Occupy Wall Street IS NOT the Liberals’ Tea Party

For about a month now, the Occupy Wall Street protests have been going on, protesting things that, as I have said before, are none of their business like business profits and the size of corporate bonuses, not to mention the fact that businesses haven’t hired even though they have the money. (Which misses the entire point of why a business hires a new employee. I have the financial ability to hire a babysitter for Friday night. I don’t have a child, and thus I don’t NEED a babysitter. I’m not going to hire a babysitter so some teenager can have money.) Now the Left and the Drive-By Media want to compare this movement to the Tea Party.

Friends, Occupy Wall Street is not the liberal equivalent of the Tea Party for so very many reasons, some of which I will enumerate in a moment. Before I do, I’d like to explain why the left so desperately wants their own version of the Tea Party: They are jealous of the Tea Party. The Tea Party sprang up from the grassroots level without any prompting from the national party or massive donors. It came up because many Americans are frustrated with the way Obama in specific and government in general is going about their business. Out of that came a peaceful, respectful movement that has changed the political landscape. It is not unlike the way the Civil Rights movement sprung up…and once again, like the Civil Rights movement, it was a Republican movement. But I digress.

So know let’s talk about WHY Occupy Wall Street is not a Left wing equivalent of the Tea Party:

- The Tea Party happened on its own. Occupy Wall Street was created by Big Unions, liberal activist groups like MoveOn.org and other George Soros funded groups, and is being egged on by the mainstream Democrat Party. The Tea Party, in contrast, is often disliked by the mainstream Republican Party.

- There has still never been an arrest at a Tea Party rally. We in the Tea Party clean up after ourselves, we stick within the Time, Place and Manner restrictions placed on us by the protest permits we’re given, and do not cause problems for law enforcement or other people who are near our protest. Meanwhile, Occupy Wall Street has already seen dozens of arrests, have violated the Time, Place and Manner restrictions of their permits, have attempted to stop traffic by marching not on the sidewalks but in the streets, and have generally been menaces to those around them.

- The Tea Party knows what we stand for and what we are trying to achieve: Small, unobtrusive government and the maximum amount of freedom for all Americans that can be provided, a minimal tax burden, and equality of opportunity for all (not of result, but of opportunity). Interviews with Occupy Wall Street protesters show that they don’t have much of a platform, except for “life isn’t fair”, “someone else has what I want and I want it,” some sputtering about wealth inequality, and some bumper sticker slogans about the wealthy paying “their fair share” even though no one can define what that “fair share” is, except for it’s more than what’s being paid now.

- The Tea Party formed around its issues, Occupy Wall Street formed and NOW is trying to establish its issues. The Occupy Wall Street leadership has had to post a vote on its Facebook page to decide WHAT their demands are. They formed a protest, they’re in progress of protesting, and only now are they trying to figure out what they want. To use a term from the movie PCU, it’s a movement of Causeheads. There is a group of people who wants to protest SOMETHING, and now they are filling in their own private frustrations with an occasional semi-legitimate grievance. Meanwhile the Tea Party has always stood for specific Constitutional values.

No, my friends, Occupy Wall Street is not a leftwing equivalent of the Tea Party. It’s a cheap knockoff that rose up out of the liberal desire to protest anything that they don’t like, regardless of the legitimacy of those frustrations or their right to demand reparations for harms not perpetrated. The Democrat Party and the Left deeply desire their own version of the Tea Party. Unfortunately for liberals, Occupy Wall Street is not it.

Reactions to Occupy Wall Street Protests

For the past few weeks, a group of liberal protesters have held a series of protests on Wall Street in New York City over what they call "wealth inequality" in America.  The reality is these are members of the entitlement generation who believe they are owed a job, owed a paycheck, owed a living, and owed benefits.

The basis of these frustrations against Wall Street start with a mentality that anyone who has wealth obtained it by some ill means.  The attitude is "if you have money, you stole it from someone else, therefore we are entitled to take it back."  Unfortunately, the truth of capitalism is far different. 

