From different angles

I'm not what you'd call a fan of the Occupy Wall Street movement... but I'm not completely dismissive of it, either.  Some of them occasionally make reasonable statements (in between beating drums and acting like kids left without adult supervision for the first time).  And while I may not be enthralled with the group's general vibe, I have to take great exception to scenes like this one.

As one who self-identifies with the 'tea party,' I find this writing to be worth pondering:

In short, two hugely trumpeted “revolutions” in American politics – a leftwing  one in 2008 and a right-wing one in 2010 – have failed to move the needle one degree in Washington, D.C. A lot of articles were written and a lot of television talk shows were provided with material about both, but absolutely nothing has changed. Sooner or later, one has to answer the question: Why not?

The answer is that even the genuine grassroots members from both the left and the right don’t understand what is ailing America. They know something is wrong, but decades of government propaganda bolstered by shoddy education have left most Americans unequipped to figureout what it is. In fact, both the Tea Party and OWS share the same fundamental misconceptions about The Problem...

Both movements misunderstand the relationship between our present corporate economy and government regulation. The Tea Party believes that getting rid of regulations as Reagan supposedly did would “get the government out of the way” of America’s corporations, resulting in huge gains in productivity and employment. OWS believes that more regulations will reign in “corporate greed” and protect the little guy from those same rapacious corporations. Again, both of them are wrong...

So, the next election will be influenced by two grassroots movements committed to solving America’s problems. One says that the problem is government. They are right. The other says it is corporations and the financial elite. They are also right. 

I find much to agree with in that last paragraph.  Read the whole thing here.