Richard Nixon, the Silent Majority, and Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street is not the Silent Majority Made Loud.

On the contrary, they are the descendants, in spirit if not in the flesh, of the flower children and the hippies who scandalized the countryside with their dedication to not being responsible for anything.

Led by their feelings, preachers against hatred except to those who do not advocate tolerance, they have hit the streets, camping out and blocking traffic, demanding to be seen, heard, and even smelled.

They do not represent the 99% of Americans taken in by runaway government and taken down by crony, crappy capitalism, They are a fraction of a percent of wastrels who refuse to work and still want someone to pay their way. One of the protestors' many incoherent demands included an automatic $20 an hour job and forgiveness from student debt. Like self-absorbed Greeks on the brink of default in Europe, the counterculture Occupy Everything, entrenched in enforced poverty, wants to have its cake and eat it, too, and let someone else pay the bill.

They do not represent the rest of the American people, individuals who go to work, making the most of a raw deal run worse by profligate spending and an elitist domestic agenda. From the Tea Party Movement to the halls of Congress, individuals have coalesced not just in massive protest, but in political action, removing from power those legislators and leaders who have heeded the narrow, selfish interests of special interest groups, all at the expense of the individual taxpayer.

Richard Nixon represented a return to law and order, even if he was not the most law-abiding citizen in the country. His resignation in the wake of humiliating allegations of obstruction of justice actually demonstrated that the country had returned to a firm footing of accountability for everyone, whether in office or on Main Street.

The only Silent Majority now is the growing unrest toward the Occupy Everything crowd, which has continued to take up space without advocating any real change, neither in their own shiftless habits or the shifty ways of Washington. As long as the Tea Party and attending programs continue pushing for constitutional government, fiscal responsibility, and the return of all other powers to the states and the people, the feckless mobs occupying the public square will dissipate for lack of enthusiasm and attention.