The Occupy movement may become a permanent fixture of U.S. society if political leaders continue to be more interested in throwing protesters in jail than acting to solve the problems that the Occupy protesters have pointed to.
On Wednesday, eighteen Occupy Charlottesville protesters were arrested after Charlottesville police continued their enforcement of an 11 P.M. curfew at Lee Park. Over twelve of the protesters face trespassing charges for failing to withdraw from Lee Park after the group’s permit expired.
Since mid-October, Occupy Charlottesville protesters have been camping in Lee Park.
It’s true that upholding the laws of our state and the laws of the U.S. more generally is paramount to our liberal system of governance. But what is also paramount to our liberal system of governance is the legitimacy of our governing bodies, a legitimacy that becomes more tainted every day.
The symptoms of the Occupy movement in Charlottesville and throughout the country can be partially gleamed by the very inactions of the political representatives that the Occupy protesters are themselves appealing to.
Entrenched in the system of injustice and corruption themselves, many of our country’s political representatives cannot or will not use their powers of government to right the wrongs that are engrained in our current system of politics and economics.
Instead, many of our political representatives have resorted to throwing these Occupy protesters in jail, creating a permanent underclass of Occupy protesters whose peripheral place in society has become almost permanent.
Is it any surprise that the “American dream” has taken a beating in the last year alone?
