Thursday, November 03, 2011

Occupy it all

And so, at bottom, we have a spiritual crisis. How long can people of goodwill support billy-clubbed police officers knocking about citizens who are peaceably assembling, as is their right? If they assemble for longer than you want them to, then it's inconvenience versus the First Amendment. It is not OK to shout "fire" in a crowded theater just because you don't like the movie.

Really, the police and the city officials should be guarding the rights of those with legitimate grievances. They should protect those who have been laid waste by the rest of society. That's what government is for, to ensure that constitutional liberties are maintained. Anything else is just oligarchy.

There is a constituency here, people who have lost their homes or their jobs or life savings because of a system designed to make them suckers. They have experienced a profound loss of faith, and that is what will still be true come spring. I don't think this thing is going away anytime soon.

What would Jesus do? Chase the moneychangers from the temple, is my guess. There's precedent.

2 comments:

Steve Bates said...

"This article appeared on page E-10 of the San Francisco Chronicle"

So what will it be? Will the rich be E-10?

(Great column; thanks for the link.)

ellroon said...

/groan.. It took me a minute...