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'm beginning to think Republicans have the right Idea. Let your contributions be in a individual account where neither you or the government can touch it. Imagine the difference in an average 10 percent per year over the lifetime of the index compared to treasury bonds return... when they paid them.

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ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
I doubt protests have ever achieved anything. In the past it was the threat of severe social unrest or even revolution that changed things but never ever peaceful protests from what I can think of.

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ORIGINAL: JeffBC

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ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
I doubt protests have ever achieved anything. In the past it was the threat of severe social unrest or even revolution that changed things but never ever peaceful protests from what I can think of.

I used to think like this. I now understand that to be an artifact of my generation. I can tell you one thing Occupy changed. They sat in tents somewhere and someone on some tech blog I was reading commented on needing to step past them to buy the new iDevice and I had no idea what the hell "occupiers" were so I googled it... then I became one. Then I started talking to all my friends. So what those guys in that tent in front of the apple store did was bring the issue to my attention. They may not know what they did but I do.

Whether or not my actions will actually result in change at the national level remains to be seen. But I have to say that alerting otherwise unsuspecting people to a problem definitely counts as "changing things".... if for no other reason than they encourage the next step... "threat of severe social unrest". And honestly, with approval ratings in the basement, poverty on the rise, unemployment (or underemployment) on the rise, etc. then "severe social unrest" isn't that far away. When people like me (historically not very politically involved and absolutely not the conspiracy theory sort) start talking in pragmatic terms about whether the President should be tried for war crimes and/or treason then something has changed. When people carry signs that say things like, "When librarians are protesting you know shit is fucked up" then something has changed.

Everything has to start somewhere, Occupy was a start --->

It's also worth pointing out that occupy shaped the tenor of much of the political debate. Class warfare was a substantial issue in the election. I'd call that changing something.