‘Occupy’ naïvely rages at the wrong targets

Nick Giant in a Dec. 29 letter (“One nation under God now one under greed”) says he doesn’t understand why there’s a backlash against the Occupy movement. Let me enlighten him.

His letter read like it was ripped right from an Obama speech. Now I don’t know Giant but, generally speaking, the individuals I’ve seen making up the rank and file of Occupy are high school and college kids who have been misinformed by their teachers and professors as to how the world really works as opposed to how these educators wished it did. With very little real world experience, these children fall for it. Pay taxes, hold a mortgage, break your back every day for 20 years at a job, and you might see things differently.

In addition to these children, Occupy also attracts the types who have already made their fortune or live in a protective bubble of union influence or trust funds. The rest of us have jobs and families we have to occupy.

Lastly, professional agitators and revolutionaries have jumped at the chance to have the kind of legitimacy that tone-deaf media have given them. How is it that the Communist Party USA’s platform is now being taken seriously? Because they are hiding in and fueling the populist rage that engenders Occupy.

I understand everyone is angry. There are plenty of reasons to be.

I suggest we look to those who can really affect your life. It’s not corporate America. Washington has the power to tax, regulate and imprison you. They’ve stolen your liberties, your money and your future. Focus your rage there. Otherwise, keep watching the right hand while the left robs you blind.

IAN HIGGINS Auburn

Bill designed to break grip of working class

My state senator, David Long, backed by our ambitious governor and the Chamber of Commerce, is spearheading legislation aimed at weakening one of the few remaining stepping stones to middle-class life. I’m speaking about the right-to-work bill.

Long, Gov. Mitch Daniels and the Chamber of Commerce don’t respect us. They view employees as a necessary evil. We’re uneducated, ill-mannered and undeserving of a living wage. Unions give us a voice, and they aren’t interested in hearing what we have to say. We’re one of the last bastions against their greed and power.

The system is gamed against working people, and the American dream is slipping further away for ever-increasing numbers of us. We’re hanging on by our fingertips, and this egregious bill is the boot heel intended to break our grip.

Meanwhile, our pastors tell us not to worry, have more children, and God will take care of us. Politicians tell us to turn on the Super Bowl and hope we’ll be too distracted to notice.

CHARLIE COLE Fort Wayne

Right-to-work claims are not borne out

Right-to-work proponents are wildly exaggerating its benefits to sway public opinion in favor of its passage. Gov. Mitch Daniels and House Speaker Brian Bosma have both joined the disinformation campaign.

Daniels says that a “huge majority” of Hoosiers support right to work. Simply not true. The most recent poll conducted by Ball State University reveals that 48 percent of Indiana’s citizens have not yet made up their minds. Of the remaining 52 percent, half are opposed to the legislation.

Both the governor and the speaker claim this legislation is about job creation. Daniels said, “Countless middle-class jobs ... would come to Indiana if only we provided right-to-work.” “Countless” means innumerable, too many to count, infinite. “Middle-class jobs” are generally defined as paying $20 or more per hour. So the governor is saying that an infinite number of $20-an-hour jobs would come to Indiana if only we had right to work. Unbelievable. How can he expect anyone to take this seriously?

If right to work is such a grand thing, why do its supporters have to lie about it in order to sell it? I guess the answer is obvious.

HOWARD OWEN Martinsville