By John Hively
Hundreds of American patriots swarmed over terminal 5 and 6 of the Port of Portland and successfully shut the port down. They came in all ages, but most were young, probably in their twenties. They came in cars, pedaling bicycles, walking and even wheelchairs. They came carrying their signs saying to restore democracy in the United States, end corporate rule, and globalize resistance.
Technically, the United States has a democratic form of government, but it’s a democracy ruled by money, thanks to a corrupt Supreme Court that says money is free speech and that large sums of money are people, so long as that money is organized into legislatively created, publicly traded, limited liability corporations. Ultimately, that’s what corporations are when you peel away their names and reputations. Perhaps that’s why the corporate wing of the Supreme Court (Alito, Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Kennedy) ruled that the original intent of the founding fathers was to ensure that organized money are people. Of course, you’ve got to wonder how much money the justices received in order to make such an absurd ruling.
And so the patriots came, to throw off the shackles of corporate tyranny and restore democracy for people in the United States.
The police also came. There was a tense period around 7:30am when riot police appeared ready to reopen terminal 5. As a helicopter buzzed overhead, the patriots linked arms. The police backed off, which was a sensible thing to do. It made victory possible for the protesters and the police.
But the victory will end when the port reopens tomorrow. The Occupy Movement is but a flea to a lion. It bites and the lion may scratch. In the long run, the lion is not bothered; it continues to live its life unchallenged. And so it is with the one percent and their mechanisms for control of the political process, which allows them to continue to rape and pillage the middle class. They will continue to redistribute income and wealth from the 99 percent to the one percent.
Hopefully, the Occupy Movement (like the flea) will increase its numbers to the point where it can’t be ignored. It’s a young movement and, because in the long run the economy will continue to disintegrate as income and wealth are redistributed to the top, the movement will continue to grow.
Today’s actions were just one battle of many to come. It’s the beginning, not the end.
