“Occupying” Mentalities

Photo from UPI/John Angelillo

Publicly expressing grievances in a lawful, respectful, and peaceful manner is a delicate and precious attribute of Liberty that all American citizens equally possess, wholly appreciate, and jealously cherish.  It is a welcomed event whenever any citizens decide to gather and publicly profess their self-interests, personal passions, and political grievances.  Every law-abiding American should always warmly welcome a public redress of grievances, no matter the repugnancy or legitimacy of claims, or the physical appearance of the claimants.

Self-government is a rare human treasure.  It demands active civic participation from the proprietors, that is, every citizen who elects servants to represent their particular interests.  An apathetic, cynical, and ill-educated citizenry cannot govern themselves; they are prone to participate in their own enslavement, or willingly enslave others. 

American citizens, and public servants alike, have a solemn responsibility, and hold a common, sacred, and noble trust - bequeathed to all of us by the ancestors of America’s freedom and independence - to live equally under, and have respect for, all the laws we enact through our popular assemblies.  Our various legislatures, state and federal, are the only legitimate mechanisms for our prosperity as free and independent citizens.  America is a nation governed by reasonable laws and equitable justice.  Both principles enable each of us to contend with the abusive conduct of our legislatures by reckless majorities and obstructive minorities.  If any American laws prove incompetent or unjust, citizens, after mature public deliberation and experience, acting through the ballot box and their elected officials, properly design a remedy.

It is a misguided notion to assume all the inherent excesses and deficiencies exhibited by our free society, legislative assemblies, its structural processes, and institutional intricacies, can simply disappear by enacting legislation.  Yet the American system is the best human invention devised, so far, that enables this proud nation of more than three-hundred million free people to protect Liberty’s flame.  Only in this American system will social tranquility grace our society with the peace, happiness, and repose deserving of a free and independent Republic.  Tranquility can only spring from our careful maintenance of Liberty’s fragile flame, managed through the honest, just, and transparent operation of our governing institutions.

Patrons of discontent that “occupy” Zuccotti Park - a publicly accessible, and privately owned, outdoor space in downtown Manhattan, New York - manifest extreme social philosophies that are not new additions to American political discourse.  The minstrel atmosphere of events, and ridiculously redundant denunciations, do not confuse, nor fool, this independent observer of fact and circumstance.  This chorus of “occupying” voices sings a clear “tune.”  You may even utilize a narrow brush to paint this small, loud and mostly youthful, troop of progressive flatterers with the radical left-wing colors of the Democrat Party.

Ironies are pouring out from the discombobulated morass of distempered Democrat revelers.  A relatively small group of protesters - brazenly “occupying” a private/public space, to combat the American system’s inherent unfairness, and, of course, the greedy corporations extorting labor and controlling our governments - have the audacity to disregard lawful and useful public ordinances, diminish and defile private property, using that property for monetary and political profits, distributing food to the public, attracting improper and unruly elements, which is not befitting of a peaceful public display of patriotism in a free Republic.  This behavior is more suited to the tempestuous nature of anarchy and despotism.  This little protest has morphed into a twenty-four hour a day public disruption.

What part of “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” do the “occupiers” not understand? Breaking legitimate laws and public ordinances, duly enacted by elected public servants, suggest to this free citizen, at least, that a breach of the public peace has indeed occurred, several times, on a daily basis.  Laws still matter in America, even the minor ones governing human behavior in public spaces. 

Speech is a sacred right.  Public assemblages petitioning for particular redresses are fundamental rights.  “Occupying” encampment tactics are different species of expression, falling under an alternate category.  Several hundred people parading across the Brooklyn Bridge without a permit is in fact against the law, and the result was mass arrest.  This was just the spectacle many were looking for, and the fiendish favorites flocked for a fantastic feast.

In fact, the “occupiers” are an organization petitioning Wall Street, not Pennsylvania Avenue, for a redress of economic grievances that originate from the District of Columbia.  It is even more curious, and a rather absurd development, that the “occupiers” think they represent ninety-nine percent of the people in this country.  They, and certain media outlets, have created a neat little myth down there at Zuccotti Park.  To claim their Utopian General Assembly speaks on behalf of the American people is an extravagant notion. 

