The “Occupy Wall Street” movement: A bunch of hippies in public places kicking a Hacky Sack around while listening to Radiohead or perhaps something more serious – that politicians and even public safety officials should take notice of?
On this weekend’s broadcast of “Inside Washington,” former Newsweek editor Evan Thomas, now a Politico columnist, suggested the latter. He said that though these protests were easy to dismiss, it is the canary in the coal mine for something a bit more serious.
“That – this is ‘goofy kids banging on drums’ – it is so easy to dismiss,” Thomas said. “But to me, it is a fire bell in the night. It is a significant thing. It may or may not turn into the tea party of the left but what it does signal is you’re going to have civil unrest here. As the politicians screw around and do nothing, it’s not like people will just go home and wait to die. There is going to be real unrest here. It is happening in Greece but it is coming to our shores. It is fear. We are on the verge of a 1960s kind of period of tremendous instability and the ability and unrest.”
However, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said it was the latter, due to the movement’s disorganization and lack of a consistent message.
“The difference between this and the tea party is that these people have admittedly no idea what they want,” Krauthammer said. “Whereas the tea party, who are reputedly the toothless proletarian and underclass turned out to the people – no, this is how they were covered all through The New York Times the first year as ignorant peasantry – they had an idea: Smaller government, less regulation and lower taxes. You can disagree but it is an idea. Unlike the indignant indolents in the street who are carrying around their iPods, wearing their Nike shoes and wearing designer Levi’s while protesting corporate America.”
Watch: