Occupy Theaters

Most Americans know their democracy has been hijacked by Big Money; that politicians are working for their rich contributors and leaving We The People in the lurch. The Tea Party knows it, and so too does the Occupy movement and both want to get out of the hole. The problem is the Tea Party wants to dig deeper, and the Occupy movement doesn’t where to find a ladder. In “Occupy Theaters,” Dartmouth- and Stanford-trained economist David L. Smith provides the ladder, proposing a new political process to break the Big Money’s stranglehold on American Democracy, thereby reorienting government to serve the People. In this new democratic process, the current dominant political medium, television, would be replaced by Internet social media, through which large numbers of people would be persuaded to gather from time to time in a nationwide network of Internet-linked multiplex movie theaters. Multiplex theaters would become the dominant political venue, replacing the couch in front of the television in which passive, solitary voters are force-fed Big Money’s propaganda. A portion of ticket sales to these Assemblies and of food concession sales would replace Big Money as the dominant source of funding. Thus liberated from the corrupting influence of Big Money, candidates nominated and elected through the new process would serve the interests of their constituencies. Occupy Theaters represents the next logical step in political organization: local, city, county, state and, ultimately, national town meetings taking place in Internet-linked theaters at times when they would otherwise remain unused. High-tech meets high-touch -- all well within today’s technical capabilities, lacking only the vision and the popular will to make it happen. “Occupy Theaters” provides the vision; readers must supply the popular will.

Most Americans know their democracy has been hijacked by Big Money; that politicians are working for their rich contributors and leaving We The People in the lurch. The Tea Party knows it, and so too does the Occupy movement and both want to get out of the hole. The problem is the Tea Party wants to dig deeper, and the Occupy movement doesn’t where to find a ladder. Reformers today are confronted by the following uncomfortable reality: No reform is possible until Big Money’s stranglehold on the democratic process is broken. All present attempts to “get money out of politics” suffer from the same fatal flaw, namely they require the cooperation of lawmakers who owe their offices to Big Money. Little Money can’t outspend Big Money. Big Money can only be outflanked. In “Occupy Theaters,” Dartmouth- and Stanford-trained economist David L. Smith provides the ladder, proposing a new political process to break the Big Money’s stranglehold on American Democracy, thereby reorienting government to serve the People. In this new democratic process, the current dominant political medium, television, would be replaced by Internet social media, through which large numbers of people would be persuaded to gather from time to time in a nationwide network of Internet-linked multiplex movie theaters. Multiplex theaters would become the dominant political venue, replacing the couch in front of the television in which passive, solitary voters are force-fed Big Money’s propaganda. A portion of ticket sales to these Assemblies and of food concession sales would replace Big Money as the dominant source of funding. Thus liberated from the corrupting influence of Big Money, candidates nominated and elected through the new process would serve the interests of their constituencies. Occupy Theaters represents the next logical step in political organization: local, city, county, state and, ultimately, national town meetings taking place in Internet-linked theaters at times when they would otherwise remain unused. High-tech meets high-touch -- all well within today’s technical capabilities, lacking only the vision and the popular will to make it happen. “Occupy Theaters” provides the vision; readers must supply the popular will.

Born and raised in Argentina, David Smith earned his bachelor's degree with honors in economics from Dartmouth College and his master’s degree in finance with distinction from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He served as a U.S. Naval officer on destroyers during the Cuban Missile Crisis and attached to the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam. His broad perspective on the world economy and financial markets was gained through a 35-year career in the financial arena, including securities analysis with a major U.S. bank and a NYSE-member firm, mergers and acquisitions with a Fortune 500 conglomerate, national securities underwriting as president and CEO of a NASD-member firm, and as a public speaker and author of the "Cyclical Investing" economics/finance newsletter for 24 years and later "David L. Smith’s Cassandra Chronicles" blending economics, finance, history and politics. He discontinued both newsletters in 2008 to dedicate his full attention to writing books and his blog. In 2013 published "The Predicament -- How did it happen? How bad is it? The case for radical change now!" (2nd Ed.) explaining how the present economic, financial and political dysfunctions emerged after the relatively balanced and prosperous Eisenhower years. In "The Predicament," Smith makes the case for a radical change of direction to avoid further economic, financial and social deterioration; to restore the solvency, prosperity and contentment of the middle class; and to relieve the plight of the poor. Identifying the root cause of the American Predicament as the hijacking of the democratic political process by a rich and powerful elite, David Smith proposes a completely new democratic political process to bypass Big Money and television to return the government to the service of the People, a theme he expands on in his second book, "Occupy Theaters." His third book, soon to be released, titled "The Egyptian Solution -- And Other Lessons of History to Get Us Out of This Mess"draws on Lessons of History to provide specific solutions for the American Predicament. He is widely quoted in the print and broadcast press, including national magazines such as Money and Financial Planning, The Financial Times of London’s The Banker and newspapers including The Wall Street Journal Online, television, including CNBC, PBS and numerous local television.