Posted on 10/10/2011 9:42:30 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
There are many differences between the tea party and the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, but perhaps the most significant is this: on Election Day, tea partiers will make it to the polls to vote while many of the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters will be too busy smoking weed to remember to cast a ballot.
I know that may sound juvenile, but it is hardly off base.
Having visited with Washington, D.C.’s version of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests on multiple occasions, it is abundantly clear we are not dealing with a new phenomenon. We are dealing with a usual left-wing protest composed of a smorgasbord of focuses. You have those focused on wanting to end America’s wars, or perhaps all wars (with the exception, of course, for noble campaigns like the Cuban Revolution). You have union supporters. You have those focused on blaming corporations and successful businessmen for all the world’s ills. You have those who want the government to give them this and those who want to give them that. And so on and so forth.
That is, of course, if they can even explain what they are protesting about. Many simply give obtuse, buffoonish sounding answers to that question. There is certainly no laser like focus on any single issue.
Which, of course, is why the tea party has been so effective. Budgetary issues, particularly America’s ballooning debt, and reducing government interference in the economy are far and way the main concerns of the tea party movement. This is why you can have Ron Paul supporters and Marco Rubio supporters working together under one tent. If foreign policy became a significant issue of focus for the tea party, the movement would become unfocused, not to mention fracture along Paul-Rubio lines. I think this fracture is ultimately inevitable because you can’t ignore foreign policy issues (and social issues) forever, but to date this laser-like focus is what has made the tea party movement such a powerful political force, especially during the 2010 midterm elections.
Then there is the issue of the “Occupy Wall Street” protesters being out of their minds. I don’t say this because I disagree with them politically — which I do on nearly every issue. I say this because of videos like the one below. What you will see is not an anecdote. It is process. Anyone who would engage in such bizarre, cult-like behavior is totally unserious and more likely ape-sh*t insane. What’s more, this is hardly an effective way to make decisions.
(VIDEO AT LINK)
This is not to say that Wall Street is beyond criticism. Wall Street banks certainly deserve part of the blame for America’s recent economic problems. Michael Lewis has documented this well in two excellent books, “The Big Short” and “Boomerang.” But imposing confiscatory taxes on the rich is not going to save us from impending economic catastrophe. Only serious and drastic entitlement reform, something that none of the many signs I saw the protesters carrying seemed to promote, and policies to promote serious economic growth will.
But just as asinine as many of the protesters has been some of the commentary about them. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and others have referred to the protests as the American version of the Arab Spring. It is hard to imagine a sillier comparison. Arab revolutionaries were fighting against entrenched dictatorships that could have and did use deadly violence to suppress them.
The “Occupy Wall Street” protesters won’t be tortured and there is no threat they will be mowed down. And if they want to change America’s leaders, they don’t need to forcefully overthrow a tyrant. They need to build a large enough coalition and vote.
Literally occupying Wall Street will only earn them derision, not political success.
This Occupy fiasco is the Mother of All Exploding Cigars. This isn’t going to turn out well for the DemocRATS. 2012 might be bigger for the Republicans than we thought.
B-b-b-but the OWS Movement has drum circles, man! Drum Circles! They’re like magic an’ stuff!
This Occupy fiasco is the Mother of All Exploding Cigars. This isn’t going to turn out well for the DemocRATS. 2012 might be bigger for the Republicans than we thought.
I agree.
But I have lost faith in the majority of Americans to think or even see the obvious.
I’ve got another take on all of this. These useful idiots, set up by the monsters pulling all the strings, will make for a wonderful Reichstagg fire.
Mayhap the last three years of fiscal depravity is begging to hit home. Despite all the ideological diatribe, nothing hits home better then an empty wallet.
This is why we need to be very careful we don’t associate ourselves with this mob, because if it fails or gets so violent the news media can no longer hide it, then the TEA Party will share in the blame. I can assure you the media will play it that way. The Ron Paul people and the ultra Libertarians are flocking to these protest, doing us no favors.
Mayhap the last three years of fiscal depravity is begging to hit home. Despite all the ideological diatribe, nothing hits home better then an empty wallet.
Very true.
But who will they blame? Republicans, of course.
Remember, its the evil Republicans who are for the rich.
Wall Street and the banks helped get Obama elected.
The visuals coming out of that mess really make these Ne'er Do Wells look good, eh?
These aimless brats with their defecating on police cars and making love sex in public are merely kabuki theatre for aging New Leftists such as Obama and his mentor, William Ayers.
How these aging Weather Underground types must enjoy this filth. Reminds them of their youth :-|
3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.
4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to bind him.
5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him.
7 He shouted at the top of his voice, "what do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God's name don't torture me!"
8 For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you impure spirit!"
9 Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many."
Mark 5;2-9
C’mon, it’s all just an excuse for the country’s segment of lazy hippies who avoid work at all costs to get together and have another dope and sex bacchanalia. Nothing more, nothing less. Two things are sure to happen: the weather is going to get a lot colder and their crazy demands most certainly will not be met. They will then all go home, likely to their parent’s basement, and think about a future dope and sex party where they can again bang on drums, smoke dope, have public sex, and protest about being oppressed. History is constantly recyclying itself. Why should the hippies from the sixties have all the fun?
In a month from now we won’t even be talking about this because the weather will have turned cold, the weed will be getting scarce and the locals will be sick to death of these losers. Most of the so called protesters will leave because they don’t have the force of character to face adversity like sleeping out in freezing weather. The rest will just lose interest and move on.
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