sown long ago to a government connected/corporate/teat, somewhere. Like an old Hollywood actress hold up in a dark room of her 1920's mansion, spending her days watching her movies over and over again, pining for the days of when she was a starlet.
This is 2011, and the beast is a completely different animal than decades ago. Much, much bigger, meaner and dangerous. It moves in stealthy ways, has a killing and propaganda machine that has never been seen on this earth.
They will use both and more to disengage this movement if it honestly threatens them.
Just let those bastards get their little sticky fingers on you and see what Great Things happen. It appears they're trying, and trying hard. Keep the cancer at bay, kids.
Correct Moonpie!
Today it's different.....here's fundamentally how.
Centralized power was a 20th Century change methodology. It's doesn't work in the 21st Century. Things have fundamentally changed. The Decentralized 21st Century model of change allows everyone to participate via the Internet. Each person becomes a leader. Ideas are expressed by all participants and the best ideas, when adopted by the majority of the people becomes a Vision. A living breathing vision capable of changing as ideas evolve. This vision is closely held by the participants and each participant acts accordingly. It's way different.
No centralized organization's endorsement should be accepted by OWS. It will color what is a Social Change process of reinventing the future, into a political movement. OWS is not a political movement. OWS is imagining new workable sustainable futures in which to exist in a politically hostle environment. It is a movement of individuals not organizations. It's ok if it takes time to enlist more participating individuals. There's no rush. OWS is a trancendent movement designed to supercede the current culture, not confront it. Individuals can certainly participate in politics but the OWS is not about that. OWS can state what it sees as problems. The difference is that OWS is working outside the political world to find solutions that are sustainable to their new lifeways. It is a positive movement to bring about social change that is beneficial and sustainable, thus improving their lives. We need no 20th Century solutions from 20th century idealogues. Dynasaurs are not solutions! OWS is open to individuals who want to participate, not organizations,.
Brilliant analysis, Stone. CD should consider publishing this instead of the generating article.
Errr, I don't get it. To me, these people appear to be very much and quite obviously leftists, in the best sense of the world. They are mostly about community (leaderless organisation ffs), against economic inequality, for democratic discussion etc. Even according to the super distorted right wing "individualism" metric they seem to very much tend towards collectivism. No idea what they call themselves, and I understand the distrust towards the rather primitive left-right dichotomy, but they are clearly, and in the best, and very radical, sense of the world, lefties.
Errr, what? No. I listed the following things:
- Communal orientation (or even collectivism)
- Wish for economic equality
- Democratic discussion and debate
and none of these have much to do with libertarianism (and some are the complete opposite). The values OWS seems to be for are imo clearly left wing values.
What a totally inane statement: "The success of every radical movement in American history has occurred when it is co-opted by the forces of reform." So, how are those unions doing? As an example of the greatest co-optation in American history, today's weak and decapitated unions should be a warning to every protestor--keep them at a distance and don't compromise your goals!
i agree that eventually the movement will need to get around to some consensus on a tangible agenda for change. but there's a difference between what flows from the process itself and that which is spoon fed by special interests who have ulterior motives.
let people in this country see the way a truely organic event unfolds, in all it's messy lopsided beauty. a lesson to the leaders of various groups - know when to back off and let the momentum of change and the ideas of the little guy take over.
Yes starkraving "there's a difference between what flows from the process itself and that which is spoon fed by special interests ". My opinion exactly.
Critics of their lack of agenda seem to forget that angry mobs with pitchforks and torches rarely have coherent business plans, but seem to get the job done, anyway.
I think, but we don't know yet, that this whole movement has the potential to touch off something that no one is admitting: a real revolution, with real destruction. That may be, in fact the ONLY way something meaningful will happen, given that all avenues of reasonable response have been tightly closed off (bought, bribed, and legislated) by the offending parties.
It won't be the first time something like this has happened in the world, and there's really no rational reason to be ruling it out here, and now. Almost everything I've read so far has been dismissive of the reality of something which is real, growing daily, and clearly happening, so I wouldn't be paying too much attention to the blind idiot prophets who think this is a tempest in a teapot simply because it has no official and published mission statement.
"Will Occupy Wall Street Be Co-opted?"
Only if it stops being leaderless.
Direct democracy
I was going to pile on, but y'all have summed it up nicely already.
