It took me a while to locate a topic for this week that I really felt was relevant to this class and what was going on in todays world. Most the news revolves around the "occupy wall street" movement and what it means and who's right and wrong. I found an article on the blog site Redstate that peaked my interest. The article titled "What the GOP must do: Finding common ground with the Occupiers" was written by Erick Erickson and is more of a opinion piece about conservatives and what they need to do to tackle the Wall Street issue.
The article suggests that while many of the "occupiers" are socialist hippies, there are many hard working people around the country who can't find work and think that the deck is just stacked against them. These people agree with the overall occupation message of having the government solve the economic problems and having the wealthiest one percent of the country pay more in taxes. The general feeling is that more government will help.
The article also indicates that on the other side of the coin, conservatives and tea party affiliates want smaller government and for the free market to correct itself. They feel that more government intervention will further hinder the market and reduce the possibility that the economic crisis will end in the foreseeable future.
The author asserts that the politicians are the ones to blame in the current economic situation because they have made it harder on the middle class to make a living and realize the American Dream. He says that the rich have been the only people over the years that have been able to afford the rising costs of the government imposed nanny-state causing the overall wealth displacement that we see today.
The author also lays out what he thinks the GOP needs to do find some common ground with the occupiers. He suggests massive revamping of the tax code, deregulation of small business and companies, and making it easier for people to run a business from home. The example of a child not being to run a lemonade stand without a business permit in some places was provided. He basically suggests that we should make it easier for people to enter business and level the playing field which has been drastically stacked in the favor of big business for the past decade. By doing these things and making the middle class viable and vibrant again, we can all prosper and be successful in America today. The author suggests that this what the occupiers want, and that is room for a conservative to take this message and create reform.
In my opinion this article is aimed at conservatives who are dismayed or upset about the occupation movement and what they stand for. Most conservatives feel that its just a ploy by group of useless hippy communists who don't want to work and want the government to take care of them. There may be some of those in the group, but I think a lot of occupier sympathizers are just what the author described them as; middle class, out of work folks who don't want anything free, but want a fair shot. I think that this sentiment is something we can all identify with, even conservatives who have a lot of money.
Overall I thought the article was pretty good and I agreed with most of what the author had to say. I think that limited government intervention and stimulus of the middle class is ultimately going to bring us out of this economic crisis. I think there's middle ground to be found between the occupiers and the right, and I think that the sooner they find it, the sooner these problems can be resolved. But I think I agree most with the authors point of leveling the playing field for small business owners and middle class Americans. For to long big businesses have been the only entities capable of affording to stay ahead of government regulation and the tax code while small business owners were forced to close their doors because they couldn't afford to implement the required regulations. It's unnecessary for it to be this way to save the least. Allow people to operate businesses, make it easier for them, and watch them prosper. We do that and we'll be able to return to an era economic stability and growth that will ultimately help us all.
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