Another day, and more Occupy Wall Street protests continue to fill a good chunk of the news cycle. After a month of protests, which are now happening around the world, it doesn't surprise us that there are those in the media - especially on the right - that are attempting to denigrate and smear the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The most well-known smear merchants of the right wing propaganda squad - Andrew Breitbart, and his acolyte, James O'Keefe - have been spotted at Occupy events, spreading lies and attempting to tarnish the image of the protesters.
There are those who claim that the Occupy movement is anti-semetic - which it is not. The lobbyists on Wall Street have also been raging against Democrats and those on the political left for supporting the Occupy movement, attempting to paint the grass roots uprising as a fake political ploy - which it obviously is not.
The most disgusting smear of all though, came from yesterday's Wall Street Journal, and pollster Doug Schoen. Schoen attempted to claim, based on his own polling data, that a majority of the Occupy protesters (in his less than scientific sample size) were opposed to free-market capitalism and supported radical redistribution of wealth.
What makes Schoen's conduct so disgusting to ethical members of the media, like us, is that Schoen's own claims can't be backed up by his polling.
His polling said the largest percentage of the Occupy protesters - 35% - had "Influencing the Democratic Party, the way the Tea Party has taken over the GOP" as their major goal. "Radical redistribution of wealth" didn't even make it into Schoen's poll.
If Schoen had examined his own polling data, he would have seen that the single biggest problem Occupiers have with our current government has nothing to do with left or right. It's the influence of corporate and special interests on the decisions our government makes – in other words, the unequal influence of unlimited, big money.
As most legitimate members of the media have already acknowledged (including us), the Occupy Wall Street protests are focusing attention on America's second biggest problem - fiscal inequality.
Sadly, America's biggest problem was aptly pointed out by Rep. Barney Frank two nights ago - that Americans love to complain but don't really seem to want to do anything about it.
As Frank noted, while not everyone agrees with every point of every protester, the general thrust of the Occupy movement is something most Americans favor. But agreeing with something isn't enough. We have to act if we want to get anything done. And in America, in our political system, that means voting.
If this movement is to mean anything, those involved must do more than simply hack away at the pillars the fat pigs on Wall Street are hiding atop right now. There must be political solutions created, and then people will need to get involved in the current political system - and VOTE. The ineffective legislators will need to be voted out, and effective ones voted in.
Pressure will need to continue to be applied until those new legislators do what they've been voted into office to do.
Those at the top are actively working to save their personal bacon right now. The rest of us, in our own way, need to similarly follow through.