"The Democratic Party is the graveyard of social movements".
- Historian Sharon Smith
I hope OWS will keep their leaderless independent approach and continue in open discussion of issues and a welcoming approach to others. They are developing new kinds of non-hierarchical organic task-centered forms of organization. Their energy and intelligence may lead us to places that most of us old-timers cannot imagine. This is needed today. Others have had their chances, and have dried on the vine.
Some sharks are circling to feed off this movement. They include not only the D party, but opportunists and ambulance chasers who want to represent arrestees in court. For these things, I suggest going with those volunteer organizations and lawyers who have represented people for decades free of charge.
As for concrete gains, they have already pointed out that they represent the 99% against the 1%, a very important unifying concept. They have mobilized a discouraged population in numerous cities, and more or less shamed unions and others to get up out of their positions of comfort. For now, that is a big accomplishment. They have also provided energy for and a way to communicate about specific actions, such as moving money from banks to credit unions, for example.
If others want to help, perhaps we should organize to get them the use of some indoor spaces, Winter is icumen in.
This author needs to get out of the box he has been living in the past decades. OWS is in its early stages and will define itself more clearly in the coming months. But the foundation is there, and it is strong. This is now an international movement that will be strengthened by the shared experiences of movements worldwide. This movement will open windows, and that’s when the battle will take place.
Hoa binh
Bingo! Oct15th (3 days away...)
So Dreier wants OWS to be co-opted by Democrats, unions and other establishment institutions. That way, "moderate" (milquetoast) reforms may just be enacted and the moneyed elites won't be too disturbed. By not allowing any co-opting action to take place, OWS will make itself irrelevant by issuing too many radical demands, which are, from Derier's Distinguished Professor perspective, unacceptable and extreme.
Better let the reformist professionals get control of this thing. It's the only way these things ever get done in America, so disavow those radical pretensions and get down to the serious business of letting distinguished academics, unions, and the Democrats pass a handful of reforms that don't threaten the billionaire class in the least. Anything else is just too scary.
"Reduce student debt"
Isn't an educated populace in the best interest of a free society? Isn't an educated workforce an asset to society?
So why do we force people into debt to benefit society?
Education, like healthcare, should be free. Don't reduce student debt, eliminate it and the its cause.
Thank you for asking the right questions!!
Right now my other inspiration, besides the people of the Occupy movements, is the Chilean students. They are demanding free education... instead of an education that requires a massive amount of debt to attain. Their brave actions are working because the gov't is listening to them. The Chilean gov't just offered them a third concession. I haven't heard the latest news on the third, but the first two were rejected by the students as not good enough.
If they just focused on getting the money out--preventing what Wall St symbolizes from co-opting us, the rest gets much less of an uphill battle.
But aside from the practical aspects--as a political vehicle--it is something much more than that--it is the resurgence of the counter culture--thank our lucky stars--and not so sure that can be co-opted.
But money is today the essence of power. To "just" prevent a concentration of power ("Wall Street") of using its power, its essence, is mostly impossible without actually destroying it. Even if you close down one particular avenue, others will be found. So I think what you're talking about simply cannot be the starting point, just the opposite: it may be the most difficult thing to achieve.
Maybe not.
I know he is MSM but Dylan Ratigan--originally from Wall St, has a movement to do exactly that-get money out of our politics--campaign finance reform via a constitutional ammendment to challenge Citizens United. Why the hell not? I am not so cynical that I am unwilling to operate at different levels.
That is not to say that it will be ideal--or perfect--it will be an improvement.
But the biggest mistake is to say it is impossible or lower expectations--because that is exactly what Obama does when he presents his sellout as pragmatic--or claim that "peace is hard" or "change takes time" while he is turning back the clock.
Sorry, of course I'm not against that, I'm just saying that this will probably be one of the hardest things to do. Citizens United, while important, is not the central issue - there is the whole lobbying crap, privately financed elections and privately owned media in general etc etc. My point was more about "just" focusing on the money in politics issue, and the belief that it can be changed simply. Money based politics (and everything, not just politics) is the essence of capitalism after all :-)
Right--but that is where the counter culture comes in. People are taking action now--
Don't know how much longer they will be able to bail it out & prop it all up to keep it limping along.. They are just trying to loot it all before the bottom drops out.
After us, the deluge.
