Occupy Class Discussions

Our class discussion was rather divided. There were the people who believed our government is supposed to protect us and that the Occupy Movements were really just a bunch of hippies wasting money. And then there were the people who agreed with Taibbi saying that the movements were much more than just Wall Street or politics, they were a movement to change society and our modern culture. 

I became personally heated when someone stated that the government is like our parents, and they are supposed to protect us from everything, including ourselves. This upsets me I have lived the life of an occupier and not once has the government ever stepped in to protect my mom or me. My mom has raised me completely on her own and we always had to live with a restricted income and a fearful mentality towards tomorrow. My mom is an honest, hard working woman who would never abuse or cheat the government systems and yet, when she lost her job for a year, the government gave us barely enough money to live. If the government is supposed to protect us then why are there millions of homeless people on the streets? Why did the government take away my moms food stamps when we already couldn't afford to pay rent or any of the bills? Oh and the best part is that the people who do cheat the system get everything! Our downstairs neighbors both collect unemployment, welfare, food stamps and child support, while the husband works under the table and the wife supposedly stays home to take care of the kids. These people are poor enough to have to collect all this government money, and yet our house always wreaks of marijuana, they came home with a LCD flat screen TV a few months ago, they have more than enough toys for their kids and they seem more well off than some upper middle class families I know. 

If you ask me the government and it's system is a complete contradiction. If you are a good, honest and just member of the society, you get fucked. If you screw the system and blow off the government then hey you'll do great! And all of this messed up mentality lies on the shoulders of my generation and our children's generation, and quite frankly I'm scared to death. I don't know how to fix this and obviously the Occupy Wall Street Movements weren't strong enough to fix it. So while I spend the next 10-30 years paying off my ginormous college debt, what is going to happen to this country? I can only hope that some of the bright minds in this class discussion will be able to aide our government and sway our society to make better choices.