In case the “occupying” tenants of Zuccotti Park did not realize - maybe they only read their own newspaper and listen to Democrat propaganda - there is not a credible public forum, outside of the federal government, that speaks on behalf of all Americans.  “Occupying” elements consistently claim that the federal government is just a puppet of corporations, who enrich themselves by exploiting laboring classes.  This has been a Democrat tenet for more than a hundred-fifty years.  It is a paranoid conception, nothing but a conspiracy theory, which always assumes, without any exceptions, corporations will use our federal government to destroy American Liberty, yet, Americans receive the best wages for their labor and the highest living standards in the world, all this with many more corporations, and greater Liberty, then ever before.  This great trend of human freedom will persist as long as private property remains protected.

There is no legitimate assembly outside of the United States Congress, except for a Continental Convention, when actually called for by two-thirds of the states, which can claim they represent the interests of all the American people, and every state of the Union.  Every other entity is merely a particular interest group, most especially a group that considers itself an organization, conducting political demonstrations, accepting private donations, and receiving an assortment of items delivered to the UPS store nearby.  This assemblage of bold adherents to radical governing ideologies are nothing more than an organization comprising of a few well placed, and sufficiently staffed, professional groups, who are paid to further a perverse global agenda seeking to undermine law and justice in this nation, and other independent nations around the world.      

Who gave this mutinous allotment of malingerers – the fervent sympathizers of progressive governing philosophies - a special trust reserved for our public servants assembled in legislatures?  American citizens only use proper instrumentalities and forums available in this Republic.  What state assembly, in this great Union of Republican governments, granted a special designation to this minuscule population of roving vagabonds to speak for so many American citizens?  It is a great error of reason to suggest that “occupiers” represent ninety-nine percent of the population, just as erroneous as extrapolating from polling data the overall sentiment of America.  The only numbers that matter in America are the votes tallied after an election.  Everything else is irrelevant.

“Occupying” forces do not even come close to the thirty-thousand that showed up for the most recent Columbus Day Parade in New York City, which “occupiers” even protested, a favorite target of the extreme left.  The number of individuals actually camping overnight in Zuccotti Park is rather inconsequential, especially compared to the drunken masses on New Years Eve, in which the NYPD does an outstanding job, with 1600-pound horses, managing, defusing, and controlling rowdy masses.

It should be a lesson learned, for any private property owner, municipality, city, or state government not to allow protesters – much smaller in number than they appear– to pull out sleeping bags and air mattresses, erect crude structures, receive commercial deliveries, accept monetary donations, storing food, feeding themselves, and the general public, all on publicly accessible private property, with no permits or licenses at all to conduct such activities.  Are these people gathering overnight considered tenants of One Liberty Plaza?  If so, they should, at the very least, pay rent to the property owner, taxes to the city, for the commercial and political misuse of a space that is meant to be publicly accessible, and whose property owner, in the property description document, informs prospective tenants that the park plaza has nice views of the financial district, trees, and plenty of public seating. 

Well, the proper and legitimate tenants, the taxpaying residents and businesses of the neighborhood, and the public in general, can no longer enjoy that once tranquil space.  If a narrow path weaving through numerous personal encampment zones, articles of several descriptions strewn all over the seats, tables, and landscaping walls - not to mention they are killing mums, very Anti-Earth - is considered publicly accessible, a serious legal problem exists and needs immediate clarification. 

The rambunctious “occupants” rudely pushed aside the rest of the public, taxpaying residents, businesses, and tenants of One Liberty Plaza, usurping jurisdiction over Zuccotti Park, and even changing the public/private ordinances, nature, and name of the space.  There is even a continuous contingent of police officers being paid taxpayer money to manage this delusional demographic.  Police officers must have other important duties, rather than babysitting an unpredictable youthful crew.  “Occupiers” should just get out and go home already, start paying rent and taxes, or, at least, financially burdened by arrest, conviction, imprisonment, patient bills, fines, and fees for breaking several public laws governing reasonable human behaviors.   

“Occupying” tactics, condoned and legitimized by a few predictable lawmakers, and a well-paid celebrified breed, leads this free citizen, at least, to assume it is quite all right for other individuals to simply, and “indefinitely,” engage in similar activities in and on any other city space that is accessible to the public.  Nonetheless, the “occupiers” are continually breaking public ordinances, which do not really seem to be operating at all.  Should we suppose, then, as rational creatures of nature, endowed with unequal inductive and deductive capacities, that the public ordinances once applied to Zuccotti Park no longer apply to other public spaces in and around New York City?

