I still haven't visited Occupy DC yet. Maybe tomorrow since we aren't leaving for West Virginia until Monday.
The "Occuy [fill in the blank]" movement is beginning to wear out it's welcome (if there was any welcome to begin with) in many cities. Most of the occupy camps are not there legally. Many have problems with sanitation and trash, they are damaging tax supported facilites and grounds, and they often attract the homeless and people with mental or drug problems. Cities claim the occupy camps require extra law enforcement resources which means the rest of the city suffers and the taxpayers get charged. The bottom line is, on balance is this movement accomplishing anything positive?
If you read the news reports you would have to wonder, because they tend to dwell on the violence, the drugs, the damage to the city's facilities, how much the extra city law enforcement resources are costing the taxpayers, and how it's making the rest of the city less safe. Also, the right is going hog wild painting the protesters as dirty hippies, the scum of the earth, and I worry that public opinion is going to swing quickly against the movement, especially as Fox News and the richly supported right wing propaganda machine gets going.
Obviously my heart is with the protesters. I think they will eventually get their act together and become a major force in politics next year, but it will be hard because they are going to continue to attract drifters, the unstable, addicts, plus those who believe the only way to achieve real change is through violence.
The Occupy movement will present a mine field for Democrats in the coming elections. While the movement seems to be much more aligned with Democratic values, the right will do everything they can to link the Democrats to every act of violence, civil disbedience, damaged property and unsanitary conditions in the camps.
This is just a new battlefront in the ongoing civil war being fought in America, a war hardly anyone acknowledges.
--Trakker
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