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<\/p>\nThey wanted the Mayor to sleep over.<\/p>\n
For one night. In the park. Sleeping bag and all. They wanted the park renamed after Troy Davis, a Georgia man put to death in September. And finally, Occupy Atlanta wanted a promise no one would be arrested. <\/p>\n
No chance on the name change, Mayor Kasim Reed replied. Or the no arrest guarantee. But the Mayor would pray on the sleep-over decision.<\/p>\n
The protesters chalked it up as a victory anyway. Yes, Bank of America still raked in too much money. And sure, many of them still did not have jobs. But, at the very least, they were relevant.<\/p>\n
They had done it. That scruffy gaggle of un- and under- employed but, thanks to sympathetic local delis, over-fed youths had seized the media spotlight. They would be on the evening news after the game. The Mayor\u2019s PR team spent an entire afternoon crafting the pros and cons of a camp slumber party because of them.<\/p>\n
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Occupy Wall Street marks an inflection point long overdue. The crystallization of a shattered ideal for millions of Millennials. They are a generation coming to grips that America\u2019s best days may truly lie behind it. An America where politicians serve to get elected, not to govern. A generation that will not be more successful than their parents but will move back in with them.<\/p>\n
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They were told if they studied hard, if they were prudent, life would be grand. They would have jobs. They would have what their parents had and then some. <\/p>\n
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They now know this was a myth. Served up by rosy cheeked parents and school teachers in rosier times. They now know that this is a privilege, not a gift. And they are very, very upset by this.<\/p>\n
But they also know that they are not alone. They were frustrated before Twitter. But social media helped the rage go viral; Skyping, tweeting, and updating its way across the globe. From Tahrir Square to Madrid\u2019s indignados to Zuccotti Park, Occupy protesters discovered they have a voice. They now must figure out what to say. <\/p>\n
Today the grievances are as motley as the geography. In Tokyo, they picket nuclear power. In Rome, they hurl bricks because of Silvio Berlusconi. In Frankfurt, they bash in BMW\u2019s over pensions they will never see. In New York, they protest because bankers make too much money. <\/p>\n
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And in Atlanta, they protest because MARTA raised bus fares again. Because shovel ready doesn\u2019t always mean shovel ready. Because President Obama wasn\u2019t the one they were waiting for. <\/p>\n
The Mayor had enough. <\/p>\n
He had tried to be civil. He had tried to accommodate. Mayor Reed even extended the deadline to November 7. But every time he offered an open hand, the protesters hoisted more signs with clenched fists. They harassed his spokeswoman. They blew weed smoke in officers\u2019 faces. And now they wanted a park hip hop concert. <\/p>\n
So Mayor Reed hauled away the park Port-o-Potties. He pulled the plug on the concert. And he issued the ultimatum: vacate Woodruff Park by Monday or face arrest. <\/p>\n
Come Monday, most will go home. They will fold up their tents, commiserate at the closest Chick-Fil-A, and upload the protest pictures to Facebook. They will take to Twitter and report back to Zuccotti Park headquarters. That they, too, are working. They, too, are part of the 99%.<\/p>\n
Woodruff Park was not their Woodstock or Altamount. They did not storm campus buildings or stop any tanks. But it was something. And for a jaded, apathetic generation, this was everything. The stirring of an organic, grassroots movement fueled by sleepy youths neglected by their politicians, overlooked by companies, and fed up about all of it. <\/p>\n
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And they will be back. Wiser, better organized, and in more numbers next time. Because Woodruff Park is only the beginning. The first urban battleground in a war that has only just begun. And this will keep Mayor Reed up at night for a very long time. <\/p>\n
\u201cF—— kids,\u201d Jimmy grumbled to the TV. \u201cNeed to man up and get jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The road was long. Jimmy\u2019s repair business wasn\u2019t what it used to be. But he was getting by. All he asked for was a Bud or two after work, the Broncos come Sunday, and he would make do.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut on SportsCenter. I can\u2019t watch this s—.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Occupy movement falls empty in Red State diners like these. The tactics loud enough to garner attention. The message to inchoate to keep it. Instead, the rallies are clipped to swarmy sound-bytes on local news. Solemn anchors narrating the latest arrests in Manhattan or Denver. Between the lines: Starbucks-sipping, hipsters begrudging the success of hard-working Americans. <\/p>\n
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\u201cAt least the Tea Party got s— done. \u201d <\/p>\n
From where Jimmy was sitting, Tea Party sent fresh ideas to Washington. Occupy Wall Street sent bricks through windows. And to many, Zuccotti Park 2011 is Chicago 1968 all over again. Bill O\u2019Reilly insinuated the protesters are \u201ccrackheads\u201d. Glenn Beck warned, \u201cThey will come for you and drag you into the streets and kill you\u2026 They’ll kill everybody.”<\/p>\n
If the Tea Party is a referendum on government size, Occupy Wall Street marks a Rorschach test on personal responsibility. The Occupy Wall Street protesters are drug-addled mobsters who will not work, who took on student loans they couldn\u2019t afford. \u201cDon\u2019t blame Wall Street, don\u2019t blame the big banks,\u201d Republican frontrunner Herman Cain roared<\/a>, \u201cIf you don\u2019t have a job and you\u2019re not rich, blame yourself!\u201d<\/p>\n The Tea Party worked within the system. They cheered the loudest at town-halls, flooded the ballots, and swept a shirtless Scott Brown & Co. into office in January 2010.<\/p>\n Occupy Wall Street is still too raw, too visceral in a non-election year. The movement has yet to coalesce around a candidate. Jesse Jackson reported from Zuccotti Park but his motivation, as always, was more cultural relevance than political prominence. Kanye West and Alec Baldwin made cameos, too. As Occupy Wall Street morphs into a populist cause du jour that elicits celebrity photo ops and political lip service but no more.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. King would want us to challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonising those who work there.\u201d President Obama observed. Fed Chief Ben Bernanke understands their \u201cfrustration\u201d. But what can they do, they plead? Congress is gridlocked and filibustered beyond repair. Europe backslides. And companies refuse to hire.<\/p>\n The Tea Party demands less government. Less taxes. Occupy Wall Street wants more government. More taxes on the affluent. To claw back the gaudy paychecks of Wall Street bankers. To give it to workers who make things. Real things.<\/p>\n The Tea Party is a reaction to Obama\u2019s federal overreach. Occupy Wall Street to his lack thereof. They thought Obama had more fight in him. They thought Obama would take it to the banks and to the hedge funds.<\/p>\n Occupy Wall Street believed in President Obama. They thought shovel-ready truly meant shovel-ready. But three years later, the iconic \u201cHope I Can Believe In\u201d poster was sold to a museum by lobbyists. Unemployment hovers around 9%. Banks are back to record profits with monthly charges for customers to have the right to access their own money.
\nThe wealthy are the solution to Tea Party. Job-creators who are persecuted by Obama for their success. To Occupy movement, they are the 1% scourge. The billionaires and millionaires have stacked Washington and jerry-rigged the courts against them.<\/p>\n
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