The Redhunter

I also went to one major Tea Party rally on September 9, 2009, which was also in Washington DC.

All of these events, protests, rallies, whatever you want to call them, shared several characteristics

• All groups got permits from the US Park Police well before the event date
• During the event(s) the Park Police and Washington DC Metropolitan Police were out with riot gear and sometimes mounted police. They positioned themselves between opposing groups but generally took no other action than to act as a buffer.
• Each side respected the police
• There was a defined beginning and end time
• Each group had defined leaders who "policed" their group
• There was no violence (or nothing significant to speak of) and people generally felt safe
• Each side had relatively well-defined political goals that were easy to understand

At any large gathering of people you will have exceptions to generally good behavior. But my experience is that "out of control" people were few and far between at these events.

There comes a certain point where if enough people are doing something then it becomes a characteristic of the entire group. Reasonable people can disagree when that point comes but it does exist. Attempts to paint the Tea Party as racist do not fly because racist individuals in that movement are very few and far between. Attempts to paint the International ANSWER protests as violent fail for the same reason.

All this said, I am not saying that there were no difference between the right-wing and left-wing groups during this time period. There were. Leftists dressed up in all manner of wild costumes and their signs were often vulgar and uncouth. Conservatives rarely wore anything but standard casual clothes and their (our) signs were of the standard "we're for" or "we're against" this or that variety.

What characterizes this Occupy Wall Street Movement that makes it so different?

• Occupying a public space 24 x 7 in violation of the posted hours (whether physically posted or as part of the legal code)
• Participants staying 24 x 7, or close to it
• Not obtaining permits from the relevant authorities
• A significant number of participants engaging in common criminal activity such as rapes and robberies
• Besides today's "Day of Action," OWS members directly engage in riotous behavior; criminal tresspass, interfering with road and pedestrian travel in a direct attempt to stop normal activity
• No coherent political platform or goals.

Don't believe on the rampant criminal behavior of the OWS crowd? The website OWS Exposed has the good on them.

Most of this is reminiscent of what happened in February of this year in Madison, Wisconsin. There, we had labor unions sponsoring and/or egging on people to illegally occupy the statehouse 24 x 7 in direct violation of the law. Their presence, and I believe intent, was to physically intimidate Republican lawmakers.

The bottom line is that you cannot occupy public space such as a park or building 24 x 7. A public space is just that; a place meant for the public to enjoy. Everyone has to be able to have access to it. Any one group taking it over denies others the ability to access it. This isn't democracy, it's criminality. Mob action.

Say what you will about the political goals of the Tea Party movement, but the overwhelming bulk of reports and my personal involvement show that it is a peaceful movement whose members obey they law. That the left has had to resort to their old favorite charge of "racism" (of course without evidence) shows that they have nothing on the movement.

The First Amendment to the Constitution protects "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." I'm no scholar, but I am safe in saying that it has been interpreted to mean that groups can obtain permits to use public space for protests, demonstrations, and/or rallies as long as they are peaceful and the event has a defined start and finish time. Not that the police should not be liberal and let protesters start earlier and go on longer, for they should.

I'm also no historian, but I do know that our Founders were worried about mob rule about as much as they worried about tyranny. They wanted a government that would have enough authority to prevent mob rule yet weak enough and with enough checks and balances so as to prevent tyranny.

If Democrats and liberals want to ally themselves with the OWS crowd they are going to regret it. Perhaps they already are.