What If Occupy Really Wanted Change?

Let's assume that the Occupy protesters have good intentions to actually change the system they feel is onerous and tyrannical and is not just a means to create havoc for the sake of havoc. What could they do to actually make their case for substantive difference in our system?

1. Stop acting like spoiled brats and remember that they aren't the only ones with rights to move freely. There are people in the areas they are protesting in that have rights as well. Those people want to live and work in peace. It's tough for them. They couldn't take TWO MONTHS out of their schedule to sit around and meet. What about their rights??

2. Actually have some stated goals, not just "the 1% sucks". Squatting in a park on Wall Street did not affect one trade or bond deal. If they wanted to get a media hit out of it, they could have gotten a permit to march for a couple of days with their "hand-made" signs and 1960s slogans to start things off. Then, more substantive actions could have been taken: for example, there was an activist in California, I believe, that pushed the idea of moving one's money from the national banks to local credit unions. What better way to get the attention of major companies that hitting their bottom line and making them compete for your business?

3. Don't treat PRIVATE property as your own personal outhouse. Come on people! Really? Defacating on police cars and sidewalks? Public urination?

4. The most outrageous of the behaviors is the outright crime going on in these areas. The supporters of the "movement" don't want to talk about this, but the idea that rapes, child molestation, drug use, murder, assault, theft and any combination of these is going on in these supposedly peaceful protest areas is sickening. Why would anyone listen to your demands when you have basically created an outdoor prison environment?

5. Of all the places in the country where the Occupy movement should have been protesting is Capitol Hill, Washington DC. The traders and banks on Wall Street could care less what you people do because Congress will continue to fund their largess. Go to Capitol Hill and ask the congressional leadership (both Democrat and Republican) why they gave billions (if not trillions) of dollars to companies that were "too big to fail". After that, march on over to the White House and demand the answer to the same question. THOSE are the people that made this system the way it is. Why would you blame the recipient of ill-gotten gains and not the donor?

6. Don't be partisan. If you really want to change things, become an anti-incumbent movement and throw all the bums out! The Tea Party flirted with this idea, though they are largely a Republican organization, but they started out of dissatisfaction with both parties and their spending habits. Actually, there could be some solidarity with the Tea Party (if you drop all of the communist, union support, oh, and the rapes and drug use) on some issues if the Occupiers were so inclined.

Those are just a few things that the Occupiers could have done to make their movement more effective. But, we all know there is no interest on their part to actually change anything. They are bored, overwhelming white, middle to upper class kids that don't like homeless people and want to "do something". I guess every generation has to have their college protesters who think they are the best and the brightest, but turn out to be nothing of the sort.

Where is John Galt?

With all of the bellyaching from the Occupy movements, Hollywood stars (!) and national Democrats about income inequality, "fat cats" and the "obscene" profits made by corporations, is it time that a John Galt steps up and says what needs to be said?

As many of you know, John Galt is a character in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. Galt is an industrialist/philosopher who basically had had enough with the assault on human independence, productivity and excessive government. He convinced a group of fellow "traders" to go on strike and leave the welfare state (and its creators and consumers) to its own destruction. If you haven't read Atlas Shrugged, now is the time...

Galt made an address to the nation (after seizing the network in which the President was about to make a speech) and outlined the connection between the destructive moral beliefs of those consumers (mystical and material) of the welfare state and the loss of reason and human endeavor. When one group complains about the "greed" of another group, they impose their moral beliefs with an eye towards invoking guilt. That group wants something for nothing and the Galts of the world are having none of it.

The "beliefs" of the Occupy movements across the country are steeped in "gimme" morality and outright laziness. Why should any producers support these spoiled consumers? If the protests had been peaceful and expressed with some semblance of a coherent message, more people may ask themselves the same types of questions (Remember, at first, there was a subtle message against bank bailouts and excessive government support of the private sector). That message is long gone and has become a hodge-podge of whining about paying for their college (get a job!), socialism/communism (never worked) and outright anarchism (will NEVER work).

If these "takers" in our society (who have a healthy dose of personal entitlement) continue to rail against the producers, will the producers one day become so fed up that they will say "enough is enough" and stop providing them with the material goods they clamor for while at the same time disparaging the manner in which they are produced (or profited from)? Unlikely, but at some point, those who produce will not sanction anymore screaming and wailing from those spoiled consumers who dare not work to make society better but would rather simply scream and wail until someone listens to their screams and wails.

How will these "protests" against capitalism and free markets end? No one knows, but based on the level of violence we're seeing now, it probably won't end well. These supposed "peace and equality"-loving people are smashing windows, sexually assaulting minors, defecating on public property and embracing anti-liberty forces. To what end?

Once you read Atlas Shrugged, you will know "Who is John Galt?", but maybe we should start asking: "Where is John Galt?"

Teachable Moment Coming...?

There actually might be some burgeoning capitalists coming out of the Occupy movements across the country. The members of these different protest groups are learning that capitalist free markets are necessary for an ordered society. Case(s) in point:

In Portland, Oregon, a member of the Occupy movement filed paperwork to INCORPORATE their group in order to protect their financial assets.

In New York City, the Occupy kitchen staff is withholding the "good" food from people that don't WORK to support their efforts...actually those folks would probably then be in the 1% of the protesters because they will get the best food!

There are also stories of Occupy members, in conjunction with ACORN/New York Communities for Change (NYCC), are seeking VENTURE CAPITAL to purchase supplies and "pay salaries"...now I understand that using the word "venture capital" may be a stretch because they are going door to door and lying to people about the true nature and use of the donations, but regardless, they realize that money is needed to support their efforts and they are "working" for it.

The country may be better after all of this is over because many of these young people will be learning a valuable lesson about life in the real world.