Lately I have been excited about the movement that has started with the Wall Street Occupation. This peaceful action seems to be growing every day with towns and colleges all over America joining in. I think change is a very positive thing and necessary in a changing world. The old ways are not working so we have to explore new ideas and new ways to get involved.

The criticism so far is that the movement lacks focus and a clear plan. There seems to be so much that needs to be questioned that it would be difficult to decide where to put the focus. A plan will come as the movement matures and reflects the insights they gain as they go along. What is true for sure is that the way things have been done in the past is not working for most of us.

As I sat down to write what I thought would be a good thing to focus on I came up with so many necessary directions that I now better understand why it will be difficult to decide where to put the focus of all these people now involved. Maybe each person needs a list and they follow where they are called to action.

My suggestions for what to focus on include:

Taking away most of the corporate influence on policy because they are run by greed and care little about the people and the planet
The tax code is a mess with those that have the most getting many ways out of paying taxes. These loopholes cause real problems for the US budget and are not fair
Change our foreign policy from an aggressor nation and war driven (the outdated big stick method) to one of communications, building relationships with all other nations and much less spending on weapons.
Take all religious organizations influence out of politics or remove their tax exempt status for being engaged in promoting their political agendas
Find a way to bring compassion back into the political discussion and into policy considerations.
This is essential - election reform is needed, take the money influence out of elections
Healthcare for all, not healthcare for profits
Environmental protection is needed at many levels so we have clean air to breathe, water to drink and healthy land to grow our food supply
If companies are too big to fail then they need to be broken up.
Jobs are much more important then a balanced budget
Banks have too much power, too many fees and need to be scaled down
Reform the Wall Street gambling that hurts our economy
The Trickle Down theory of economic has never been proven to work except for the wealthy so let’s stop pretending it is a good theory.
Having most of the wealth concentrated in 1% of the people is wrong and needs to change.
There must be food and a place to live available to all the citizens of this wealthy nation

My expertise is very limited on policy but my brain works fine and some things are so obvious that to ignore them is to be in denial of reality. There is a true need for significant changes in much of what is going on in our government. We are the only ones that can make that happen because our elected officials are clearly controlled by those who finance their campaigns.

What are you concerned about and how might you get involved?