What the Right Fears Most About Occupy Wall Street

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/10/23/what-the-right-fears-most-about-occupy-wall-street/



As I wrote a while back, grassroots movements are nothing new in American politics. From the Civil Rights movement to the counter-culture movement, all have two things in common: a genuine bone to pick with the established order and a lack of resources with which to sustain the momentum of the cause.

“It is that way with virtually all movements, regardless of ideology. Grand ideas that lead to a rush of enthusiasm that inevitably peter out on their own like a dying dwarf star from a lack of fuel, that is when they’re not being subverted and bought out. Find a cause or movement that hasn’t collapsed of its own weight and you will find a very large stash of Benjamin Franklins bankrolling it.”

www.spiritofaprogressive.blogspot.com/2010/10/wag-dog.html

The Tea Party movement is an abject lesson in how to subvert a genuinely grassroots cause and turn a nation upside down in the process. Voter angst over how the nation was being run became a national phenomenon, thanks to an awful lot of Benjamin Franklins being thrown around. The efforts – not to mention deep pockets – of the Koch Brothers and Dick Armey’s Freedom Works acted like miracle grow to the simmering tensions that existed deep within a restless electorate. The result was a movement that long ago outgrew any semblance of grassroots identity. It has now become, for all intents and purposes, the driving force of the Republican Party and now dominates the political landscape of the nation.

Despite claims to the contrary, the Right knew full well that the Frankenstein monster they had created was as genuine as a Canadian dollar at a flea-market. But after getting their proverbial butts kicked in two consecutive elections, they took advantage of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and capitalized on an inept and disorganized Democratic Party to write the fairytale of all narratives. It was a brilliant and highly successful strategy that now has them twelve months away from taking both the White House and Senate.


More at the link --

As long as the OWS folks avoid that pitfall, they will change the system. I watched a circle meeting of the Occupy Los Angeles people yesterday. They are calm and open, welcoming but not naive.

I think they may have a chance to succeed on pure patience.

Drugs make people either impatient or silly. As long as they don't try to mix drugs and alcohol, they will prevail.

Of course, some of the drug use in the 1960s movement may have been encouraged by our very own government. I have heard that and for personal reasons can't entirely dismiss that idea. But I do not know that for a fact.

Vigilance is important in any awakening.

And thus far, the OWS movement is more of a spiritual and social awakening than a political mechanism.

It is the cause of domestic violence, international violence, violence in general. Political activists need to have some sort of spiritual practice or religious practice or habit or exercise (yoga anyone, or meditation if you are not religious) that helps them develop patience.

Change -- whether it is change in oneself or one's family or one's society takes time -- and requires patience on the part of the person trying to create the change.

There are changes that come without patience, without effort but they are exceptional. Those changes are just gifts -- so rare.