re: #118 Charles

I’m getting more sympathetic to the demonstrations myself. I still don’t like some of the elements that are involved — especially the Ron Paul-influenced “End the Fed” idiocy, and the extreme lefties like ANSWER.

But unlike the Tea Parties, this really does seem to be a classic example of a true populist movement. The basic message is that the middle and lower classes are getting increasingly screwed over by an obscenely bloated upper class, and that’s a message that resonates.

Charles - I linked to this post by Charles Pierce on the overnight thread last night. Pierce nails it on a number of levels.

The quote from the truck driver is especially good:

People looking for “a coherent message” in the park would do well to talk to Brendan Burke, a tall, tattooed truck driver with a degree from NYU and The New School, who’s based at the center of the park, where four or five young people are crouched over laptops, shouting into the wind in their own way.

“People are informed today. People are online,” Burke explains. “People in Kansas do yoga, you understand. Country’s different, you understand? There’s no more mooks in the citizenry. We are working people and we’re not getting a fair shake, so we took to the streets. It’s an irrational act, an act of passion, but we need to use self-control and respect. Those who want to go down with the ship will go down with the ship. Those who will be there will be sensible people who are out here for a reason. The kids who are out here who just want to party, well, they’re beautiful children and we protect them every night. I can’t even tell you what’s going to happen after today. The cops may sweep this when the landlord says I want them out.

“Not anti-anybody. We’re pro-American citizen. Millions of Americans are getting kicked out of their house. They’re losing their education, their health care. They can’t take care of their parents. This is about people. Republicans are opening their bills. Democrats are opening their bills. I’ll go all the way to $250,000 if you want. Everybody’s opening their bills and they’re thinking, ‘Who’s protecting me from people stealing from me?’ This isn’t what I agreed on when I signed this agreement with this company. You add all these hassles up in your life — your hospital, your credit card, your education, your mortgage — and you’re getting nailed. And there are a couple of banks who created the instruments that made that happen. This is not a physical war. This is an oppression that’s quiet, and through money, and through services, and through small print. They want you to be afraid, and not to know, and they want to bewilder you. Between you and me, I shouldn’t get a credit card. But I got one. I didn’t even apply for it. Why am I getting a credit card?

“This is not Tahrir Square. This is not Tompkins Square Park. This is not Yuppies against squatters. This is about minds. We need help from people who know. We need help from people in the financial industry who know. They should be here, too. He should want to see a better community. I want to see change in a systematic and legislative way. We’re looking for real results. We’re looking for protection for people. We’re down here trying to play bills. It’s serious out there, but it’s quiet, because it happens at everyone’s kitchen table. It’s happening household-by-household. There’s a sense out there, which I hope what’s going on here will dissipate, that there’s something wrong with me. I’m a jerk because I can’t pay that bill. There are working men who will march tomorrow. It’s all about people, who feel they got duped. There needs to be a systematic legislative change, so that this cannot happen any more.”

Well worth reading.