The most stark indication that the Occupy Wall Street protests are working is the manner in which the plutocracy is reacting to them.
They are afraid, people. They thought they had everything under control, undermining President Obama, containing any efforts at financial and political reform, crushing unions, whipping up hysteria among the Tea Party crowd.
But the protests demonstrate that their schemes aren't working. As I watch them flail around, trying to find a way to counter this grass-roots uprising, I'm reminded of an episode of the Sopranos. It's a situation that I'm sure every parent can understand to one degree or another.
Tony and Carmella are trying to determine how best to discipline their daughter, Meadow. They discuss their options: cut her off from her credit card, restrict her liberties, and so on. The conversation ends with Tony cautioning: "Let's not overplay our hand here, 'cuz if she finds out we're powerless, we're f*cked."
Similar conversations are no doubt unfolding in the air-conditioned board rooms above Wall Street and the elegantly-decorated conference rooms on Capitol Hill. And, yes, in the West Wing of the White House as well.
But when the people take to the streets, and stay there, it quickly becomes apparent how powerless are the monied elites. And see how they squeal!
"If you read the newspapers today, I, for one, am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street and the other cities across the country. And believe it or not, some in this town, have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans. But you sent us here to fight for you and all Americans." --House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (How's that for bald-faced hypocrisy?)Tony Soprano couldn't have said it any better.
We have had a strain of hostility to free enterprise and frankly, a strain of hostility to classic America starting in our academic institutions and spreading across this country and I regard the Wall Street protesters as a natural outcome of a bad education system teaching them really dumb ideas. --Newt Gingrich ('nuff said)
We have to be careful not to allow this to get any legitimacy. I’m taking this seriously in that I’m old enough to remember what happened in the 1960s when the left-wing took to the streets and somehow the media glorified them and it ended up shaping policy. We can’t allow that to happen. --Representative Peter King, Islamophobe
They are afraid that they won't get elected. These comments aren't based on fear that the left wing will gain power, but rather they produce fear in a large portion of the electorate who may not have bothered to vote without the fear that hippies and commies will be running the government.
ReplyDeleteIt may well be that this fear works better as a motivating force than the protesters, I simply don't know. My guess is that it will when it gets to the voting booth.