Can the public, so long as they’re an invading horde of Democrat loyalists denouncing capitalism and corporations, “occupy” Central Park, Prospect Park, and Gramercy Park, or, even worse, march out anywhere from their squalid utopian citadel and descend on our own personal and private properties?  What is to keep this roving brigade of rabble-rousers from coming to a neighborhood park near you, or even visit your private residence?  Can this band of brutes merely obstruct commerce, and disrupt street and sidewalk traffic, forever, intimidating any pedestrian or private business they see fit, at any time of their choosing?  If wet and cold weather persists, since we are closing in on the depths of autumn, and soon winter, will these encamped Democrat dwellers suddenly become ill, and spread communicable diseases to the rest of the population, as they traipse through restaurants like McDonalds to use the bathroom.  There is, and will continue to be, depraved spectacles and enterprising ventures departing from Zuccotti Park on a daily basis, if they continue to persist, not to mention other subversive entities and splinter groups that will promote, spin off, co-opt, plot, and plan concerted efforts to escalate the propensity of physical conflict and violent altercations.      

The various, verbal and visible, messages are quite clear to this independent observer, who is all too familiar with their antiquated mentalities and intrusive tactics.  Enroll into any liberal arts degree program in private and state colleges and universities, you will find all of the “occupiers” sentiments prominently advocated and professed.  Our primary and secondary schools also have curriculum designed by union educators that inculcated this latest generation with the polarizing polemics of class warfare and the inherent unfairness of capitalism.  Progressively liberal demagogues, and their well-paid professionals, administer a highly divisive social re-education program that bombards Americans with unreal notions of government and economic power.  Democrats want the federal government to be the dominant redistributive power, and that is the problem.  Their hard-core radical friends want to expropriate all private property and resources to redistribute the proceeds equally to all. 

Even the most casual observer can easily recognize the democrat flavors, and repugnant Marxist mentalities, swirling around the “occupying” crowd.  The varying elements possess warped rationalities, paranoid conceptions, and corrupting cynicism, carrying union cards, regurgitating defective arguments that divide, distort, and distract popular sentiments, with a virulent strain that brings disease and disgust to our national character and public discourse.

Infectiously filthy propaganda is nothing new in our schools or the media.  It is quite funny, though, that the bastion of liberal propaganda runs a particular promo – really, it amounts to a Democrat spot advertisement - in which the New Liberal Left’s champion denounces the politics of division.  Yet, the same celebrified pundit, and all of her collusive colleagues, cheerily glorifies political division any chance they have, especially when it takes the crude form of a frenzied mass of sympathizing subversives squatting in Zuccotti Park, denouncing a particular segment of American society based on income, wealth, and occupation. 

The most prominent, and usual, democrat notables, from the private and public arena, fall all over themselves to highlight this liberal construction project erected for electoral advantage, trying to gain legitimacy for their cause.  It is a form of self-flagellation for the well-paid celebrified punditry to denounce their economic status.  They pay homage by making public pilgrimages to the “occupied” space, conducting theatrical displays, and making disingenuous declarations that make them feel better, and seem useful.  Always be aware of those that are quick to attach themselves to a cause, it is usually a sign of self-interest and opportunism.

“Occupiers” in Zuccotti Park have the same philosophical persuasion, and use the same tactical application, as those who unruly “occupied” the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin earlier this year.  Madison was a test run.  How far can the radical liberal left go before they self-destruct, or cause civic distemper?  The Madisonian partisan project, along with all the creatures of an elite arrangement, who used naïve student debtors, wanted the “occupation” of Wisconsin’s Capitol building to spread, and considered as another “Tahrir Square.”  This was a rallying sentiment in Madison, and now echoed at Zuccotti Park. 

Extreme progressives possess a perverse affinity toward the “Arab Spring,” which, followed out logically, really amounts to a radical social revolution, where the participants gravitate toward extra-constitutional remedies, whimsical governing philosophies, the allurement of demagogues, curious political tactics, and suspicious associations.  Suggesting revolution in America as a possible remedy, when this nation has not even exhausted all the constitutional avenues that remain open for necessary and legitimate alteration, is a highly dangerous maneuver.  There are many protesters suffering from a severe denial of reality, and ignore the dangerous consequences of such a proposition.  Do “occupiers” really want to carry this “Tahrir” tactic out to its logical conclusion?  Is “Tahrir” just a casual statement thrown about to get some sort of reaction?  It is plainly absurd even to suggest such a reckless remedy, especially before all the lawful constitutional avenues open to the people of America are not even tried. 

There is a great difference between what happened in Cairo and the events currently going on in Manhattan.  Comparing century’s long oppression of Egyptians, and other enslaved populations in the region, to America’s current situation is an extravagant proposition that should meet harsh rebukes, and not taken as a credible proposal.  If the events unfolding in Northern Africa impress the “occupiers,” perhaps they should consider self-immolation, then, maybe, they might get their point across, and attract even more supporters. 

