Happy May Day!

As spring emerges another May Day is upon us, also known as International Workers’ Day.  This year the Occupy Wall Street crowd is planning a general strike in over a hundred U.S. cities.  They’re calling for “no school, no work, no chores, no shopping, no banking”.  It’s like a midweek Sabbath for agnostics.  The idea is that the incredibly wealthy business owners, the 1%, will feel the pinch when their workforce, the 99%, doesn’t show up on Tuesday. 

By the way, I am still blown away by OWS’s arrogant self-appointment as the voice of the 99%.  It’s unbelievable that any entity can seriously claim to embody the will of virtually all Americans--especially in the face of record political polarization.  With this false notion as their centerpiece slogan, much doubt is cast on the truthfulness of the entire movement.  It reminds me of the claim that the left speaks for women (meaning all women) and defends their existence against murderous, evil white men on the right.  The big problem with that misperception is there are actually a lot of women on the right.  The tea party’s full of them.  And believe me, if the woman happens to be traditional, conservative, apolitical, or not yet born; the left wouldn’t spit on them if they were on fire.  Rhetoric like “equality” and “rights” goes out the window when a woman isn’t inline with the left’s orthodoxy.  You’ll find the left’s “annexing” of demographics to be widespread:  the gay movement, the student movement, the immigrant movement, the civil rights movement--the list goes on and on.  Of course, they have no legitimate right to claim all of these individuals but they will, nevertheless, because it makes for effective propaganda--much like the absurd notion that one school of thought encapsulates the wishes of 300 million Americans.   

But I digress.  May Day is the topic at hand and the OWS has big plans for their events.  Of course, there are rallies, marches, and protests scheduled; followed by nonviolent acts of civil disobedience.  If history is any indication, this means they’ll violate the terms of their permits (assuming this time they’ve actually arranged for permits) and begin blocking intersections, bridges, tunnels and any other place they can impede drivers and get attention.  What a contradiction it is to claim the 99% as your own and then deprive them of getting to work and making a living.  Does this happen to stump anyone else? 

OWS websites brag on their hopes of shutting down New York City, if not partially then in its entirety.  If memory serves, that was Bin Laden’s goal, too, which makes me wonder if the shared objective is somehow ironic or simply apropos.  At any rate, if you live or work in Manhattan, hopefully, you won’t need an ambulance or a fire truck that day.  Of course, it does keep with one of the May Day tag lines, “be the crisis”.  Wow, isn’t it great to have goals?  And I may be going out on a limb here, but don’t we have enough crisis on our plate without fabricating entirely new ones like producing gridlock in our major metropolitan areas? 

The contradictions are nearly endless.  They want workers to abandon their jobs, risking employment and wages, in an effort to demand that the government pay for healthcare, college tuition, mortgages, and a slew of other things.  But isn’t it self-defeating when those projects are financed by tax dollars that can’t be collected if the workingman doesn’t show up?  Furthermore, many cities on their target list can barely afford to stay above water, as is.  What happens to municipal social programs and emergency services when they’re funding gets siphoned off to finance the police and sanitation expenses that will be necessary for security and clean up at these protests?  While nearly a quarter of Americans are in need of employment it’s atrocious that the left is encouraging people to add to those dismal numbers and shake up an already shaky job market.  Not to mention, the toll it will take on employers, who seem to be OWS’s overall target on Tuesday, could be substantial.    

As a child, I recall the May Day events overseas.  Communist regimes like the Soviet Union and their Eastern Bloc subordinates had long parades that showcased their nuclear arsenals in an attempt to bolster internal support and strike fear into the hearts of free westerners.  This is what May Day represents to several generations of Americans--the greatest oppressor of all time threatening the rest of the world.  It’s no surprise that the OWS movement is in bed with the same Marxist ideology that led to the iron curtain, but it’s shocking to see a Soviet flag flown at an Obama celebration outside the White House--as was the case a few years back.  Furthermore, the president has endorsed OWS more than once, along with Democratic Leadership.  Even though the movement has taken a stand against the president it’s clear he has sympathies for their cause and has strong ties with labor leaders that work closely with OWS.

What’s coming on Tuesday could turn ugly in a hurry.  An investigator recently approximated that roughly a third of OWS protestors are militant and often armed at these events.  That means fights and teargas and police lines and arrests and plenty of property damage that everyday people get to pay for.  Additionally, it could also mean a loss of productivity and commerce for the businesses in the area.  There already have been shops that went belly-up with jobs lost in the vicinity of Zuccotti Park because of OWS’s presence over the winter.

          As I ponder what the organizers of the general strike are urging…no school, no work, no chores, no shopping, no banking; I wonder if there isn’t a more useful branding that could be used for the event.  After reflecting on the recent history of OWS’s stay in Zuccotti Park I’ve concluded that their message would be more constructive if it stated:  No raping, no public defecation, no pimping out children, (and most importantly) no Patchouli.  I think it’s obvious that if these were the instructions coming out of the Occupy Movement we’d all be better off.