On Sunday, I got a chance to stop by the Occupy Wall Street protest in downtown New York City, where a few hundred protesters have been gathering and camping out in a park to demonstrate against…well, that’s not so easy to say. Unlike the Arab Spring movements that inspired them, the Occupy Wall Streeters don’t have any clear set of demands other than a generalized angst against the American social order that they see as too skewed toward the benefit of the rich.
I found the protesters I met to be friendly, welcoming and earnest — though totally misguided. Within minutes of arriving, a young woman encouraged me to join along in the fun and pointed me toward the free food (there’s a section of canned food and other groceries that have been donated to the protesters who are living in the park). “I’m going to give you a blessing,” the woman told me, then began waving a smoking piece of sage around my face and body. She handed me a pamphlet about the agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that urges state legislatures to pass conservative policies. “Through ALEC, Global Corporations Are Scheming to Rewrite YOUR Rights and Boost THEIR Revenue,” the handout read.
