Response to Occupy Wall Street?

[Roonie]

Has anyone here considered putting together a response to Occupy Wall Street?

By which I mean: start our own occupation. I don't know exactly how all of you feel about that crowd, but I used to be pretty liberal. It seems like eons ago, but I was once anti-capitalist and truly excited when Obama won the election . . . but before his inauguration, I had seen the light.

And so I am filled with hope that a good number of this OWS crowd can be converted, and quickly too. I've been thinking a long time how this might be done, and I'm thinking that trying to just explain it to them one-on-one is not the way to go. They have been very effectively conditioned to reject capitalism as a solution, and so I'm thinking that the best way to get to them would be to engage the left wing as a whole.

Specifically, what I'm thinking is that rather than go and join them, we should start an explicitly separate and explicitly right-wing demonstration to oppose them. They will see the opposition and expect opposition, but when we start blasting Wall Street (almost) exactly the same as they are, they'll be like "wait, wtf?" It would be just like when OWS tried crashing Ron Paul's town hall - I'm sure at least some of them were surprised when he calmly expressed at least some sort of agreement with them about the bailouts. We need more of that.

The Tea Party is not the way to do this - their main issue is taxes, and that's same ol' same ol' to the left. We need something new that specifically targets Wall Street . . . and then gently shifts focus to the Fed in a logical way.

I know this can be done; it's how I got on board with the liberty movement. I believe many of them can be converted in a similar way, and with a public event like this, we can convert a lot of them all at once.

Thoughts?

 

[69360]

Forget it. 2% of the couple thousand of them are registered gop voters. Spend your time doing something to get ron elected like the phone from home.

They aren't interested, this is what they say on their site in their rules.

We do not support an election campaign for 2012. At all. We have removed election material for Obama, Paul, Warren, Paul, Cain, Paul, Perry, Paul, the green party, Paul, Nader, Paul, and did I mention Paul? The spamming by the Ron Lawl 2012 fan club was getting out of hand. We will continue to remove such material and any call for the Paul 2012 campaign will, at this point, be considered spamming. End of. We're tired of hearing about it. Main street debates are also largely off topic.

 

[Roonie]

Yes, but this would be a separate movement for precisely that reason.

And ultimately, this is not about the election either. For the exact same reason that OWS isn't about a specific campaign, this should not be about a specific campaign either. What we have to do is change the thinking on the other side. A Ron Paul presidency will be no good - a setback even - if the people don't know why he was elected and therefore can't support his initiatives. It may ultimately do more harm than good.

Endlessly spamming Ron Paul to these people will not work on them, they think they've heard it all already. But trust me, there is ample opportunity here. We just need to come up with something that defies their expectations. And since their beliefs about the economy are wrong, we can easily find such things.

Would anyone hold signs and stuff with me if I can get something organized?

 

[69360]

Please for the love of God don't bring RP signs to OWS. We are making headway as a mainstream campaign. Don't associate with fringe groups, the last thing we need is MSM associating Ron with them. If you want to go to them on your own fine, leave the RP gear home.

This is a GOP primary, you need to understand who typical GOP voters are. They don't like OWS.

 

[Roonie]

I have no intention of carrying any kind of sign to OWS. And I don't really plan on making this about RP either; I want to promote liberty. He does not have a monopoly on the idea, you know.

The reason I want to do something separate from OWS is precisely so that we can show who is opposed to being counted in "the 99%" and that we are not unreasonable. Something they always say about us is that we are inflexible and uncompromising, and I do not think that this is good - either as reality or perception. I'm sure that most of those OWS'rs truly believe they are doing what is best for the country, and I do not think we should forsake them just because they are mistaken about a few things. We should try to educate them and work with them . . . and if we need to make some compromises in the process, I don't think that should stop us.

That's actually something I was hoping to bring into the mix: if this starts as a republican effort, the left will assume it's total opposition. And then once we've got their attention as an opposition, we can surprise them with actually being conciliatory.

I know GOP voters don't like OWS, but I think they would forgive us if we can win some converts, right? Because after all, after the primaries comes the general election, which we also have to win.

 

[Miss Annie]

I understand your position. There is a huge part of me that has a great deal of sympathy for alot of OWS'ers. Mostly because they have been fooled into believing alot of garbage that will lead them into thinking that socialism and / or communism is the way to go. Have you done much research into OWS and their roots?
Have you seen exactly what their demands and desires are?
The biggest problem with this idea is that for the most part they choose to block out people who might do any educating at all. They don't want to be told anything. They want to do the telling. I am sure there are people out in the OWS group that do not fit this mold that I am describing to you.
I think what people are trying to say here is that at this point, we feel that our efforts are best served in doing what we know works in order to try to get Ron Paul elected. That is the best service we can do for this country and the OWSers at this point.

 

[Captain America]

At first I thought they were against corruption but I realized they are the 1% enabling larger government and more corruption.

I wrote this a bit over a month ago when I thought it was possible the 1% they were talking about was just the corrupt not Capitalism.

http://libertyleak.com/2011/10/17/a-letter-to-occupy-wall-street-from-the-99/

 

[EWM]

The OWS crowd are dumber than dirt. They can't be reasoned with. I can understand wanting a counter movement, but I think it would end in a lot of bloodshed. These people are itching for a war.

 

[Roonie]

Well, I thought that OWS was just the latest incarnation of the international left. I don't know if the ringleaders are any particular kind of trouble, but everyone - and I mean EVERYONE - that I remember from my days as a leftie likes to think that they are hip and aware and cosmopolitan and much more right than you are because their viewpoint is so much wider than yours.

I'm trying to further expand their horizons. I don't think it will be quite as hard to get them to listen as you guys do. I mean, the people out in the streets doing the occupying? Yeah, maybe you're right about them. But all the fair-weather supporters they have are much more reasonable. Anyways, I'm going to get this thing moving - check out www.occupytpl.com if you're interested in helping. (Money is always good :-D) The website is just a placeholder for the time being; more to come, and I'll post back here if/when/where this thing is going to start . . .

It's been a while now, and my memory is a little fuzzy on exactly what it was that made me a convert, but I think I remember enough about it to do some good. And if they really are as dumb as you think, then a counter-movement is the only way to get through to them. They will ignore and repress . . . unless you are the enemy. Then they will concentrate.

 

[Roonie]

Hey guys - sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I thought I'd let you know that my website just got a serious update and we're ready to rock and roll. Check it out if your interested.