Quote Of The Day

Image credit: Rayna Daine/Occupy Together

After starting out much as I did, noting that there seems to be no end of people willing to criticize the Occupy Wall Street movement for not making specific policy demands, The New York Times editorial concludes:

It is not the job of the protesters to draft legislation. That’s the job of the nation’s leaders, and if they had been doing it all along there might not be a need for these marches and rallies. Because they have not, the public airing of grievances is a legitimate and important end in itself. It is also the first line of defense against a return to the Wall Street ways that plunged the nation into an economic crisis from which it has yet to emerge.

Protesters Against Wall Street

That's the problem in a nutshell. Why in the world should these people come up with policy demands? They want jobs, a safety net, decent schools, and no doubt other things that a just and honorable society would provide already. They're protesting at the place that is the center of everything that is preventing that from happening. There's really no other message necessary, provided you're not motivated to believe otherwise.