While I realize what the real intent of Occupy Wall Street is, I also realize that most occupiers do not. I wrote about joining patriot groups with Occupy [Insert City] on October 3, 2011. Once I removed the knives in my back, I realized that both sides have been too polarized in their dogma to even consider the possibility. This became even more apparent when the labor unions joined the movement.
My last discussion with occupiers (or what is left of Occupy Raleigh) was November 13, 2011. This discussion led me to conclude that although the level of education may be high in some cases, the level of knowledge and the thirst to acquire knowledge is very low when it pertains to the political and economic process. Although the movement is supposedly a fight against greed on Wall Street and Big Banks, they censured a member on their website for 24 hours for posting an article from this site outlining a plan to issue fiat securities on their site.
I agree with the occupation on several points but there are two glaring issues for me that I cannot overcome. First is the attention that the media and politicians are giving this movement. Nebulous goals and tired buzzwords do not generate change: they generate anarchy. Why are the occupiers receiving support for undefined goals? The second issue is money. If you follow the money, it appears that their funding is coming from the same institutions and elite that they are supposedly fighting against.
Top down, bottom up, inside out as Van Jones outlined will destroy this country’s Constitutional Republic with the help of these useful idiots. There is one consequence that is being overlooked: the backlash by real Americans when the dust settles. We paid the price for freedom and independence once before and we will pay it again. Period.
David DeGerolamo
Occupy Memphis, Tea Party Members Meet
Occupy Memphis member Mallory Pope had just finished telling a group of about 75 tea party followers Thursday night that politicians should not allow themselves to be influenced by lobbyists and unions when she received an unexpected invitation.
“It sounds to me that y’all ought to be joining us,” said Jerry Rains, a 64-year-old computer programmer and tea party member. “You have a lot of the same goals we have, which is to take our country back.”
Pope and fellow Occupy Memphis protester Tristan Tran had a lively, sometimes strained and confrontational, but mostly civil discussion with members of the Mid-South Tea Party at a municipal meeting hall outside Memphis.
The factions saw eye-to-eye on some issues and clashed on others. And, while the young speakers didn’t change many minds, they did earn praise from the tea party members for their passion, honesty and courage.
The 21-year-old University of Memphis students had been invited by the tea party group to talk about the goals of the Occupy movement. The invitation was extended after a discussion between members of both groups on the tea party’s website, meeting organizer Jim Tomasik said.
Occupy Memphis set up camp last month at Civic Center Plaza in downtown Memphis, within view of City Hall and federal and county government buildings. Their numbers have ranged from a dozen protesters to 100 or more, depending on the time of day. They have had no clashes with police and city officials have said they will not evict the protesters as long as they remain peaceful.
Tea party members said before the meeting that they didn’t know what to expect, and that most of what they know about the Occupy Wall Street movement and its offshoots were from confrontations with police in New York and Oakland, Calif. Some said they were confused about the purpose of the Occupy movement because it has no leader and no consistent list of goals promoted by every Occupy group.
