Sunday, while traveling the Pacific Coast Highway through the Big Sur area, we discovered a man standing all alone in a giant parking lot prosecuting his very own one-man Occupy Wall Street protest.

The photograph to the right, taken with his permission, perfectly expresses the forlorn futility of the Occupy movement: the vapid conceit of pretending to represent millions of people who reject their goals, the contradictions inherent in their message, and the stark contrast between lazy-ass do-nothing squatters sitting around at Occupy protests and average Americans who are dealing with the financial crisis instead of complaining about it.

On the one hand there is something quintessentially American about one man standing alone for what he thinks is right.  I could probably share a drink with this guy and enjoy the conversation.  On the other hand, the Occupy movement as a whole was quickly commandeered by the very worst labor unions, by communists, by anarchists, and by homeless bums with hygiene problems, to the point where it’s little more than an embarrassing symbol of the decline of civilization.

What struck me was that I agree with five out of seven of the man’s signs:

“Banks Got Bailed Out We Got Sold Out”

“Jail The Banksters”

“End The Feds”

“Economic Slaves”

“1.5 Trillion For War 49.1 Million Americans In Poverty”

Question is, how do Occupy protestors manage to express legitimate issues and then come up with the precisely wrong solution?  If the government is taking our money, taxes paid through the sweat of our brows, and transferring it to rich bankers who gambled and lost on risky investments, isn’t our problem the government?

Put another way, if two men mug you on the street and steal your wallet, then buy something at Wal-Mart with your money, are you going to press robbery charges against the muggers or Wal-Mart?  Even if Wal-Mart somehow knew the money was stolen, your beef is with the thugs, not the merchant.

If we hadn’t allowed liberals to increase the size and power of government to the current frightening level, the government wouldn’t have the authority to give our money to bankers in the first place, so clearly the problem is the size and overreach of government, not banks or corporations.

We spent the entire 20th century learning the lesson about how dangerous the state can be—communism, socialism, and theocracies murdered and enslaved billions—billions—of human beings.  Jesus wept at the misery.  And yet the uneducated nincompoops of the Occupy Wall Street protests, like sheep, anxiously beg for more government control and more statist answers to assuage their personal angst.

Five out of seven—71%—of this man’s signs would fit nicely at a Tea Party rally but the Tea Partiers are clear-thinking, logical, and educated about the history of evil men’s lust for power so their conclusions are completely different.  Go find a job instead of complaining about not having one.  Work for a living instead of asking the government to pay your bills.  And vote for conservatives who believe in individual liberty, not liberals who lust for more government.

Duh.


From Reno, Nevada, USA        Tweet

December 21, 2011 - It all comes down to a difference in view about how the country works. Liberals believe corporations are running the government. Conservatives believe that government is (increasingly) running the corporations. The reality of the situation is more complicated. The government heavily regulates almost every industry, but it also (at all levels) tends to favor the corporations who play nice with it - granting them regional monopolies, or some kind of welfare, in return for a form of tribute (usually a significant fee). The other guys only get the suffocating regulation. The problem is that the corporations who get this favored treatment, after a while see it in their interests to keep this arrangement going. So they'll work their hardest to maintain the monopoly. - Michael M., Connecticut

J.P. replies: You might have a good definition for Democrats and Republicans but it shouldn't matter whether people view the problem as corporations running the government or government running the corporations.  The solution is still the same: take away the ability of government to make those kinds of decisions... and to make that happen we need to elect conservatives.  Not phony conservatives but real, limited-government, Tea Party-type conservatives.