Mixed Feelings on Occupy Wall Street

Mixed feelings about Occupy Wall Street

I had the day off work, and I spent a lot of the day browsing news articles. There is a lot of buzz about the current situation on Wall Street, and all of the smaller gatherings going on in support of this protest.

When I first heard about Occupy Wall Street, I was optimistic. I did not support the bailout of the gigantic corporations that played games with our money. I am sick and tired of seeing preferential treatment for big campaign contributors. I'm scared about constantly rising food prices. I've been at the bottom of the ladder my whole life, and seeing others like me stand up for themselves made me proud. I was horrified when I saw the videos showing evidence of unwarranted police brutality. I hold police officers in high regard, and seeing a few of them cause trouble didn't feel nice. I've been watching and waiting, hoping that something positive will come from all of this.

I've seen and heard some strange things today as I stumbled 'round the net.

I've seen articles on left-leaning websites and right-leaning websites, and each take their stance. You can probably guess which ones side with the protest, and which ones don't. That is one of several things that I find disturbing. There isn't much crossover between the “left” and “right” (I'll explain the quotes in a bit) as far as support or lack-of-support, at least from the coverage I've been seeing. This confuses me... mostly because I freakin pay attention to shit.

The “left” tends support this protest, and I've seen Democratic congress men and women give little speeches saying how great this all is... but over the past few elections Wall Street has given gigantic amounts of money to the campaigns of numerous Democratic party members (Wall Street sent it's highest amount of money ever to President Barack Obama). Also, Democrats overwhelmingly voted in favor of the bailout, which is one of the things that this protest is opposing.

The “right” tends to oppose this protest. Tons of Republican figures have come out and belittled the protestors. Yeah, the stereotypical Republican is a slave to big business and Wall Street, but we all know that the Democrats are just as guilty. Then, there is the current trend in the Republican party that strongly opposed the corporate bailouts... and now they are standing against the protestors who also oppose the corporate bailout.

Because the left-leaning political websites are doing most of the on-the-ground coverage of the protest, most of what you hear and see from the protestors are the left-leaning opinions. What happened to all of the people like me? The folks who don't identify with the “left” or “right” but still have very strong opinions about corporate bailouts and unfair advantages handed out by politicians? Nearly every interview I've seen, the protestor on the street went off on some strange tangent that leads the viewer to believe that this is all very left-oriented... but it isn't. It is a neutral subject. The mega rich getting billions in tax dollars after giving record numbers of donations in bad for everyone, especially after all of those billions did little to nothing as far as improvements go. This isn't about left vs. right. This is about corrupt businessmen and corrupt politicians giving each other a circle jerk and hurting everyone else in the process.

Now, why I keep putting left and right in quotes is that what you see in the media doesn't represent either. Under most circumstances, the guy you see on television with a big D or R next to their name is a tool. They both got way too much money from people with way too much power, and they owe somebody a favor. They are going to say whatever you need to hear to keep you on the party line. The Democrats don't represent the left, and the Republicans don't represent the right. This protest is something that both sides should be able to understand.

And then there are assholes like me who aren't left or right. No, I don't mean moderate. I'm anything but moderate. I like to call myself a “radical free agent.”

I believe that every individual has the right to choose to live life as they please, as long as they don't inhibit anyone else's right to choose. Whether that means living in a purely free market or organizing a commune, I don't care, as long as neither are compulsory. Compulsory is bad, freedom is good. When the people we elect decide to give unimaginable sums of money to businesses that helped create a financial disaster, and laws were put in place by the people we elected that made that disaster almost unavoidable... that's bad for freedom. That's why I support this protest. As usual, though, there are useful idiots on both sides of the spectrum, and they are being used, and that is why I also hate this protest. What's a boy to do?