So, you successfully closed the North Avenue bridge over I-43 at 8th Street for several hours last Thursday night, November 17. Mazel tov. Thanks to your bold action, the scores of investment bankers and hedge fund managers who live in the area needed another half-hour to drive to their palatial homes. Serves the scoundrels right for marketing credit-default-swaps!
You might have applied for a permit to close the street, but who needs that when you are on the side of the angels? You may see yourselves in the image of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which also used sit-ins and demonstrations to draw attention to its goals, but fortunately Police Chief Ed Flynn refused to play the new Bull Connor, so nobody got hurt here. But in other cities your Occupy colleagues have been beaten and maced by local police. People across the country have become increasingly disgusted with your monopolizing of their streets and parks, and the only way the police have been able to clear these public spaces has been by using force.
The SCLC demonstrators had been systematically excluded from the political process, so they had no alternative to demonstrations, some of which also filled streets and parks. But YOU have not been excluded! Disruptive tactics are not your last resort, but your first choice!
Only three years ago the Tea Party was a bunch of people walking around in funny costumes, but today it is a serious political force. That is because they took an active part in electoral politics. You, too, can work constructively to put your aims on the public agenda right here in Milwaukee in these ways:
1. Join the recall movement to make Wisconsin “Scott-Free.”
2. Run a candidate for County Executive against Chris Abele.
3. Run a candidate for the new position of County Comptroller. (1)
4. Support progressive candidates for the Milwaukee Common Council and County Board in every district.
5. Work to nominate and elect progressive candidates for the US Senate, Congress and the Wisconsin Legislature in the 2012 election.
Gathering valid signatures and campaigning door-to-door is much harder than marching around with signs and sitting down in the street. But instead of antagonizing people, try to persuade them. Even when you don’t win, you spread your ideas and get people interested in them. I did not win my race for the Milwaukee School Board earlier this year, but I did advance my ideas about public education.
Count me among the 99.99% of people who have no desire to occupy the streets and bridges that should belong to everyone.
Gerald S Glazer
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(1) Candidates for this position must either be a CPA or have an advanced degree in accounting or finance.
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