Good for Michael Bloomberg. Good for him. Not because his actions were justified. Not because he was working within the actual law. No. Good for him for forcing this movement to move on to its next step.
And make no mistake. That next step is the most important one.
What are you guys willing to do now? You understand that the system will not work with you. It never would. If you have any sense of history you'll know that your soulmates - the hippies and the yippies - had good intentions for the country but failed to meet them because they could not agree to work the system to their benefit. There is really only one thing you can do now if you want to force change in the United States.
You have to cultivate candidates for this next election.
This is an opportunity with a very narrow window. After these elections are over, if you folks were not able to rally around candidates of your own who FEAR you and are willing to do your bidding, your movement will be diminished.
There are those who feel the system is the problem. Well, that was the same attitude in the 60s. The system will ALWAYS be the problem unless you game it. I know how much you hate the Tea Party (I'm with you) but that group, whether fabricated or not, was able to force change on the rest of us. Change we didn't want. They forced the republican party to take them seriously. They became the establishment. They threatened centrist republicans by running candidates against them. In the end, they forced the party to bow to them and forced the democrats (who are too willing to lay down arms at the whiff of confrontation) bow as well. And who won?
The good news is that the movement's goals are just. But they will not be known unless they are organized. You people need to create your own set of commandments. You can't have it all or it gets jumbled. If taxes on the 1% is number one on the list, great. Then plug in two, three, four, five... Make it clear. Make it a platform. And get some candidates. Without them you're pissing in the wind.
For those who feel that the "establishment" is the enemy and you have no need to align yourself with anyone within the system? Well, you're just plain wrong. From someone who's actually processed the last 50 years, change will not come without either revolution or fear. Revolution will set us back. Why do you think the democrats have swung so far to the right? They're STILL running from the brand of being labeled as hippies. Lets face it. Democratic representatives are weak. They have no backbone. They will not work for anyone but those putting money in their pockets and will only take notice when money is pulled from their pockets. We need to take over the party and swing it back to the left. Creating an entirely new party is not the answer. New parties take a decade or so to become relevant. We don't have that much time.
Take the movement inside. Get offices. Get people to sign petitions. Find candidates and hold their feet to the fire. Solicit donations in an organized manner. Force the democrats to stop being such spineless weasels by threatening their positions.
If you think I'm wrong, read your history. The rich will not lose, but it doesn't mean you can't win. Making Wall Street change its ways without getting the votes to do it (and making sure those with the votes are in-line) will not work no matter how angry you are. Your anger and altruism will not win the day alone. It is only fuel. If you expend it on more anger and altruism you'll end up empty-handed.
Right now, OWS has an opportunity. If you move the way other movements have in recent history, that opportunity will be lost. Getting back in Zuccotti park is not the goal. It's bigger than that. Don't turn yourselves into laughing stocks. Become the party you want to be.