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The occupy movement has pricked the nation's conscience. They have shown vividly that our democracy does not work for us. It works for and is under the control of the 1%.

I have always bemoaned the fact that progressive organistions have failed to come together.  The Occupy movement have brought together and earned the support of labor unions, anti-war groups, family farmers, women’s rights groups, environmental groups, progressive groups, civil liberties groups, advocates for the homeless, civil rights groups, advoctes for the working man and a host of others. This is truly an incredible achievement.

But these achievements did not come cheap. These heroic individuals have faced police brutality, personal injury - even rape, the icy chill of winter, and other harsh discomforts of living on the street. They have sacrificed a lot. They have accomplished a lot and against terrible odds. They have laid bare the problems and have made people all across the nation and even across the world take notice.

But, admiration of their accomplishments is not enough. Now it's up to us and progressive organizations like us to take a lot of the load off their shoulders.  We owe it to the occupy movement. We cannot leave them stranded.

In my opinion the next step for the Occupy movement is to elect an Occupy president of America for 2016. I think it is too late for 2012. America needs a president who will truly be responsive to the needs of the 99%. Let us take the presidency back to the people and away from the corporations.

We need to start the campaign early. We do not have the big bucks like corporations for advertising but we have already grabbed the nation’s and even the world’s spotlight.

It would be an issue-oriented president so the first step would be creating a platform around our crucial issues and then finding a genuine presidential candidate who would best champion them.

Platform

Issues in the platform would include:

·         Anti-war policy – end all wars and bring our brave soldiers and war dollars home

·         Redirect Pentagon budget excesses to fund our communities

·         Restore our civil liberties

·         Universal healthcare by single payer (Medicare For All)

·         Fair Share taxation – rollback the Bush tax cuts for the rich

·         Close Guantanamo

·         Restore international respect by prosecuting war criminals and torturers, respecting the sovereignty of nations

·         Hold the bailed-out-banks more accountable for reducing and maybe even reversing foreclosures.

·         Protect women’s rights including abortion

·         Support unions

·         Seek to reduce global warming by green energy policy

·         Join the fight against unlimited corporate money in elections

·         Fight for medicare and against privatization of Social Security

·         Support public education and teachers

 

These are just some suggestions for the platform. There is no question that selection of the issues is critical. We cannot please everyone and we risk jeopardizing the unity that has been achieved so far, but that is also the strength on which we can rely. Compromises will probably have to be made in the interest of unanimity.

But how do we make these decisions and also select a presidential candidate?  Occupy movements are always having meetings and group discussions at their respective sites. Let each of them select delegates. From these delegates form some sort of national council of delegates to spearhead these decisions and refine the process.

This is a tough job so presidential candidates would be required to submit a resume and  be interviewed.  Candidates should be prepared to play a prominent role in Occupy movement activities and even more so after winning the nomination. The Arab Spring uprisings failed to identify a leader and even now continue to pay a heavy price for that omission. The Occupy movement needs to  field a viable candidate, not a token candidate, someone like Ralph Nader or Dennis Kucinich. This is serious business. Such a candidate is most unlikely to be a Republican or even most Democrats. But if a Democrat, we would throw our considerable support behind him for the Democratic presidential nominee too. Occupy movements have no voting lists so final selection of the presidential candidate would probably be by some sort of caucus methodology. Details of this need to be worked out.

I think in this respect, lots of valuable lessons may be learnt from the Occupy Des Moines (Occupy DSM) movement. During the Republican caucus there, Occupy DSM countered with “The Peoples Caucus” which could serve as a model or a staring point.