Cooptation is about power making some concessions in exchange for distorting and eliminating radical goals and methods of movements and ultimately destroying them or integrating them into the liberal establishment (which is even worse). It works for a while, but in the long term, it's just a self-serving illusion of the self-important but traitorous liberal intelligentsia, who can't seem to wait to get another chance at betraying people.
These disgusting self-deceiving smartasses should realise at least that there is a limit to this tactic, and that is when a state is hovering between the two possibilities of real democracy and authoritarianism and where a swing towards either pole could become extreme. Cooptation - which results in giving up principles for temporary advantage - does not work in this case and will just push the swing in the opposite direction: it will only serve as a strawman authoritarianism can point towards of democratic policies not working (because traditional liberal compromises will not work any more).
Another quite obvious fact is that most compromises (and all the important ones) resulting from cooptation were ultimately subverted. Where is your 8 hour workweek now? Does it matter that African Americans can vote? Are people happier because they can pretend they have a progressive income tax? Aren't Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid obviously targets of elimination? These results were temporary concessions. Good stuff at the time of course, but they're being denied now - and that is the long term goal behind cooptation.
I don't know about Co-opted, but it is certainly being used as cover by the war apparat to stir things up with Iran. no mention of the "plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador" here on CD yet, But the drummers are out in full force on CNN, et al. withonly a few dissenting views
spin: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/12/justice/iran-saudi-plot/?hpt=hp_t1
dissent/truth: http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/12/questions-from-former-cia-operative-baer-about-the-alleged-iranian-plot/
"I was going to pile on, but y'all have summed it up nicely already."
-- thepuffin (12:38pm)
____________________
It was true an hour ago, and it's even truer now.
Being familiar with Drier's perspective from previous articles, I was mildly intrigued that he would be audacious enough to tackle the question of whether OWS will be "co-opted".
After all, he's the quintessential academic moderate liberal-lite apologist and meliorist for the Establishment-- i.e., the system and the status quo.
As much as I despise manufactured trite, instant clichés like "thinking outside the box", I can't resist noting that Dreier is the epitome of thinking inside the box.
Whoops-- I guess I did pile on a little bit after all.
A brilliant piece Mr. Dreier, and very timely.
The blog comments everywhere are awash with Koch-paid corporate trolls fanning the fears of "co-opting" to spread mistrust and divide those who would stand together in opposition to the forces of the corporatist empire as it sucks this country dry. They know that if the OWS movement, the unions, the progressive Dems, and the working people all get together and share their experience, wisdom, and strengths, the corporatists don't stand a chance against them, as has been historically demonstrated in previous such movements. As their desperation rises, their screeching is getting louder and more violent in its rhetoric. Their hatred of Obama and the Dems (as a group) is so transparent, it gives them away, exposing them for the Koch-paid trolls they are. Don't give in to them. The only hope this country has is if we all stand together; OWS, progressives, unions, workers, etc. If we don't, no reform movement of any kind will succeed. We shouldn't call it Occupy Wall Street. We should call it Occupy America, becaause we are all in this together, and it will take all of us working together make it right.
You're a fucking piece of work accusing others of being Koch paid trolls. So if someone sees Obama for what he is, realises the role the liberal establishment plays, and doesn't support them, they're not even worth debating with?
Enlighten me, is there any concrete reason to believe that Obama will change his traditional behaviour now and not betray people trusting him? Or do you only trust people who are complete idiots with memories only spanning a week or so?
Obama had his time with real power. Democrats in general also. Even unions. And the liberal intelligentsia in general also. They never showed their will to fight for what people want. So what the fuck are you talking about? Why should people trust the shits who have repeatedly betraid them?
Or was this just an elaborate joke I didn't get?
"We shouldn't call it Occupy Wall Street. We should call it Occupy America, becaause we are all in this together, and it will take all of us working together make it right."
All 100% of us, including the 1%? Worldwide? Cause the world's 99% are comin on board as we speak...
I read another Obama apologist the other day say something along the lines that Rove was responsible for OWS (of course, this was before the Unions hooked on.) I guess we're on to "Koch trolls" now. What's next? Tanks?
Hey, this made me laugh. "we;re all in this together....except for all the people who disagree with my partisan hackery who are all on the Koch payroll....but other than that, we're all in this together!"
That's a special form of douchery, right there.
