The Occupy Wall Street protests that have sprouted up in cities across the globe have garnered considerable public attention.
Supporters have taken particular pleasure in a recent survey conducted by the GfK Roper Public Affairs consulting firm, which found that over a third of Americans support the "99-percenters" and that 58 percent oppose current American politics.
Yet it would be a mistake to look at the Occupy Wall Street protests as anything more than the product of a frustrated constituency, which has thus far proven woefully incapable of articulating a plan that carries out the organization's objectives. What's more, it remains unclear what the Occupy Wall Street protesters even hope to achieve; surely they don't expect the United States to simply destroy its financial service sector.
For all the talk about promoting social justice and equality, there has been conspicuously little said about what such platitudes mean and what can be done to effect such change.
This economic problem is, of course, not a new one. The country was hit with the worst recession in our nation's recent history and two presidents, multiple state and federal agencies, the SEC, the Federal Reserve, and cabinet secretaries have attempted to improve the economy.
Given the job market and economic outlook, however, it is more than obvious that this effort has solicited few substantive benefits. In other words, it's not surprising that the Occupy Wall Street protesters cannot deliver a plan or even a message—ironically for the same reasons that the establishment cannot. Those reasons remain an apathetic job market that has kept millions unemployed, a shortage of credit for small businesses, and consumers unsure of their spending habits.
To be sure, our government has handled the economic recovery in a largely marginal way. President Obama spent the better part of two years focusing largely on non-economic related issues (primarily upon health care reform).
When the administration did address economic issues, it did so by demonizing Wall Street and initiating a campaign of class warfare. Rather than pursue a sensible program of reduced government spending and tax cuts to help stimulate the economy, Obama chose to spend billions on a recovery package that was long on promises and short on results. The "recovery summer" that Obama touted in 2011 turned out to be anything but: the unemployment rate actually rose, not fell.
If there are any questions as to why the Occupy Wall Street protesters have shown such vehemence to corporations, a simple look at the actions of President Obama reveal quite a bit.
Throughout his administration, Obama has criticized pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, the banking industry, the automotive industry, and a host of other American businesses. In some cases, as with the government takeover of GM and Chrysler, stockholders lost their investments while union employees received generous compensation. In others, Obama has trotted out billionaire friends like Warren Buffet to demonstrate how the rich don't pay enough taxes and want to pay more. Perhaps Obama should establish some kind of return policy at the IRS where the government can take back the refunds of such patriotic billionaires as Buffet. Whatever the remedy, it is not going to be found in taking more money from of employers and spending it on big government welfare programs, as the president has experimented with his stimulus packages.
While Obama might have created a "blame the rich" culture in this country, the protesters have gone one step further with his mentality.
The White House has remained conspicuously silent on the protests, and Democrats in Congress are largely keeping their distance. All that is understandable, of course, since the Democratic Party and the Obama fundraising machine rely heavily on money from the greedy business men they spend so much time criticizing.
The protesters, however, have decided the best course of action is to be found by squatting in a public park in downtown Manhattan.
The event has publicized the fact that frustration with Wall Street and the economy is widespread. But isn't that something anyone could have figured out by simply exercising their capacity to read? The media, newspapers, friends, and family are all accessible outlets that demonstrate the obvious: that people like having jobs and like earning a paycheck.
Notions that the Occupy Wall Street protests are somehow the beginning of a revolutionary movement or a kind of watershed moment for our country are immensely out of touch with reality.
From George Washington at Valley Forge, to Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial, and gays and lesbians rioting at Stonewall, great moments of change have been sparked not just by passion, but also reason. Being frustrated is not enough motivation; it takes a positive emotion to sustain and invigorate a cause.
For all the drumbeating going on at the protests, what's happing in New York currently is not coming from a place of logic or rationality. If that were truly the case, the protesters would be doing the opposite of sitting down and creating a tent city. They would be knocking on doors, meeting their congressional representatives and making sure their presence extended beyond cities, to every suburb and small town in the country. That would create a society-changing movement.
Then, and only then, do the Occupy Wall Street protests warrant college students looking up from their books and their Solo cups.