Occupy Your Own Backyard
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011The GoHuman blog has expressed Occupy Wall Street sentiments since before the movement started in Zucotti Park on 9/17/11. One reason a disenfranchised 99% seek to occupy is because they lack ownership. Owners have legal rights to “enjoy, occupy, possess … an item of property.” The Occupy movement claims moral ownership to rights they don’t legally possess. Is this moral claim valid? Let’s look back to our Judeo-Christian heritage to point a way forward.
U.S. founding fathers were familiar with a 4,000 year old economic system, which enabled capitalism while limiting capitalists’ ability to exploit the system and oppress its losers. All families owned land, debts were forgiven every seven years, and land was leased, not sold, for a maximum 49 years. It reverted to the tribal / family owners in a year of Jubilee. But Solomon, a king of Israel and “the wisest man who ever lived” wrote “The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.“ Why would the king of Israel, in which every family was supposed to own land and debts were forgiven, state such a thing? Because the people abdicated ownership, on multiple levels. Within a very short period of time, freed slaves were again enslaved, first by their fears and desires, then by their kings, then by outside forces. Human nature hasn’t changed much in 4,000 years. American-style capitalism has addicted the planet to a mass-market consumer culture, fed by an insatiable desire for corporate funded entertainment. We have allowed ourselves, and worse, our children, to become programmed consumers, with a black hole in our soul, into which we cram the things advertisers tell us we need. I know I’m oversimplifying, but it’s still true. If we want lasting change it must start with us. I salute the Occupy movement for focusing attention on Corporate oppressors. But realize that we create and empower these Frankenstein monsters. As long as we’re willing to sell our future for temporary gratification, a cycle of debt and oppression will continue. Only owners have a legal right to occupy. To claim a moral right we need to own the moral ground we stand on. Every individual and family should strive for ownership, at all levels, to advance the occupation. GoHuman seeks to build ownership, at the local level. We wish to empower small, local businesses and their customers to occupy and regain ownership of their own communities. One backyard at a time!
