An Eclectic Group

          Earlier this week a small crowd of about 150 demonstrators, representing a microcosm of the now global Occupy Wall Street protestors, gathered outside the Bank of America and occupied the four corners of a nearby intersection in a small California town.  Unlike their New York counterparts the participants were relatively peaceful, clean, and for the most part respectful.  Police presence remained mostly out of sight and banks and businesses felt comfortable enough to remain open.  It was an eclectic (see WOW) collection of ‘ne’er do wells’ consisting of aging hippies and some younger wannabes, a few senior citizens who had probably lost their retirement savings, a flamboyant doctor wearing his white coat, the inevitable union rabble rousers, a few young folks who didn’t have any other parties to go to and the usual assortment of losers and misfits that always migrate to these gatherings.

A Tea Party Infiltrator

          Sprinkled in among the revelers were a few obvious imposters like myself who definitely did not look like they belonged, but were there simply to try to engage the demonstrators in a civil dialogue.  I approached a number of them with the declaration, “Well, I guess you won’t be voting for Obama this time around!”, just to get their reaction.  Interestingly, most were eager to respond to my questions and after a lively discussion we usually closed the conversation on a positive note.  The one notable exception was a hirsute man with wild eyes who wanted to know “what the f— I was smoking?” when I suggested that a new president might be a good place to start.  I guess the elitist, Ha’vad educated, millionaire, lawyer occupying the White House has been granted a waiver.

Misplaced Blame

          It quickly became clear that none of the folks I spoke with were ready to abandon ‘The Anointed One’ any time soon and that they were still clinging to the ‘blame Bush’ dogma, never mind that liberal Democrats have been in control since the Congressional elections of 2006.  And never mind that Wall Street fell head over heels for Obama in 2008 along with many of the wealthy CEOs this bunch now supposedly decries…Warren Buffett, George Soros, and Michael Bloomberg come to mind.  And there was not one placard complaining about the most egregious offenders of all, lawyers, who make $400 and hour!

Socialism Was the Common Thread

          Each person I spoke with seemed to have a different grievance, but they all had the common theme of anger and resentment towards those who had become successful by living the American Dream.  When questioned, most readily…no proudly admitted that they were socialists.  This was easily confirmed by a quick scan of their placards demanding more free goodies and other entitlements, including forgiveness of student loans, womb to tomb coddling, early retirement and a guaranteed dream job of their choosing if they chose to work at all.  One woman thought all of this should be paid for by higher property taxes!  She obviously didn’t own any property in California.

A Voice of Reason Reaches Out to the Clueless

          I was drawn to one street corner where a clean cut young man was surrounded by a crowd of these placard waving liberals.  Displaying an amazing amount of equanimity and speaking with complete confidence he calmly asked the group a series of questions which seemed to completely baffle them.  Most admitted that they did not know that the top 1% of wage earners pay nearly 38% of the federal income taxes collected in this country and that the bottom 47% don’t pay any federal income taxes at all.  A few admitted that they had heard this, but insisted that one should not trust such statistics.  They seemed confused when the young man pointed out that corporations, not poor people, create the jobs in this country.  They also looked surprised to hear that we are the corporations…the nearly 55% of us who invest in the stock market and therefore own the corporations.  This may have been the first time some of these folks had ever heard a voice of reason.

Is Anarchy on the Horizon?

          It was a very instructive experience for me to attend this ‘happening’ and it reinforced much of what I already knew.  It confirmed for me that there are socialists in the United States who are firmly committed to bringing down capitalism and diminishing the exceptionalism of our great country.  It also confirmed that there are a lot of resentful, lazy bums who go along with these radicals in hopes of getting taken care of so they won’t have to work.  Finally, it became obvious that Barack Obama’s program of class warfare has successfully incited these folks to near anarchy.  What a shame that they are unable to see that he is the one responsible for much of what they complain about.  One need only look at the violent demonstrations currently taking place in several European capitals, where socialism has failed, to see where all this is headed.

We Demand More Free Goodies!  Waa Waa!