Why has the #Occupy Movement not embraced the mainstream?

With a call for action of a general strike all over the country this coming Tuesday I have to wonder who is the #Occupy movement  trying to inspire and appeal to?  Last fall all over the country an amazing thing occurred as people began to come together in large  numbers to publicly voice their collective opinions in drawing much needed attention to the crimes of economic injustice, wealth disparity, banks to big to fail, corporatism, the mortgage crisis,debt, Wall Street, and the 1%. Over the last forty years  special interests groups representing these beliefs have worked endlessly in shifting our economy and laws to their advantage and polluting and corrupting our  elected officials with armies of lobbyist who have led too many smart, well we thought so when we elected them, people into buying into these enormous and reckless policies and making them a reality.

I have to credit Bill Moyers in his efforts to wake  up the middle and working class in mainstream America with his new program. He in my opinion has really made one of the best and most convincing arguments of the real and dramatic changes that have occurred in our country over the last forty years and the selling of our democracy to the highest bidder. He presents his case  in a logical and reasonable fashion that allows  people to listen.

 I also highly recommend reading the  book Winner Take All Politics How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class  by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson. This  book will enrage you and open your eyes on how all this has happen and not by some strange coincidence either. Bills Moyers cites this book often in his new program and interviews the authors.
The authors and their team put together the history, players, and polices over the last forty years in shocking details.The power and control these special interests now exert on all of us is one of the biggest threats to our democracy since the cold war.Many agree with these  assessments whether they are a radical, Libertarian, tea bagger, Democrat,Republican, or Occupier.

The question is what to do about this?

It seems from my experience working with a local #Occupy movement we are leaderless right now. Yes I know the #Occupy movement is not supposed to have  "leaders" but seeing how things have unfolded it is clear that leadership qualities are much more  needed at this point in time.

You can reject the system but you can not reinvent the wheel.

If you are a person who has leadership qualities and have used them working with small or large groups of people professionally, or as a volunteer, you understand that consensus building is one of the most important aspects that can help lead,organize, and motivate large groups of people to get things done.

The #Occupy movement needs to grow up in someways and embrace certain proven and recognizable ways of bringing more people into the  movement.
This chiefly means reaching out to the mainstream as that is who we need to inspire right now.
It needs to be our biggest call to action to date but sadly it is not even in the discussion.
Many recent calls  to action are scheduled at  times during the week when many of us "mainstream" people are working, taking our  kids to school, or simply not able to attend.

The May Day call for a general strike is a just another example of this. What does this say to the 99%? " Come on folks strike this coming Tuesday and we will send a message"  First America is not ready for a general strike. It has been decades since the last high profile strike and  guess what President Reagan fired them all. That weighs heavily on people's mind and even more so in this fragile economy. It is honestly selfish to ask this of people right now.

If  these  #Occupiers simply considered doing this May action on a Saturday or Sunday and organizing this as a "Welcome back. We need you" rally many more  people would consider attending and  participating.
You have to realize that after more then six months of awareness and information being put out in the media and on social media many mainstream people could be ready to join.

They just need that invitation.

For whatever reasons that is not on our radar and it is weakening the cause.

This movement will not have figure heads or leaders like Martin Luther King to inspire us it will be the 99% who will be the faces and voices of this movement and we  need them all....badly. If  Tuesday is a utter failure it will be time for us to stop looking in the mirror and to begin looking out and talking to our neighbors and the strangers in our communities and reaching out to them and letting them know we are just like them.
We want a world that is better than the one today, one that is fair and just and provides a good  quality of life to all of our fellow citizens. We were just the first wave trying to awaken and reinvigorate this calling to save our country and  by no means does this mean we know best.

Come on #Occupiers take a chance on the mainstream they are who we really are.