We, faculty members at Vanderbilt, declare our solidarity with and support For the Occupy Wall Street movement now underway in Nashville, as well as in other cities across the nation. We support the movement’s aim to restore the centrality of regular citizens to democratic self-government. Specifically, we support the movement's aim to reclaim the people's power that has been stripped by the current alignment of government and corporate power. The Nashville protesters, who are obtaining legal permits for their marches, protesting peacefully, and following the law, are organized in their collective message: to end corporate sponsorship of elections and to end the corporation's status as legal person. Their demands seek a democratic means of redress for the many inequalities of the recent US economy, exacerbated by financial crises, and recession, and manifested in widespread un- and under-employment, economic insecurity and rising poverty and homelessness. We applaud the democratic initiative and the peaceful tactics of the Occupy Nashville protesters, and we call on all members of the Vanderbilt community to lend support to this potentially transformative movement.