Occupy This

In 2009, establishment conservative Texas Republican Dick Armey, whom I had previously admired for his record of standing up to extremist elements within his own party, nevertheless invented the tea party movement in order to contrive a popular opposition movement to Barack Obama's fledgling presidency before it even got off the ground. It involved a lot of unruly behavior, with angry, shouting crowds sabotaging Democratic politicians as they tried to explain and discuss the new administration's plans for the country. But instead of punishing these disruptors, the puzzling American electorate turned around and gave them more power in the 2010 elections, handing control of the U.S. House to the Republicans, narrowing Democratic control of the Senate, and sweeping Republicans into governorships of most states (including my Florida). So naturally...

Naturally, we now have a counter-movement to the tea party movement: the "occupy whatever" movement. And to me, on the surface it seems just as ridiculous as the tea party movement. But maybe it'll work in 2012 and energize people to go vote. At least I think that's what a lot of people are hoping for...

Maybe I'm wrong, but unlike with the teabaggers, I don't think some special party think-tank headed by an ideological retired politician created the idea of people rising up by the thousands (and then possibly millions) and staging protests, first on Wall Street and then eventually nationwide, publicizing their perception that this country is quickly turning into a deeply entrenched plutocracy: rule by the (very) rich.

I happen to generally agree with this assessment of our country's current situation, and to the extent that the protests conform with the principles of non-violent public dissent that Gandhi and King espoused and lived, I support them. But eventually, these amorphous clouds of dissenters need to coalesce and organize into a force that can effectively bring change via next year's elections, both on a national and a local level.

Still, I think it's a sad commentary on the American electorate that people need to have special visual stimulants like the tea party or the "occupy" movements in order to motivate them to go and perform the crucial patriotic duty of voting. In 2008, a lot of disheartened conservatives stayed home and helped liberals get elected. Two years later, many liberals apathetically stayed home and conservatives got elected. What, we need to have others put on a show for us and entertain us before we'll get up off our collective butts and live up to our responsibilities as American citizens at the voting booth??!! What kind of a people have we become...