The truth is business owners take a risk with their money.  They put up their own money with two potentials:  They could make a profit or lose their money.  If their product is good and there is a demand for it, a profit is made.  If that product is in high enough demand, new employees are hired to meet the demand for production. 

That's 180 degrees different from earning a paycheck.  A paycheck is a contract.  Unless you fail to do the work you are guaranteed that paycheck.  That is why it's taxed differently than wages.  Even then, if you were pretending to do the work, you'll still get paid until they fire you.  With business investment there is the risk of loss that goes with the risk of gain.

Throughout this entire process of owning a business, the owner is deciding whether to take their money and get out or to keep reinvesting it in the company.  If their company has stood for years, they have continued to risk their money, year after year.  They make their millions because their product continues to be in demand.

To me, this is the glory of America, the truest sense of the American Dream, and what is great about this country.  To these protesters it is ill-gotten gain. So now they are protesting that these people have DARED to be successful in their investments and wise with their fiscal property (that would be "money" for those of you in Palm Beach County, FL), demanding that they pay "their fair share." 

The truth is, and this is quoted quite regularly, the top 1% of wage earners pay 38% of the tax burden, the top 5% pay 58% of the tax burden, the top 10% pay 70% of the tax burden, and the bottom 50% pay less than 3% of the tax burden. (1)

Now these Occupy Wall Street types are going to tell you "but those wealthy are the ones who have reaped the most benefit from our system, they should pay more taxes."  Well, let's look at who gets the most benefit from the tax dollars paid.  According to a study performed in 2007 by the Tax Foundation:

Overall, we find that America's lowest-earning one-fifth of households received roughly $8.21 in government spending for each dollar of taxes paid in 2004. Households with middle-incomes received $1.30 per tax dollar, and America's highest-earning households received $0.41. Government spending targeted at the lowest-earning 60 percent of U.S. households is larger than what they paid in federal, state and local taxes. (2)

Wait a minute...so the wealthiest among us pay significantly MORE in taxes, but receive significantly LESS from the government?  Wouldn't that mean they are actually paying MORE than their "fair share" and receiving LESS than their "fair share" in return?  Wouldn't that also mean that the poorest among us pay LESS than their "fair share" and receive MORE than their "fair share" in return?  Only if you consider receiving 800% as much as you put in from the government while the same "evil rich people" receive 40% of their tax investment back. 

The truth of the matter is these Wall Street types are paying significantly more than their fair share.  They have made successful investments and that has paid off. They have then been wise enough hold on to their fiscal property (Palm Beachers, that's money). 

As for the "million dollar bonuses" that these Wall Street executives receive, I have one simple answer to you liberals.  Please listen carefully to me:  IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!  If my employer feels that I have done such a good job that they want to give me a bonus as a reward for my success, IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!  It does not matter how much that bonus happens to be, IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!  It's not your money being given.  A company can do whatever they want with their fiscal property (again, Palm Beachers, that's money), including giving that money to an employee as a reward, and IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!

Friends this type of baloney really steams my clams, because these entitled liberals think that a person getting a bonus is their business.  Fact of the matter is if that executive didn't get that bonus, it would not make your life one iota better and it would not put a nickel into your pocket.  You can call it unfair and not like it, but once again IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!

Bottom line: The Occupy Wall Street protests are nothing more than a group of whiny entitlement generation liberals who want to tear other people down who have succeeded.  Government has zero right to confiscate the fiscal property (money) of the people who work on Wall Street REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH THEY HAVE.  It is not now, nor will it ever be, your money.  Regardless of how much they have, regardless of how big a bonus someone is given, IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!

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(1) National Taxpayers Union: Who Pays Income Taxes?

(2) Tax Foundation: Who Pays America's Tax Burden, and Who Gets the Most Government Spending?

If you have any questions about the terminology used herin, please check out the Biblical Conservative Dictionary.  Thanks!