It Swings Both Ways

A lot has been made in the last few days of increasing Democratic Party support for Occupy Wall Street. Some within the movement have expressed fears of co-optation. Some on the right have argued that the Dems are blundering by throwing in their lot with a group of putative radicals. And so on.

The irony is that the same elected Democrats singing the praises of Occupy Wall Street are themselves major recipients of money from...Wall Street!
~ from Dems backing Occupy Wall St. are funded by Wall St. by Justin Elliott ~

Elliott underscores one of the reasons why I support the Occupy movement's decision thus far NOT to make specific demands. As I asked in an earlier post on this topic, Who would they give their demands to?

As far as the long time narrative goes, the Democratic Party would be the obvious choice. According to the pervading myth, the Democrats are the party of the working class. While this may have been marginally true a few decades ago, it is not true anymore. The Democrats are just as beholden to Wall Street as is the GOP.

Some Dems may SAY they support the goings on around the nation, but I'm certain their campaign managers are developing ulcers. While a lot of sympathetic rhetoric may provide some street cred with the protesters, too many agreeable sounding words could well mean a severe drop-off in corporate contributions. So new candidates and incumbents seeking reelection alike must walk a tightrope. Say just enough to get the protesters to view them positively, while not saying so much that corporate sponsors run away.

In the end, I think it's best for the Occupy movement to steer clear of the established political parties. I'm not suggesting that they back a third party; it's more that they stay away from organized politics altogether. They simply need to keep shouting the message that the 99 percent want the corporatists to get their boots off of our necks.

Let the politicians figure out how they will accomplish it. If the pressure keeps building, the politicos will have to do something and the people in the streets will let them know if that something is palatable.