I've talked a lot about the Occupy Wall Street protests and their satellites the last few episodes. These well spoken, well groomed, and reasonable people are adding a wonderful and refreshing voice to the political process. Their signs and chants, grounded in strong history, a love of freedom, a firm moral foundation, and a genuine desire to see the lives of all Americans improve is a fantastic site to behold. They are clean and ensure that everywhere they go is left at least as clean if not cleaner than they were when they arrived. I have never seen a better organized and exceptional grassroots effort.
Now that all of you have decided that I've taken leave of my senses I'll bring you back to reality. What I have just described is how the protests are being handled in most of the main stream media. Okay, the clean part I made up myself. I put that in for shock value. The way these hippie wannabes are being treated by the press and many leaders in the Democrat party you would think that they are the direct descendants of the Founders themselves. The London Daily Mail and New York Post have done a much better job of showing the rest of us what these people are really like. Filth, drugs, drinking, and random sexual encounters are the norm along with rampant destruction of both private and public property. I derive some minor pleasure from the irony of environmental activists making such a mess of the local environment around them. Yes, they are among the crowd. Many of these people are professional protesters who show up for almost any left wing cause.
Among the protesters are circulating party seekers and freeloaders Of course, lots of the protesters are freeloaders themselves but these are different. They aren't there "for the cause" just for the easy access to drugs, free food, and women with loose morals. In the New York Post story I posted earlier, one protester exclaimed, “It kinda makes me think of what Woodstock must have been like." It doesn't speak well for these protesters when this gathering gets compared to a huge "Free-Love" concert and party. Illegal drug use is rampant among crowds gathered. A Post reporter was offered pot and heroin by a protester for a bargain price. While Mayor Bloomberg has correctly pointed out that the protests are hurting the city's economy, I am certain that the illegal one run by street gangs and other elements is booming.
By and large, these people represent the wacky, fringe left with their assortment of communists, environmental extremists, and other malcontents. They are the worst the left has to offer. I did get a chuckle from a story about "Joe the Plumber" announcing his congressional bid. There was a follow up video at the bottom showing a plumber at one of the protests complaining about his problems and blaming Wall Street for them. It's an interesting contrast between a guy who works his tail off building his business and takes his problems on himself and another who whines about not working while not looking for work. Character matters.
I do not understand why the elite of the left is supporting this insanity. It's horrible public relations for their cause. Even with the best spin the New York Times can provide, the public is not taking well to these protests. Yet President Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and others are supporting these fanatics. When this all started on the so-called National Day of Rage on September 16th (chosen in honor of the Weatherman's violent protests in 1968), the press and political elites largely ignored them. Now, congressmen (from safely Democrat districts), media commentators, and even Harvard professors are showing up to speak to the gatherings. Why are these fringe leftists being treated like they represent the main stream?
The answer is very simple. The filthy, naive fools who need to have their food provided for them because they didn't plan anything beyond their protest signs are behaving like the children the leftist elitists believe we all are. From their perspective, we are all children incapable of making good decisions without their benevolent guidance and leadership. It is up to them to provide for us and ensure that we all have everything we need just not too much of it to make everything fair. They need to decide what we are allowed to eat, where we should live, and how much we can earn for our labors. Without them, we are merely the unwashed masses leading meaningless lives until they give us meaning, purpose, and guidance. To the elite, they are us.
Contrast that with the Tea Party movement. All of the statements I made at the beginning of the post actually do apply to to the Tea Party. There have been no arrests, no clashes with police, and no absurd occupations. Drug dealers and party seekers do not show up at the rallies. The views spoken at the gatherings line up with the sentiments of the majority of Americans in every Gallup poll. Why is it then that they are attacked by the press and elites as fringe lunatics? Because they are afraid that the movement will take hold. If we stand up for ourselves and demand the ability to make our own decisions free from government interference then we prove we don't need them. They have to face the reality that we never did.
Progressives and liberals are patient. They know that their beliefs fly in the face of the Constitution, history, morality, and even common sense. They speak of revolution and throw adoration of the likes of Castro, Stalin, Lenin, and other brutal dictators in communist regimes. Orwell correctly pointed out in this dystopian novel 1984 that, "Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship." Alinsky , the great prophet of radicals, said essentially the same thing. Stalin, one of the worst tyrants of the Twentieth Century and idol of the late Saddam Hussein, said this, "Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas?"
In stark contrast to these essentially mindless protesters, the free thinkers of the conservative movement are a huge threat to their growing oligarchy. As long as we seek out truth and try to make up our own minds, they cannot win for long. We must be lulled to sleep or silenced through bullying, attacks, and ridicule. Only when we are afraid to speak truth will we lose. We are starting to win. As long as we are examples of good citizenship and reason, we will continue to do so. Oh yeah, and we need to shower too. That alone sets us apart.
Stay Strong!