However, if one carries out this dangerous revolutionary logic forward to its eventual end, it leads one to perceive the American system as so corrupt, and a complete tyranny, that the normal governing processes are no longer conducive or open to American citizens, thereby implying second Amendment and Declaration of Independence remedies.  Is this what the “occupiers” mean when they want a “Tahrir” style moment?  Do they expect that most Americans would simply want to throw away the American system and separate from our most cherished values of constitutional practice?  Maybe the “occupiers” want the Egyptian military to take over America, or something of a similar nature.  Do they really expect, or want, the police and other armed forces to join their “occupation?”  This is not putting the cart before the horse; it is shooting the horse and burning the cart.

This “occupying” sentiment ultimately takes a contrary path from the constitution, the Union’s sacred bond, and the Liberty and Independence they both stand to protect.  What is even more serious, with far greater implications for our liberties as an independent nation, is the foreign global flavor of their “solidarity movement” that seemingly recognizes no international borders, national sovereignty, or American rule of law.  Several adversaries of American freedom are emboldened by any weakness exhibited, even though the spectacle of “occupationist” tactics represents an extreme perversity of liberalism, and a distinct minority interest.  

Public discontent is the best vehicle for foreign adversaries, and domestic deniers of American Liberty, Independence, and Sovereignty, that would like nothing better to happen to America then to have citizens set out against each other.  Americans have, and will continue to possess, the most freedom in the world.  Nevertheless, we are not free to do away with all the precious rights, ancient privileges, common law traditions, and sacred benefits we all inherited from our ancestors, which are contained in our various charters of freedom.

“Occupiers” also want something akin to an ancient Athenian style democracy.  If America was a direct democracy - which is unconstitutional because it is not a republican form of government, guaranteed to every state of the Union - one-hundred fifty-five million people could rule, absolutely, and directly, with a mere majority.  The presidential election in 2008 only had one-hundred twenty-five million people voting, and the total US workforce is one-hundred thirty-nine million.  Only citizens who vote move this nation, many people do not even vote at all, and those who do, are evenly divided.  It is impossible to have most people agree on any issue, at any time, and sufficiently administer the nation at large.    

The few individuals encamped in Zuccotti Park, and other smaller groups corralled in a few spaces across this nation, would be lucky to muster one million people at any one time, in any one space, let alone tens of million, which would still be an insignificant portion of people in America, by no way constituting a legitimacy to speak on behalf of the whole American population. 

Maybe they can garner enough people to gain representation in Congress.  If this was the case, a re-settlement plan is in order, preferably based on the trail of tears model.  They can go to Wyoming, with seed from Monsanto, fertilizer from Potash, some agrarian machinery from Caterpillar, and see what they can do for themselves.  That is where they can set up their social commune, or phalanx, and get out of New York City parks.  If the “occupiers” are claiming they represent ninety-nine percent, they must be talking about representing ninety-nine percent of the radical Democrat platform.

A Continental Convention is the last constitutional line of defense for the survival of our individual liberties and national independence.  We are not there yet.  If the requisite states call for a convention, this free citizen would welcome it as a legitimate assembly having the authority to propose amendments for state ratification.  Of course, this constitutional instrument must come before any type of civic conflagration or violent revolution.  A convention is the only legitimate assembly, outside of Congress assembled, sanctioned by precedent and the constitution.  It is the best venue, uniquely attached to the people and their states, to remedy any material defects that the American system exhibits. 

A grand forum, such as a Convention of States, can gather and propose amendments for ratification by three-fourths of state conventions.  This is the last path to take before anyone suggests secession and any other extreme tactics that undermine constitutional restraints on government power and any majority or minority interest that encroaches upon the precious liberties we all possess. 

Any action taking a revolutionary route outside of our American system is treason.  Liberty is not a game.  This is not some frat party, or hastily arranged university experiment on the commons, or classroom discussion.  Stakes are high.  America is dealing with severe economic tepidness and designing foreign adversaries.  It is a matter of national and individual Liberty and Independence.  This free citizen will continue to denounce despotic perversities, identify radical innovations, unravel deceitful devices, and unmask dissimulative demagogues, every time they rear their brutal heads, and there have been plenty.  Remember, there are no constraints on a free mind, but there must be reasonable restraints on corrosive actions that abuse the rule of law, equal justice, and public decency.