Sheldon S Wolin wrote in "Democracy Inc."
"Inverted Totalitarianism, although at times capable of harassing or discrediting critics, has instead cultivated a loyal intelligentsia of its own. Through a combination of governmental contracts, corporate and foundation funds, joint projects involving university and corporate researchers, and wealthy individual donors, universities (especially so-called research universities), intellectuals, scholars, and researchers have been seamlessly integrated into the system. No books burned, no refugee Einsteins. For the first time in the history of American higher education top professors are made wealthy by the system, commanding salaries and perks that a budding CEO might envy. During the months leading up to and following the invasion of Iraq, university and college campuses, which had been such notorious centers of opposition to the Vietnam War that politicians and publicists spoke seriously of the need to "pacify the campuses," hardly stirred. The Academy has become self-pacifying."
-- I wonder if Professor Dreier would consider this insight...
Eric.A.Blair,
excellent quote. interesting that dreier is teaching at obama's alma mater - occidental college.
...peace...
The movie "Inside Job" speaks to the economics profession within the university establishment being "co-opted" into the neo-liberalism fold, having a direct hand in the '08 meltdown. What other subjects have been "co-opted" to serve as systemic and destructive "self-pacifyers" in our collegiate systems?
I am very encouraged by the thoughtful comments of Common Dreamers, they get it.
99ers.
Here is what you need to be demanding as your one big start as THE demand of the people. This ONe thing will give you most all being asked for. It will force the Dems to chose sides and show their true colors as well.
State Banks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0rJWnRFUJA
North Dakota has a state bank . It is not in debt. Its people are protected from foreclosure. Its private farms are protected from Big Ag. They have jobs and no real unemployment.
This is a clear answer and it it THE ANSWER to address a huge chunk of our demands.
If the Dems endorse OWS, let them prove it by awarding all the remaining 49 states State Bank Charters and helping them to get them going. If they refuse, the party should be abolished and sent to sit with the Repubs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad0gant1zeo
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/112420/why-north-dakota-may-be-best-state-in-country-to-live-in
North Dakota Expecting 700 Million Dollar Budget Surplus 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxsrjrw55_I&NR=1
"Eventually, many aspects of these platforms were adopted by one of the two major parties, in somewhat watered-down versions. Is that a failure or a victory?"
That's a failure - an answer the author didn't want to hear. Because the author is himself the co-opter. The author, Peter Dreier, has an agenda to keep the status quo of elite domination/oppression of the people intact.
You can tell this is his agenda because he is clearly downplaying what is unique and different about this movement compared with earlier movements of the modern era. The past movements he tries to compare it to were in different circumstances. The current movement will only work because it addresses very specifically the current challenges. Today, the Demok/Liberal establishment is so massively corrupt, that any serious movement by/for the people will absolutely reject its involvement.
That point is so important, I think I'll say it again. No serious movement for the people's benefit will involve today's Demok/Liberal establishment, the thug-squad that wrote an endless stream of blank checks for every criminal enterprise demanded of/by the US Whitey House/Congruss over the past ten years.
The USA is in today by far the most serious crisis ever, the greatest threat to the people/planet, ever. EVER. Merkan elites, the thug-top 1%, stomped the people with illegal imperial invasions/occupations, smashed the people with wild bonanza commodities speculations, gouged the people with bloody healthcare anti-reform, and burned the people to a crisp by the fire of finance destruction. And they're on a friggin roll, still, aren't they? Dreier doesn't act like he understands. Because he really doesn't. He's drunk on the spoils of empire and he wants to preserve them.
Full speed ahead with the movement's original brilliant charter, leaderless demands of/by/for the people, in absolute truth, and zero compromise. Remember, there is NO COMPROMISE between predator and prey. It's that simple.
"but if the movement views these as steppingstones to further reform, then it is not co-optation, it is a way to build on victories."
If the author genuinely believes that a modern movement is capable of building a revolution by incremental steps he is not thinking clearly. More likely he is groping for rationalizations to preserve the status quo, the most grotesque gilded age in the history of the nation. But let's say for the sake of argument that he is genuine in his belief. Then he would not be thinking clearly because the issue today is traction. Traction means conviction. Determination. The people are lacking in determination, because like never before the people today suffer under delusions drilled into their heads by das kapital, all their lives. Full of delusions, full of material opiates, fully dependent on petro-opiates. Utterly, "comfortably numb". How else do you think a large strong democracy could be destroyed from within? The author should know this. He should know that incremental reform doesn't work when the boot of das kapital is on the people's necks. But the people are coming to know this, more and more. This is what makes the revolution feasible. The very establishment that the author is trying to defend is pushing/kicking the people into revolt. There will be no incremental reform. There will be no stability/security for the criminal elites who deprived the people of the same.
