By Gery L. Deer

Deer In Headlines

For the last couple of weeks I have been deflecting questions as to why I haven’t weighed in on the recent Wall Street protests. The main reason is pretty simple. While they might have a legitimate gripe with the government’s corporate bail out policies, I really didn’t want to give further publicity to their unbelievably socialistic agenda. But since this pointless movement seems to be spreading and shows no signs of weakening, here’s my take on it.

Taking a page from the Tea Party’s playbook, hoards of disgruntled citizens have gathered in protest of … what, exactly? The so-called “Occupy Wall Street, Boston, insert your favorite city here” groups have collected in more than 60 cities across the country. But for all their apparent numbers, they lack a common purpose and desired outcome.

In fact, protestors are insisting that a unifying cause or message is not required. Every movement must have a message. Surprisingly, this particular cause has dozens of different messages and that will likely be their downfall.

If anything, these self-aggrandizing rejects from the Tea Party movement see themselves as future folk heroes standing up for the “common man.” Sorry folks but we common men have to spend our time finding work and paying bills. We can’t spend weeks on end camping out with our hippy brethren in a public park.

Don’t be fooled. This is not a protest for civil rights or freedom from tyranny. Instead it’s a protest against success and achievement and nothing short of a demand for the adoption of socialism. Yep, you read that right – socialism.

According to the dictionary definition, socialists advocate the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution of land, capital, etc., into the community as a whole. In plain English, they want to take what you have worked hard to earn and divide it up amongst the rest of the population so that others don’t have to work or pull their weight. I think there’s something strangely ironic about a group that is pushing a socialist mentality which has no real community goals.

If the utter lack of a unifying purpose isn’t enough to label this movement ridiculous, the list of pseudo-celebrities who are lending their voices to the cause certainly does. On the off chance that participants of these occupations are reading this, I’ll let you in on a little secret.

Giving Al Sharpton or Sarah Palin a soap box and free publicity will do nothing for your absent cause. You’re allowing millionaires to use you like so much left over bacon grease and they’re just getting richer at your expense.

Speaking of expense, no one has considered the financial harm these gatherings are doing. At a time when city governments are struggling to balance budgets they now have to spend millions of dollars for extra security and maintenance that would not have otherwise been required.

In short, if these people don’t get a handle on exactly what they want they’ll never get it.  All I can say to this is that they have far too much time on their hands. Maybe they would do better to redirect some energy from whining and complaining to taking a shower and finding a job.

In any case, some of the anger demonstrated by the protesters should be directed away from corporateAmericaand pointed at President Obama. After all, he’s the guy you want to blame for the bail outs, and, by the way, he’s a multi-millionaire too and a self-admitted socialist. Interesting how he has done nothing to unburden himself from his top-heavy bank account.

People take up causes when they’re convenient or only after something bad has happened to them or someone they know. Without a meaningful goal, however, the Occupy movement will start fizzling out fairly soon, especially in the east, once the cold weather arrives. It will die out because there is no unifying message. In the meantime, the rest of us will keep working and trying to provide for our families so those people can continue to play in the park – on the tax payer’s dollar.

Gery L. Deer is a freelance business writer based in Jamestown, Ohio. Read more at http://www.deerinheadlines.com.