On Occupy Wall Street

It has always cheered me up to note that Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man was written as a direct response to Edmund Burke's derisive criticism of the French Revolution. Burke's reference to the people's revolt in Paris as the 'swinish multitude' was typical of the contempt felt by the ruling class towards the feelings of the poor on whose back they built their fortunes. Paine's passionate defense of the Revolution was the beginning of the intellectual fight back against the reactionary old order.

One could say that the spirit of Burke lives on, especially in the conservative media and its coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The scribes of right-tilting newspapers, magazines and cable TV stations poured scorn over the protesters and questioned their motivations, intentions and even rolled out the old chestnut of questioning their patriotism.

Political classes can get complacent and comfortable and often need a short sharp reminder of who and where their responsibilities lie. However, that is not to say that any political action in protest of the status quo is acceptable.

The movement that calls itself Occupy Wall Street has decided to stage a continuous protest at the Zucotti Park in New York City. They are calling for punitive measures towards the corporations and banks as a response to the downturn of the economy. The protesters are mostly college students, young graduates who are yet to find employment and professional political provocateurs. They are calling for all debt to be forgiven and higher taxes on the wealthy.

However, one thing that stands out to anyone who observes the protests is that they are incoherent and ill informed. The protesters are angry about the prospect of unemployment and a lowering of standards of living- a sentiment well justified given the circumstances. But they demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of how the economy works.

Their demands are fantastic and impractical: a 99% tax on the billionaires and a total debt forgiveness may sound nice but the consequences would result in the destruction of the global financial system and the subsequent destruction of the world economy. They are protesting but not getting involved with the political process that could bring about real and substantive change.

They say they want change but what they want is their life back. Given a choice between a fundamental political change or a well paid job, they would settle for the latter. They are riling against corporations but are happy to subscribe to technology developed by Apple or AT&T.

The overall mood of this protest is less of anger and more of petulance: a vague sense of being cheated out of the American dream and a feeling of entitlement sans the accompanying responsibility.

We have seen this before: barely had our 44^th President taken the reins of the government did the right wing began the Tea Party movement- a political storm based on the ideas to be found on the right side of Genghis Khan. The 2010 election was a vindication of the idea that if you yell loudly enough, you may get your way with the politicians too spineless to stand up to the political equivalent of bat-shit crazy.

The political left has chosen to imitate the success of the extremists on the right by launching their own version of extremism. Occupy Wall Street is clearly a mirror image of the gun toting, costumed hicks of last year, only with a more festive mood, better songs and topless dancers (an improvement in my opinion). The tea party was the visible reminder of a new political maxim of America: all politics is yokel. The political left is following it up with a aphorism of their own: all politics is petulant.