OWS

I have had a lot of people ask my opinion of the OWS movement. This week, several people, up to and including the President, likened OWS to the Tea Party. This has had some wide-spread and varying levels of both acceptance and anger. The pic that I have attached, which may or may not be readable, had some good points (and some arrogant points) that I thought deserved some attention. So, here goes:

The original outcry of the Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Party was against the over-taxation of the citizens to pay for the gluttony of the government. The Tea Party voiced opposition to 'favored' businesses (aka businesses that were giving millions of dollars in lobby money in exchange for special treatment) receiving "special treatment." The Tea Party opposed laying the price of the failed banking industry on the backs of the tax-payers.
Ironically, I could remove the words "Tea Party" from that entire paragraph and replace it with "OWS movement" and be completely correct. As is often true in politics, the goals are similar...it's the application that is different. Both groups had similar goals but launched into completely different directions. The Tea Party took the approach of infilitrating the Government and fixing it. OWS took the approach of taking the streets to make the Government listen. I'm not defending or attacking either approach, as both have had success in our country as well as others. The problems always come in when a group loses focus of it's goals and objectives. The Tea Party made waves about "special treatment" for businesses and "too much federal government" and then (as soon as they had the nation stage) proclaimed that raising any tax on the "specially treated" businesses was wrong, and that part of "limiting" the federal government should be by GIVING the government power over social issues (abortion, gay marriage, etc). They lost their effectiveness because they lost sight of their primary objective.
Conversely, OWS started marching for the same goals. But their protests are aimed at people who not only aren't listening, but at people who don't HAVE to listen. I doubt that there is a single billionaire investor on the planet that sets his own feet in the NYSE to do trading. He doesn't care if the streets are filled with protestors. In fact, he is dining sumptuously because all of the protesters are buying food and supplies from companies that he has invested in. If their presence causes a ripple in the banking industry, he doesn't care. He's invested for the long haul. The ripples across the banking industry and stock market only affect those people who have smaller investments...like 401K's. If the industies collapsed, the people hurt the most (percentage wise) would not be the billionaires, it would be the middle-class who have saved their entire lives to be able to retire.
To me, both movements are spinning their wheels. If OWS truly wants to make an impact, they should learn a couple of lessons from the Tea Party. Stop protesting on Wall Street. Go protest in front of the Governor's mansion and the State Building. Demand that a constitutional convention be called to stop lobby-money bribes. Demand that an amendments be drawn up and ratified. In order to be effective, one has to realize where differences can be made. The local and state officials need to be re-elected to survive. The Wall Street billionaires don't. The time and energy is being mis-directed.
Truthfully, I'm scared of the misdirection. As these mobs grow, and the clashes increase, eventually mass rioting will ensue. Mobs are not known for making great, rational decisions. They generally lead to destruction, followed by looting and chaos. These will never be good for our country, especially when we have enemies who would love an opportunity to catch us unaware.
My advice for the day:
Tea Party: Get your morality out of your politics. 'Adam and Steve' have NOTHING to do with limited federal government and fixing out-of-control spending. At some point, you may have to give up one to achieve the other. Make your choice now. If you continue to push candidates who are socially conservative in a country that is NOT socially conservative anymore, you will end up giving the election to people wha are socially liberal AND economically liberal. By trying to tack-on morality, you are puching moderates into the liberal camp.
OWS: Direct your efforts to get things changed at the people who can actually change them. It's ok to be angry. It's ok to recognize that things aren't fair. It's better to do something constructive about it. Blocking the common man from getting to work or getting on the subway is not helping your cause. Go cause friction with the people who need your votes.

Now, let's see if I can get myself detained by the new powers that the government is voting itself....