Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party Movement

“You say you want a revolution/Well, you know/ We all want to change the

world.” Revolution by the Beatles spoke to an entire world audience in 1968; an American

audience. Forty-three years later, two generations are metaphorically speaking the same

tune. The Tea Party movement began in the summer of 2009.The Occupy Wall Street

movement was motioned by the Canadian activist group, Adbusters, and officially began

on September 17, 2011. Protesting of these groups are the result of countless intrusions

of the United States government and the unequal justice of the corporations that run the

capitalist market. The Tea Party movement mainly consists of middle-aged members that

largely identify themselves as Republicans. On the other hand, Occupy Wall Street does

not have a specific age group but does have a large collection of college aged members.

The two movements could not more different, but they do share some ideas on the

troubles that are plaguing the United States.

In the 1960s through the 1970s the American people were activity either

supporting or protesting American presence in Vietnam. Riots, peaceful sit-ins and

musical concerts roamed the United States. Present-day; activism for change roams the

land. Differences in the cause of the activism does not mean less of it. The Tea Party’s

protesting is an organized, day-long event that legally obeys the law and enforcers. The

Tea Party event gathers numerous supporters and gains momentum through the tactics of

organization . The Occupy Wall Street movement is nationally and worldly known for its

spontaneous creation of tent cities and general assemblies. Both groups are wanting to

bring the attention of their cause to the public and start a national/world-wide response.

In any way the public’s attention will be gather and is gathered; the American government

and “big business” is facing a new voice, a voice of the minimum wage employee and the financially starving citizen.

The disagreement of governmental regulation of the economic situation provoked

the creation of the Tea Party. Keli Carender blogged her opinions on the current dilemma

of the economic and political aspects of the United States. In February of 2009, Carender

created a rally in Seattle that gain attention of 150 people. The next week, the sized

increase nearly by double, 300 people. Six weeks later 1200 people attended the

rally(Zernike) It was becoming clear that her intentions on rallying against the wrongs of

the nation and gathering people to issue a solution, were going to work.

The Tea Party is an activist group that is for the limitation of governmental power

and constitutionalism. It is a response to political and/or economic crisis, the financial

crisis of 2008 and the result of a deep recession. “The Tea Party emerged in large part as a

response by conservatives and libertarians to the Obama Administration’s various

initiatives to expand federal spending and regulation, especially the 2009 Stimulus Bill and

the 2010 Health Care Bill”(Samin 5).

The Tea Partiers belief in constitutionalism regard them to advocate a limited

government, giving more power to the single individual. The Tea Party “is the first such

movement in many years to focus its efforts primarily on limiting the power of the federal

government”(Samin 11). A goal of the party is the Repeal Amendment, which is the

process of having two-thirds of states repeal any federal statue or regulation(Samin 9).

With this enactment, a publicly opposed regulation would not be passed through. Another

largely supported item is the abolishment of the Seventieth Amendment. The Seventieth

Amendment is the election of Senators by popularity. Abolishing the amendment would

allow the state legislature to pick the Senators. Senators picked by state legislatures would

be more likely to resist increasing federal power. Power checks of the Judicial Branch

would allow the public to check the ultimate power of the Supreme Court. The right-wing ideals can become a left-wing creation. The Tea Party is considered

a Republican dominated establishment that consists mainly of wealthy, white male

members. Ignorance usually retains in a large politically active group, but with the given

membership of wealthy, white males, circumstances lead to believe that there isn’t as much

of ignorance. Along with chance of ignorance, xenophobia is a constant worry; to battle

worriment, the Tea Party is dictated to appealing to diverse minorities.

The Tea Party is a conservative activist group that is rallying for the individual

against the unlimited government. Repeal Amendment, power checks and the abolishment

of the seventieth amendment are all goals of the Tea Party. Economic and political

struggles of the United States have ran the American people to find outlets for justice.

