Regarding the Nov. 22 “Occupy Jail” letter: I’m not sure what specific point is being made, and the lack of voice tones in text makes it unclear whether the writer is hateful or merely grandstanding with what he no doubt regards as a clever comeback to the Occupy movement. Having met the Everett protesters, I have to wonder if the writer has any human idea of the people he’s wanting to see in jail, or if he’s had any personal experience with jail himself. Jails are funded by taxation, and it seems to me not only contrary to American values, but a waste of taxpayer dollars to put so many peaceful protesters in jail on account of a few bad apples.
The protesters I’ve talked to have been neither hateful nor unlawful in their actions, and many are people of faith who take the Biblical prohibition against usury seriously and resent the use of hidden fees and charges on credit and debit cards and the crafting of laws by corporate lobbyists and consultants serving international investors and global markets at the expense of local workers and national sovereignty.
When the laws being written aren’t even read by legislators, there is no sovereignty left, and patriotism is void where money shouts over the voices of voters. When the public has no choice but to vote for people who have no time to read the laws they sign, they are left with only one nonviolent option: withdrawing their money from big banks and disloyal corporations and putting it into local credit unions and local businesses that actually care about the country’s financial health as much as their own profit.
Serving two masters has always been difficult, but we have the power of choice on a daily basis. Let us not waste that power, and let us not call for the incarceration of peaceful protesters at taxpayer expense.
Michael Lockhart
Marysville
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