The need for a forum

En route, some commenters have made legitimate points about why Occupy Wall Street does not need a vision – or at least why protesters do not.

O.W.S. has made a list of demands, probably fairly thorough, about what economic changes need to happen. And the goal is clear: occupy Wall Street (or your local town's street) until these demands are accomplished.

Thus, it can be seen why a forum for O.W.S. is unnecessary – from this goal's point of view. But this forum is not meant to be from that point of view; the purpose of this forum is not just to support or make (new) demands for O.W.S.

It is about the Americans who desire a better future. Many have different opinions of what this is, let alone how to achieve it. Support for O.W.S. comes from the recognition that many, if not all, of these demands must be met for substantial progress in many other areas of society to occur. But even a fulfilled, inexhaustible list of demands to Wall Street will not achieve the future Americans are looking for. Just reviewing people's points proves this, especially since many extend beyond Wall Street (even if they are substantially influenced by it). Money has a lot to do with things, but money is still not everything.

But this forum will hopefully also give momentum to the O.W.S. movement. It was stated that “Wall Street knows what we want”. But if Wall Street knows that, they know more than the average American. With this in mind, this forum is purposed so that the average person can not only find out what they want, but understand why. The goal is to increase understanding in a horizontal fashion so that everyone can participate and have an equal say in their future, regardless of who or where they are.

In short, this forum is in the pursuit of a much longer-term and broader goal than O.W.S. The idea is to use the momentum of the O.W.S. movement to bring us together to work out our visions. At the same time, just because we have a vision does not mean we cannot make demands. O.W.S. serves our short-term goals. We must continue to support Occupy Wall Street, but we cannot forget to prepare for a future beyond this movement.