Robert Reich: "We Need To Occupy Our Democracy"

In cities across the country, mayors and police forces who haven't already rousted out Occupy protesters are deciding how they'll deal with the "nuisance" the encampments present.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has a very different view of the situation.

"The REAL Public Nuisance," he says, is a system which money is now free speech and corporations are people. And in which REAL people who try to exercise their first amendment rights are pepper-sprayed and beaten.

In this new video, Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley and a friend of the Occupy movemen, speaks eloquently and directly to the value of local occupations and civil disobedience in these dangerous times: Demonstrating to take our democracy back from big money is the essence of free speech in a democratic society.

Produced by MoveOn.org, the two-minute video is an essential primer for anybody who's part of the Occupy movement…or who complains about having to step around tents in downtown areas.