Well it appears that the Occupy movement is winding down. Or at least it’s being wound down by city councils and mayors fed up with footing the bill. Mayor Bloomberg is clearing out campers, and L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa has City Hall Park closed. Whether he actually has the testicular fortitude to enforce his deadline remains to be seen.
So what was this all about? Well, if you listen to the OWS chants, the incessant drum beat of stupidity emanating from the left is demanding “economic equality”. In other words, they want equal outcome despite the input. It matters not how hard, or how little, someone works. We all should receive the benefits of the hard work of those stupid enough to work hard. At least that’s what Mayor Villaraigosa says he is hearing. I’m just the interpreter.
Ok, so plus five points for the Flea Party for exercising their right to free speech and free assembly, though I think they may have stretched the definition of “assembly” with the squatter's camps they created in our cities. One of the primary reasons city leaders are giving for clearing these sites is the danger to the general health and welfare of the occupants and those around the camps. There’s been more evidence of sex assaults around the OWS camps than around the Herman Cain campaign, not that you would know it from the media coverage. And while the message may have been muddled, confusing, or downright idiotic at times, there have been Americans that have died to defend their right to say whatever it was they were trying to say. The beauty of the First Amendment is that it is, by design, content agnostic. It matters not what you say, only that you have the right to say it.
But let’s get back to what appears to be the message for a moment. The idea of economic equality has been around for centuries. It is usually put forth by those who have not at times when those who have seem to be doing well. The real difference between the “haves” and the “have-nots” is not what they actually “have”, but what they do to get it. This is where you tend to lose a lot of the Flea Baggers. They just don’t get it, or don’t believe, that the same government that protects their right to camp on public property for extended periods also protects their right to pursue happiness. That means if you want someone to pay your student loan, consider looking in the mirror before you look to the taxpayer. Perhaps if you expended the effort used cooking up lyrics to “F--k America” in a more personally beneficial manner you would “find” the money to pay off those loans.
“Economic quality” is the battle cry of the budding Socialist. It is the demand that everyone achieve the same rewards (to each according to his needs) that everyone else gets by applying themselves to a trade (from each according to his abilities). It is the politically correct way of saying, “I want what you have, but I’m too damn lazy to work for it.” Economic equality means equal outcome, not equal opportunity, and is the exact opposite of what our nation has promised for over 200 years. Those who have taken America up on the promise usually find some level of success. Those who demand results without effort usually find themselves in Zuccotti Park.
Those who have worked to get what they have tend to have little patience for those who demand a quick and easy route to the same success. No one has promised you a new home for free, or even a new kitchen, well except for Obama. But if you are demanding Obama provide you what he has promised, at least have the common sense to go to the right door. The idea of economic equality has been demonstrated to be a complete failure every time it’s tried because those who are working get tired of carrying those who refuse to get off their lazy butts and out of their make-shift camps and pitch in. Eventually no-one is working, unless they are forced to, and now you have forced labor a-la the USSR. The cost of economic equality becomes so great that the society implodes, a-la Greece or General Motors. The idea of economic equality is like the baseball game that always ends in a tie.
So here’s to the end of the idiocy, at least for now, of the Occupy Wall Street effort. May they find better things to do with their time and perhaps enjoy the fruits of their labor. If that happens before the next “uprising”, they may well find themselves with a different perspective, and one may even right a blog just like this.
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