Taube and the Protests

Michael Taube, writer-extraordinaire, at least in his own mind, let loose a thoughtful piece in today's Ottawa Citizen.  His topic was the Occupy Wall Street "movement".  Let's see if we can determine on which side of the political spectrum he resides?

In his piece he says, " Instead of praising the nonsensical ramblings of hippies, outcasts and left-wing radicals, those on my political side should engage the public in finding ways to return to laissez-faire capitalism, personal freedom, trade liberalization and good governance."  He concludes with, "Let the fringe element Occupy Wall Street, if they want. In the meantime, the vast majority of us can Take Back Capitalism and promote the power of the free market for individuals and corporations."

You are right... he is ultra-right.  In fact he used to write speeches for PM Harper.

I do not object to anything Taube says... that is, after all, the essence of free speech.  However I can criticize his musings.

Taube's first mistake is to characterize the protesters as "hippies, outcasts and left-wing radicals".  That's a bit like saying "your people".  It lumps everyone into a group that Taube finds distasteful.  I wonder what my friend, who lost his job at Lehman Brothers because of the criminal acts of others, feels about the characterization.  He is part of the protest.

Taube's second mistake is to say that "The protesters want their slice of the pie, and will simply scream, holler and blather away incoherently to anyone who will listen."  My friend is not protesting to get a slice of the pie, he wants the slice that he had that was stolen from him by criminals.

Taube's third mistake is in the statement, "We've made a mountain out of a molehill with respect to Occupy Wall Street - and some conservatives have aided in the construction."  That is a bit like saying that early anti-segregation protests were molehills and some whites have help make them into mountains.  While the protesters are not a homogenous group, neither are conservatives.

One thing Taube and I can agree upon is that time will tell if the protests fizzle or morph into a movement.  Time will tell.