The Great Leap Boho

[Cats Against Frist]

I have a question that I keep trying ask -- in like all seriousness -- if that's even possible here, about how the middle class is supposed to identify with the Wall Street protesters to accomplish the goal of jailing the criminals that caused the crisis, making some modest reforms, closing tax loopholes and regulating our economic system enough to promote freedom, while keeping our economy booming, hiring people, getting a decent health care package passed and keeping an eye toward the environment.

These modest, serious and grown-up goals have very little in common with the far left's critique of society, desire for collectivism and painting turtle shells. I want to say that I stand with the protesters, but I want them to know that I'm not ready for the Cultural Revolution, and I like social stratification and excellence and diversity and the Constitution and sweater tights and Apple and exclusivity and all that stuff -- but I want to tip the scales just far enough back to sanity so that we all have the opportunity to be great -- and so that no one is suffering. But -- not so far into the communist nightmare as to have to wear unisex bodysuits and eat silken tofu with our genderless kids while trying to decide if I have more rights than the neighbor's dog. I don't really care for that bullshit, but I think criminals should be punished and corporations shouldn't be people and that there should be public schools and libraries.

I ask, because so many of the freepers and whatnot, really mock the protesters, while they're getting screwed in the behind by the same Wall Streeters that they're defending. The criminals who fucked over our stability should be in jail. Regulations should be in place to make sure that they don't do it again. But I don't believe that we should all be a gray society of authoritarian leftists.

How do we all find common cause? And do the "revolutionaries" on the forefront understand that they have to come a looooooooong way to the middle -- the American mainstream -- to make this protest mean anything?