Our Own Worst Enemy

We have found the enemy, and they are … us?  They are white, black, brown, yellow, and every other shade of people, and they are as Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, and atheist as the rest of us.  They are as quiet and generally peaceful as the rest of us.  They are workers and unemployed, side by side.  They are rich and poor, old and young, as childless or having as many mouths to feed as the rest of us.

They have taken to the streets.  We have taken to the streets, even those of us who have not.  Being indoors is nice, but the ind00r sign-a-petition, gather-and-talk-about-how-bad-things-are method is not solving our problems.  Will the streets?

Those who are in the streets have not been entirely clear with their demands.  They view the street as  theirs, as a result of taxes, and claim the First Amendment as their permit, much to the chagrin of those who go through the permitting process.  It is clear to anyone not stuck on a mobius strip, though, what some of the demands are.  Among other things, 49.1 million Americans live below the poverty level.  Student loan debt is higher than credit card debt.

It must tiresome for the hundreds of cities where people have decided to Occupy public space.  They could do like New York and arrest hundreds, or like Santa Barbara and enforce ordinances against camping and being in a park past 10pm, or like Atlanta and arrest hundreds, or like Oakland and cause serious injuries, or like Portland and threaten to use chemical agents and non-lethal weapons.

If it comes down to a simple matter of right and wrong, it is wrong – disastrously, stupidly, wrong; just as we would say about foreign countries – for police to use chemical agents or non-lethal weapons against Americans engaging in a peaceful, in prolonged, protest.  Portland Police, do not make an enemy of yourself, for we are you and you are us.