Washington, November 18, 2011 — Join columnists Catherine Poe and Eric Golub in their column He Said, She Said as they debate Occupy Wall Street.

He Said, She Said:

       Question: what should be done with the OWS protesters?

Cat: Nothing.

As irritating or disruptive as some may find the Occupiers, they are the conscience of America, like it or not. Their very physical presence is a reminder that the decline of America happened not because they didn’t believe in the American dream, but because the greed of Wall Street and the banks stole that dream.

Yet our government continues to reward the top 1% with corporate welfare and the lowest taxes in more than 50 years. And Congress, which made that largesse to the wealthy possible, is in the pockets of those very same people and their lobbyists.

Yes, the protesters are predominately young, unemployed, maybe even scruffy, and, yes, the homeless have found a haven and free meals with them, and, yes, the Occupiers’ persistence after more than two months is like a mote in our eye, reminding us all that we can no longer do business as usual.

The fact that OWS sites have sprung up across the country and now the world has prompted us to face ourselves. We can no longer ignore the joblessness and poverty that scars our great country. It is not an abstract concept, some numbers on a bean counters’ balance sheet. It’s real. It’s people. It’s your kids and mine. It’s returning vets who find themselves on the scrap heap of our economy.

Whether it’s Zuccotti Park or Oakland or Atlanta or Lima, or Brussels or Hong Kong or Tel Aviv or Rome, their demands are the same:

* Create jobs

* Reform the tax structure

* Eliminate corporate influence on politics

As Bill Moyers so wisely said, “It’s clear they are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied the country.”

So as hard they try, whether it’s New York Mayor Bloomberg or Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, government cannot squelch a movement whose time has come. Whether officials evacuate a park peacefully or move in like a SWAT team, the people return.

Like all great protest movements over the course of America’s history, OWS moves like water, flowing around impediments and spreading across the land, unstoppable.

Eric: The protesters are the scourge of humanity. Not only should the police remove the protesters, but they should do so with as much force as humanly possible. The OWS protesters are not a political movement. They are a lynch mob, and threaten the very fabric of American society.

Peaceful assemble has been a part of the American tradition, whether it be Dr. Martin Luther King and his followers singing “We shall overcome” or today’s Tea Party attendees singing “God bless America.” Dr. King was fighting for civil rights. The Tea Party is about restoring fiscal sanity. Both movements were larger than those marching. The goal was to strengthen America for future generations and to preserve the American dream.

OWS is dedicated to destroying the American way of life. In the several weeks since Barack Obama tacitly encouraged people to target “Wall Street,” protesters have destroyed property, spread disease, engaged in sexual assaults, and ruined local small businesses.

The true definition of freedom is the right to do whatever one wants provided that it does not restrict anybody else’s freedom. OWS is a direct threat to the livelihood of everybody within a multi-mile radius of their carnage.

While there are individual members attending OWS rallies who do not condone violence, their silence in the face of wanton destruction is acquiescence. The bad apples are not the exception. They are the OWS rule.

Americans are entitled to life and liberty. Law enforcement is obligated to protect those rights. That means keeping all Americans safe from foreign and domestic terrorists. Some terrorists fly planes into towers. Others throw Molotov cocktails through buildings, sexually assault women, and use the threat of further violence to seize land and claim it as their own.

The police must immediately restore order, and the only way to do that with a violent mob is to counter force with equal or greater force. The only solution to the OWS movement is a law and order crackdown. That way the real other 99%…the silent majority…can walk down their streets again in peace.

Cat: Oh, Eric, please. A violent mob? Hardly. What you’re repeating are Right Wing talking points meant to inflame a public that basically supports what OWS stands for.

If anything OWS is too passive, reminding me more of Woodstock or a love-in from the Sixties.

I wish they would march on Washington. The only way politicians pay attention is when people take to the streets in the thousands or jam the corridors of Congress. That’s what we did in the protests against the Vietnam War. That’s what women did in the Seventies when we marched for equal rights. We were also painted with every slur there was, none of them pretty and all untrue. I know. I was there.

To be honest, there have been a few unsavory characters, but any mass demonstration attracts the fringe. Remember the folks at the Tea Party rallies packing heat or carrying signs of Obama with a Hitler moustache?

What’s been amazing is how placid and peaceful OWS was until the Oakland police moved in like Bull Connor. Even in New York, where the police swept into Zuccotti Park like a SWAT team, there was very little resistance. Now it’s not even clear if OWS will return to reclaim the park.

You’re making the same mistake Oakland’s Mayor Jean Quan made, assuming that overwhelming force was required and allowing the police to run amuck, firing tear gas canisters and wounding an Iraq veteran. Such tactics are the equivalent of going after mosquitoes with a baseball bat and about as effective.

Eric: The OWS protesters are not the conscience of America, unless America was founded by anarchists, far leftists, and others who despise capitalism. It is that very anti-capitalist viewpoint that allowed Barney Frank and Chris Dodd to force firms to engage in politically correct lending. That is what led to the sub-prime mess that caused the 2008 financial crash.

If the OWS protesters truly cared about Wall Street greed, they would protest outside the home of Jon Corzine. They would demand that Barack Obama refuse Wall Street money. They would demand Nancy Pelosi return her profits from her Visa trade that were acquired through an unfair competitive advantage. OWS is just a collection of leftist thugs trying to take by force what others on the right earn by hard work.

I agree that jobs should be created and the tax structure should be reformed. Unfortunately Barack Obama’s solution is to raise taxes on job creators and harass through excessive regulation those trying to create jobs. Look at Boeing in South Carolina or the Canada pipeline project. If Mr. Obama would slash taxes and get out of the way, a job boom would happen just as it did with Newt Gingrich (with Bill Clinton as symbolic figurehead), George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and even JFK.

OWS is a perfect metaphor for the Obama administration because they demand better living conditions while creating miserable living conditions for everyone around them. They do this by attacking the few people capable of actually making things better. They are lawlessness personified, and it is time to restore law and order.

He Said, She Said is a collaborative effort at dialogue between politically liberal/women’s rights advocate Catherine Poe and politically conservative/Roman Empire loving hedonist Eric Golub. The entire point of these columns is to show that people of divergent viewpoints can discuss politics amicably. Commenters are expected to follow the example set by the writers. Any personal attacks on either writer will be flagged as abusive and removed. 

 

 

 

 

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