To the Author:
NO
What's going on is the breaking down of the 99% to THIRD WORLD status so that state-corporatist globalization can proceed with all possible speed --- moving the 99% to the bottom. Corporate Personhood, war, and systemic looting, legitimized by a corrupt business community, congress, executive and court are effective and preferred methods.
Most of the 99% still think the political process can be re-established for the people from within the system. The quiet ones.
The noisy ones don't. I don't. I have not attended, yet, but have contributed some ideas:
The political spectrum as not a straight line, but a broken circle.
The base only of the pyramid on the Great Seal as a symbol for the movement.
And tactics: Which is for the #Occupiers to gather, as they are, around the districts in need of reformation, BUT WITH THEIR BACKS TO THE 1% (in the classic gesture of shunning), ---- THEIR CHANTS/SIGNS DIRECTED AT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THE CAMERAS !!
Neither the 1% nor their enablers will voluntarily change. The PEOPLE must be moved off their asses.
The protest misses a grand opportunity to speak directly to the people through the cameras of the MSM.
"Much of the recent commentary about the Occupy Wall Street movement focuses on whether or not this radical movement will be "co-opted" by the unions, or the Democratic Party, or other liberal forces.... In other words, these lefties view "co-optation" as failure. I disagree. The success of every radical movement in American history has occurred when it is co-opted by the forces of reform."
So Unions, the Democractic Party and "other liberal forces" are forces of reform? Try again Mr. Dreier.
Urgent: Eviction for Occupy Wall Street ((Wall Street))
Occupy Wall Street protesters are being
evicted from Zuccotti Park at 7am tomorrow morning, (Friday).
Mayor Bloomberg is sending in the police to clear the park so it can be
"cleaned" and is imposing new rules that won't allow protesters to
continue to occupy the park.
These protesters have been standing up for all of us against corporate
greed on Wall Street and the corporate takeover of our democracy. It's
time we stand with them. Please join me in urgently signing a petition to
Mayor Bloomberg to keep him from evicting the protesters.
We have very little time to act. We need to gather a huge national petition as soon as possible, so we can deliver it to City Hall tonight and have it for the protesters in Zuccotti Park.
Zuccotti Park may be in New York, but the protesters are standing up against Wall Street and the damage they've done to millions of Americans everywhere. That's why it's an inspiration and nerve center for a growing occupation movement that's spreading to every corner of the country.
Employing a tactic that's been used to break up similar protest actions, Mayor Bloomberg is sending in the police under the guise of a "cleaning operation." But that's a PR farce, because protesters will only be allowed back in if they obey rules that include: no "lying down" and no use of "tarps or sleeping bags or other covering."3
Obviously, the 99% protesters can't continue to occupy Zuccotti Park if they have to stand for 24 hours a day, and as the nights grow colder and the rain pours down, they can't endure without sleeping bags, tarps, and the like. Make no mistake--this is an eviction, and we have less than 24 hours to stop it.
So sign the petition and tell Mayor Bloomberg: "Respect the protesters' First Amendment rights. Don't try to evict Occupy Wall Street." Then get the word out to everyone you know on your social networks.
So it's not just this one protest that's at stake tomorrow morning, because if we allow the eviction to happen, other mayors across the country are sure to follow Bloomberg's lead.
What's at stake today is the very right we have as Americans to speak out when we've been wronged and peaceably assemble as a community to seek redress from the government.
So act now. Sign the petition and tell Mayor Bloomberg: "Respect the protesters' First Amendment rights. Don't try to evict Occupy Wall Street."Just use the
link below.
http://civic.moveon.org/defend_ows/?r_by=31974-19931313-HEP7qGx&rc=c4_defend_ows_letter.email.g0
If you TRULY believe in the Constitution and our inalienable rights, PLEASE Facebook/Tweet/Blog this msg ASAP!
i signed also - thank you for posting this alert...
...peace...