Occupy Grand Rapids

Born from frustration with corporate greed, the peoples' diminished role in their government, and the excessively increasing disparity between the wealthy and the rest of us the Occupy Movement strives to shine the light of truth. Here in Grand Rapids, we stand in solidarity with the Occupy Wall St. demonstrators and the rest of the 99%. Like the child crying out, "the emperor isn't wearing anything at all!", we scream, "the system is broken!"

There are many causes and many solutions, not being more important than the other. Except one. We need money out of politics. We need to give the people their free speech back. It has been stolen by the rich who drown our voices with endless campaign ads and bought politicians (http://is.gd/2xgyXc). Cynicism has run rampant. What can we do? That is unclear. What is clear is that we must do something. So we join together to overpower their money. When we all shout at once, we will be heard. And we shout, "we want our country back!"

We want control over our own destinies. We want to do meaningful work to help our communities. Not tedium for a conglomerate that will just move our job over seas when we ask for a raise. We're told to go to college, invest in our future, but tuition has gone up 3,400% percent since 1972. Wages, obviously, have not risen to match--not for the bottom 99% (http://is.gd/ZNNKXN). We were promised Hope and Change. Now we demand it.

In this movement, we all speak for ourselves. We may or may not identify with a particular party, group, or school of thought. We are individuals using our freedom to express our need for a better system. We all have different ideas on how to do that so we need to respect each other. We need to put aside our differences and unite under our common cause. We are the 99%.