Occupy Wall Street and the 2012 elections

The Left’s dream of a Tea Party equivalent has come true with the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Don’t let that stop you nonpartisans and conservatives from taking part in it.

This movement will be consequential. I believe the movement will overtake the political discourse of the 2012 election in much the same way that the Tea Party influenced the 2010 sweep.

It has already proven to be as potent or more so than the Tea Party with gatherings, protests and marches spreading from coast to coast and around the world.

According to ABC News, the most recent marches had upward of 15,000 participants, including more than 700 protesters who were arrested.

I believe union support is proving to be the turning point and is greatly strengthening the movement. While “big labor” might seem like an oxymoron these days, the national labor unions still hold clout and will give the Occupy movement more mainstream acceptance.  

The success of the Tea Party, and future success of the Occupy Wall Street movements, rests with their goals derived from a perceived notion of economic injustice. What is shared between the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street is their dissatisfaction with the status quo — where they differ is in their priorities and political philosophy.

Income inequality in America rivals that of many Third-World countries, and it has for some time.  In the United States, the richest 10 percent control two-thirds of Americans’ net worth.  According to the Congressional Budget Office, this is a trend that has been occurring since the late 1970s.

The participants of Occupy Wall Street seem to acknowledge these and similar statistics and are demanding a handful of reforms.

Fundamentally, they would like the system to stop favoring the wealthy at the expense of the poor.  There exists in America a persistent belief that if you play by the rules and try your hardest, you’ll be rewarded.

Whether that reward is fame, riches or something else, we all deep down have the sense that we’re destined for greatness (or at least have the ability to achieve it). This belief is false. In the recession even people who have worked hard all their lives and did good things lost jobs, homes and even loved ones.

The Occupy movement will allow President Obama to stake out a far more populist message as the campaign gears up. He will be emboldened to take on big business, to the dismay of the Republican nominee.

Polls have shown that regardless of ideology, Americans want millionaires to pay a fair share in taxes.

And now, just as quickly as the Tea Party advanced ground in Washington to a standstill, the administration will be provided cover to advance an agenda of real economic equalization. That is, if they choose to.

­— cdbabcoc@indiana.edu