The Tea Party believes it is the government that has put the nation in a distress. Limitation

of governmental power is the answer, according to the Tea Party. Corporate greed, is the undying metaphoric monster that eats away the interior of all

that crosses its path. Greed is a natural human instinct that will consume anything and all,

but when placed on a large scale- destruction is the future. Occupiers believe this

message, corporate greed is the death of all things and capitalism does not do a thing to

stop it. The capitalist market feeds the ‘beast’, allowing everyone to have a fair chance at

the “American dream.” Now add the American government; laws and regulations it

creates can benefit either the average person or the average corporation, but not both.

Occupy Wall Street was formed on the belief that Wall Street controls everyday

governmental aspects. Pay-offs, endorsements and power to influence masses is “big

business”; a term used in the Progressive Era of Vanderbilt and Carnegie. This term is

now relevant to today’s era.

Occupy Wall Street was called to order by a Canadian activist magazine in issue:

85 “Thought Control in Economics.” It enlisted a protest on September 17, 2011 in

Zuccotti Park near Wall Street. Zuccotti Park soon became a home to thousands of

protesters. While station in Zuccotti Park, a image of a ballerina on top of the Charging

Bull became the ultimate symbol of the OWS movement. Zuccotti Park is the symbol of

the OWS movement, representing the collectiveness of Americans fighting for their rights

and freedom of speech. Early in the Occupy movement the demands and goals of the

OWS was unclear to the public.

The disorganization and randomness of the movement had no direct goals because

of the diverse amount of people involved. In OWS movement, everyone has a distinct

voice and opinion. To current date, a list of “Demands” was created to represent a

majority of the protesters. “Demand: End of extreme wealth disparity. 1.)Forced corporate restraint. 3.) Tax fairly. 4.)Institute fair usury laws in all fifty states making outrageously high interest rates no longer legal. 5.)A Constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision to give corporations the same First Amendment rights as people. 6.) Discourage companies from sending jobs overseas by implementing a tax on that practice. 7.)A living wage for all.” (People )

Corporations, taxes, interest rates, human rights, jobs and wages are the topics of the

OWS movement. The 2008-present day recession, also known as The Great Recession,

gave corporations more chances to expand, taxes to rise, interest rate unregulated, poor

governmental decisions, and job lose that resulted in poverty. The slogan, We Are The 99%,

became the official slogan to represent the ninety-nine percent as the average Americans

under the control of the government. The one percent left is the top one percent of the

American society that is extremely wealthy and has power in the government.

Zuccotti Park, the symbol, and home of the OWS had to be closed due to noise

complaints, hygiene problems and an overgrowing problem of disruptive persons. On

November 15, 2011, Zuccotti Park was cleared with the help of law enforcement. The

Occupiers main site closed but the spirit went on. Between September 17 to November

15, dozens of Occupies were created in various cities. One of the most notable cities,

besides New York, Oakland, Ohio, had a repetition of police enforcers dealing with the

Occupiers. Nashville, Tennessee, curfews were mandated statewide and police officers

arrested numerous Occupiers. Later, a court ruling declared the statewide curfews were a violation of Tennessee

Constitutional rights. Occupy Wall Street, the movement of the liberal community committed to

representing the everyday American; The Tea Party represents the middle aged, American

who is upset with the government procedure and unlimited power. The two movements

have many similarities; upsetting issues with the government and the willingness to

improve the American economy situation. Though with many similarities, the two

movement disagree with each other. The Occupy movement emerged out of nowhere but

quickly became potent political forces, driven by anxiety about the economy, big

institutions favor the reckless over the hard working, grievances that are inchoate and

even contradictory, and a leaderless movement (Zernike). The Tea Party movement is

organized, blames fault in the federal government and its power, favors the hard workers,

sees the wealthy as job creators and less regulation of banks. In 2011, TIME Magazine named the Protester as TIME’s Person of the Year. The

protester is the motivator of this era. From the 1960s to present day 2012, activism never

ceased. Whether blaming the government or the economic system for a worldwide

recession, protests and rallies echoes the American soil. Differences and similarities make

these two groups the unique American spirit.