The previous steps are here and here.

The previous step is here.

Click to view slideshow.

Previous steps here, here, here, and here.

Previous steps here, here, and here.

I’m running out of white paint.
The sky, sea and land need more definition.
I’m pleased with the progress so far.

Previous steps here and here.

It seems step two is over.
I’m unsure how this will turn out.

See part one here.

I spent seven hours at Zuccotti Park in the heart of #occupywallstreet. I, a cynic at heart, wandered the park, asking questions. I spent most of the time listening. At nights end, I didn’t find myself yearning to pitch a tent, but I had a newfound respect for their actions. #occupywallstreet may not be my flag to bear, but its some one’s and they should not be dismissed.

What I saw at #occupywallstreet was a group of angry hopeful Americans from all walks of life. They have vastly different political positions yet they all are in agreement on one thing, that we have a problem. Instead of wallowing in the pain the problem causes, they chose to band together and demand solutions. Whether you agree or disagree with their conclusions or their aims, which even they admit are muddled, their actions are those that we should all be engaged in. We all should engage in civic life and debate.

Civic life has long been neglected in America. The political class abuses the lack of engagement among the public. The few who fund our elections have an ever-increasing sway on our politics. The megaphone it takes to establish a political candidate is increasingly expensive. Those charged with winning elections know our voting rates are average at best. The most cynical among them shift our debate into nasty partisan attacks that they know will depress voter turnout further. Our elections are rarely about ideas. They’re about denomination of an opponent. Our politics is now sport. Our media seeks scoreboard figures even when there are no legitimate answers. The Diaspora of opinion in our media is reduced to black and white. It does not reflect our society. It does reflect the current political state of affairs. There is a growing gulf between our representatives and the public. That gulf is filled with money.

Money is the decisive reason that most contested elections are decided. Small donors established President Obama, but it took the richest among us to get him across the finish line. The president is prepping for a billion-dollar reelection fight. All this while the average American wage lays stagnant since the 1970s and as the latest census data says, the median household wage has dropped over 6 percent in two years.

We the people have been long distracted by the comforts and promises of late 20th century society. For millions Americans that comfort no longer exists. Americans who #occupywallstreet and hundreds of municipalities around the country are rightfully mad about the inequalities and unfairness they see in our system. They don’t represent us all. They do represent the largest circle in our society’s Venn diagram.
They feel forgotten. They feel their vote never mattered. They no longer benefit from what little they expected from our system. And the little they wanted is no longer enough. The machine is no longer communicating.

Like any machine, when a society malfunctions, when it fails to meet its aims, whatever the invested parties believe those aims are, its usefulness is reconsidered. The disenfranchised are forced to put their partisan bickering aside and form alliances like the tea party and #occupywallstreet. While those two groups are strange bedfellows, their differences are moot points. We cannot debate the legions in both movements. These are everyday people with real grievances. Their existence is a symptom a greater problem. A growing part of our society believes that they don’t have a say in their own lives and the destiny of their country.

When a society malfunctions, its citizens much take civic action and decide how to reform it or whether they must reboot it. America is not a democracy. It’s a representative republic. It takes social convulsions like these to realign our representatives with the public.