Mercer, May I?

Let me preface this by saying, yes, I AM part of the 99 percent, which means I’m (obviously) NOT part of the 1 percent of the wealthiest Americans. (It’s simple math, people.)  Also note that I said “Americans.”  Because I have a roof over my head and  three meals a day, I am already much richer than many people in other parts of the world, and I never lose sight of that or take it for granted.

In this instance, my identification as a 99 percenter does NOT mean:

• I’m unemployed or don’t want to work.  As a matter of fact, I work 6 shifts, five days a week while maintaining a full graduate-level course load, which includes completing a mountain of assignments, going to class for three hours every Thursday night, going to class for about 4 hours (with the professor from Hell) every other Sunday morning, and keeping up with another class online.  Oh, and I also maintain a 4.0 GPA.  I may have no life, but I have this sh*t DOWN.
•  I feel entitled to hand-outs.  I loathe being lumped into the Millennial Generation, which supposedly includes those born in the late 1970s to the 1990s, characterized as being technologically savvy, mooching off their parents into their late-20s, and generally expecting things to be easy.  Hey, I put myself through college (both times), and I fully intend to pay off the student loans that I incurred as a result.  And it has been  anything but easy.
• I’m not a tax-payer.  Ok, truthfully last year I really wasn’t a tax-payer (but that’s another blog on which I’m working).   I do work, feel like I should have paid taxes, and will cheerfully pay my taxes for 2011.  So…I may not currently be part of the “53 percent,” but I’m part of whatever percent enjoys my freedoms, is glad to pay for them, and wants tax reform.
• I like to fight my causes by camping in the street for days without showering.  Sure, I identify with the Occupiers in their anger at the massive disparity between the wealthy and the poor and middle class, but I would rather fight with my writing skills and my individual power at the ballot box.  I’m not down with the risk of getting arrested for a little illegal camping just so I can hold a sign and hope someone important notices.

  Personally, I respect some of the causes for which the protesters stand.  You may not agree with the Occupiers, and to you I say, they like to assemble; you like your guns – to each his own.  Assembly is their Constitutional right, so it really doesn’t matter  if you don’t understand nor like when, where, or why they are assembling.

  Also, stop getting so hung up on the Occupiers’ failure to rally for/against a single issue and their lack of clear organization. (I’m looking at you, Ann Coulter Cruella DeVille.)   This is a people’s movement – a grassroots movement.  Grassroots movements are characterized as having more than one cause.  Furthermore, the Occupiers haven’t formally organized or incorporated because then the movement would not be a people’s movement.  (Formal organization is why the Tea Party has lost a lot of its steam.)

  Oh yeah, let’s talk about the Tea Party.  The Tea Party raised some of the very same issues raised by the Occupiers, but they are now pretending to have nothing in common with the self-proclaimed 99 percenters.  (Wall Street bailouts ring a bell?)  Actually, they seem almost angered by the movements.  I mean, I really think the root of the animosity here is that the Tea Party is just a tad butt-hurt that they didn’t garner anywhere near the attention that the Occupy movements are getting.  By the way, the Tea Party should really stop demonizing the Occupy movements, as the Tea Party is named after the biggest celebrated act of theft and vandalism in history. Think about it.