Regardless of one’s feelings toward the Tea Party or policies it advocates, Tea Partiers have at least, during their short existence, conducted themselves relatively peacefully and responsibly. Of course, this isn’t to suggest critics won’t still cry foul whenever a Tea Partier shows up to a public event concealing a firearm, or a Tea Partier displays signs at a rally capable of being interpreted as derogatory.
But at least the right to bear arms and freedom of speech, unlike rape, vandalism, and drug usage — all seen at Occupy Wall Street protests — are protected under the U.S. Constitution.
As local and national news stations have now reported, rapes and sexual assaults have been regular occurrences at Occupy Wall Street protests across the country, from Seattle to New York.
Protests in Portland, Ore., alone have resulted in more than $19,000 in property damages, as well as a Molotov cocktail attack, and in Vancouver, multiple people have died of drug overdoses.
By contrast, one is hard-pressed to find a single incident in which a woman has ever been raped or sexually assaulted at a Tea Party rally. One is hard-pressed to find a single incident where a Tea Partier has ever died of a drug overdose at a Tea Party rally. And one is hard-pressed to find a single Tea Party rally where thousands of dollars in property damage was maliciously committed.
The Occupy Wall Street movement in its infancy had the correct sentiment: End corporatism, end the Fed. This sentiment, however, has since been diluted by progressive populism.
Occupy Wall Street’s dialogue is no longer about whether government should engage in favoritism, interfere with markets and provide bailouts; or whether the Federal Reserve has too little accountability.
But rather, whether someone makes too much money. It is no longer ground zero for the advancement of liberty, but ground zero for complaints about income disparity and calls for the redistribution of wealth.
Paying back a school loan has no relation to corporatism. And nothing in the Constitution promises somebody a career after they graduate from school. Protesting greed is also misguided; for greed is a relative and subjective term. Consequently, any call for government to define and/or regulate subjectivity sets a very dangerous precedent.
It’s irrelevant if the rapes, vandalism, overdoses, or murders have been perpetrated by illegitimate anarchists unaffiliated with the official Occupy Wall Street movement. The fact is that the movement’s leaders have been overridden. And sincere protesters only discredit themselves by continuing to remain associated with it.
If there is any silver lining to the Occupy Wall Street protests, though, it’s this: They have vindicated the Tea Party protests. The Occupy Wall Street movement has created perspective and demonstrated just how difficult it is to gather thousands of people from various backgrounds, with different philosophical views and goals, while maintaining order and civility.
That is something the Tea Party, for the most part, has managed to do effectively and consistently — a respectable feat in hindsight. And something the Tea Party should be commended for.
