i (i) wrote,
i
i



A brief Piece on Occupy Tucson's experience in court. At the end, District 26 Republican Terri Proud dismisses the protesters and tells them to go home. She urges police to clear the park. This prompted this exchange of emails between me and her:

To: Terri Proud
Subject: Occupy Tucson.

You don't seem to get it. Our state is bankrupt, our cities are
bankrupt, and it is all for the same reason that people can't find work,
that people are being foreclosed on. It is because the banking
institutions and corporations have plundered our economy. These people
are fighting for all of us, you too, unless you are worth $40 million,
are part of the 99%. So your answer is to have the police "do whatever
it takes" to remove them? What do you want, rubber bullets and tear
gas? Is that the American way? Take a good hard look at yourself and
those who pay for your campaign. Can you in good conscience say you are
working for the best interests of the citizens of Arizona? I think the
protesters can.

Mr. Moyer,


What you don't' get is that Tucson has no control on the Federal
Institutions. It would be like me protesting to protect the cactus in
New York.

So the individuals who continue to "occupy Tucson" in the meantime are
costing those who are working hundreds of thousands of dollars. In which
I'm sure the City will be happy to once again raise the people's taxes
to pay for that bill. People who own businesses downtown are suffering,
police officers using the very limited resources they have and those who
should be protected who pay taxes to have that police protection are
being neglected.

I guess as long as the attention is on the people who want to abuse the
laws; they want to be first afforded what other taxpayers are paying
for; and they could care less about other people's small businesses,
their mortgages, and their children - is alright with you.

America's greatest freedom is the freedom to protest, but if the only
way you can make your point is by hurting the innocent ones around you,
who have nothing to do with the bank institutions, then yeah- I have a
problem with that.


Representative Terri Proud
Arizona House of Representatives
1700 W. Washington Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
Email: tproud@azleg.gov


Ms. Proud,

I own a business downtown, and yes, I am hurting, but not because of the demonstrators. I am hurting because of the damage that has been done to our economy by irresponsible, largely Republican policies to deregulate the banking industry and to grant personhood and unlimited monetary influence over campaigns to Corporations. The only reason the demonstrators are costing the city money is that the city council doesn't have the courage to just let them have their say. These people are hurting no-one. The ones who are hurting us are the extraordinarily wealthy who have taken almost all of our economic gains over the last three decades. they have gambled away the future of millions of people with pensions and 401K's, they have taken bailouts and turned them into multi-million dollar bonuses, they have sent jobs to China and India, and they have bought a large portion of our government, including, it seems, you. The whole country needs to side with these demonstrators, including state and municipal governments. Then, yes, we can influence the Congress.

David Scott Moyer

Would you send me a Republican bill that has deregulated banking industry as you have claimed. It's easy to repeat what others keep saying but often finding the actual truth is a bit harder when the rhetoric is an "idea" versus "actual".

Representative Terri Proud
Arizona House of Representatives


That's easy. The Glass-Steagall act was largely repealed by the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act in 1999. This allowed banks to speculate in the market with depositors' money. Canada did not repeal similar legislation in their laws, and has not suffered the banking and mortgage crisis that we have. Only one Democrat in the Senate voted for this act. Every Republican did.
Thank you for taking the time to ask

David Scott Moyer


so knowing that people still decided to participate and you're saying it's the banks fault? I'm just wondering at what point do the people own up to their responsibility? I'm not sure but if millions cancelled their credit cards instead of sleeping in parks I believe would be a stronger point. Don't you?

I personally don't think government has the right to invest our money - that should be our decision and if we go broke because we made bad investments then so be it. But that's not something the people want because they want government to take care of them with more rules and regulations and welfare.

Representative Terri Proud
Arizona House of Representatives


Oh Really? So you believe President Bush should have let the banks collapse instead of bailing them out? We agree on that, I guess. I have never taken a handout from the government, but I, and millions like me, would prefer that our tax dollars go to infrastructure, education, and the social safety net that makes us a civilized people. We would prefer it not go to subsidizing the shipping of jobs overseas, the funding of capricious wars, and the bailing out of speculators who have destroyed our economy. Is "Not believing the government should invest our money" code for the privatization of Social Security? If so, imagine where I and millions of others who have paid into this pension plan would be after the collapse of the market cause by the banks. Responsible Capitalism includes government regulation of all industry, including banks. We are the government. Sadly, too many of us in recent years have voted for legislators like yourself, who would prefer to regress to the 1890s, with no labor laws and no environmental regulations. We are waking up. You have made it very clear that you do not serve the people of Arizona, but rather the corporate hierarchy. I hope your constituency can be made aware if this by the next election. I can see you are afraid of the people Occupying Armory park and hundreds of parks like it around the country, and you should be. The paradigm is changing and you will no longer be a part of it.

Good luck in your short political career.

David Scott Moyer
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