Forum Post: Occupy protests can only improve national dialgoue

The Occupy Wall Street movement is the laughing stock of the right, mostly because it doesn't have a cohesive structure or list of demands - and because it seems to have attracted a disproportionate number of people with dreadlocks. But really, the general goals are clear as day: the occupiers want to reverse the trends, political and otherwise, that have moved wealth and opportunity from the middle class to the wealthiest Americans for nearly 40 years, and particularly over the past decade.

That's as clear as the tea party agenda - less government and lower taxes - was at its birth. As to whether Occupy can mature into a serious political force, as the tea party has - well, that's too early to call.

The protesters don't have a list of policy prescriptions. They are doing something important, however: accurately portraying the root of our problems. It's about time.

President Barack Obama and the Democrats have dithered as the tea party hijacked the political conversation. They acquiesced to a misdiagnosis of our core problem (too much government) and the prescription to cure it (austerity).

The real problem is that lawmakers of both parties have for decades been helping the rich get richer, primarily through low tax rates and deregulation, while income has stagnated for the rest of us - the 99 percent, as the protesters say. As the wealthy increase their share of economic pie, they gain ever more political clout to advance their interests.

(continued at http://www.occupyr.com/General/thread.php?id=45)