Last Thursday morning, Thanksgiving morning, the MS Society with sponsor PNC held a 10k, 5k, kiddie run, etc. to raise money. It was a beautiful day and around 3,000 people showed up. I ran in both the 10k & walked the 5k. Both races went right passed the block that contained Wilmington’s tent township known, euphemistically, as “Occupy Wilmington Delaware”. As the 3,000 people went by the OWD folks, no one from the “occupiers” was evident. Not a one. No one from tent city cheering on the runners & walkers. These runners & walkers were real people participating in a Thanksgiving community event, donating money, and creating a positive result for those individuals and families suffering from MS.
I simply ask, why did the OWD folks miss out on this? You couldn’t miss it; you had to ignore it.
My opinion is that this very small group of nay-sayers and angry-lefters really has no connection to the broader society. Instead, they, themselves, are a 1% consisting of whiners without a positive message. Now that the News Journal has stopped giving them free publicity, they have vanished into their own little anti-social tent township. They are the real 1%. A 1% with no sense of civic participation.
I have blogged at length for several years at the crony capitalist state that exists in the U.S. & in Delaware. I have made positive proposals to solve these problems. I now understand that generating positive solutions is outside the capacity of these folks, just like participating in positive, community activities is outside of their ability, too. It really is sad.
I think Charlie is correct when he says generating positive proposals is outside the capacity of the OWS protesters. That’s the way it is with all protest movements. Protests inform us, they’re not legislative bodies. It’s up to the rest of us to decide what needs to change. Civil rights protesters seemed like a joke years ago. But, in the end, things did need to change radically. We made those changes. All for the better.
OWS does not have the moral heft of Civil RIghts. At least not at the moment. But this is a good time to consider legitimate complaints. To make an effort to understand what’s up here.
For those with the wherewithal to actually change things, a good place to start would be more stringent laws regarding high level financial fraud. One of the chief gripes of OWS is nobody on “Wall Street” goes to jail. The top dogs merely pay multi-million dollar fines. We need to look into that. Ordinary shoplifters and petty embezzlers are cuffed and hauled away by the thousands everyday. We don’t see that happening at the top.The fact that money purchases justice in the USA, that ciminal law is skewed in favor of those at the “top” is part of what fuels the growing resentment. It’s a well founded resentment, not to be lightly disregarded.
By the way Charlie, Newt Gingrich says the protestors should take a bath. Did you smell anything?