I haven't really taken the Occupy Protestors very seriously. Especially today, when I discovered people are showing up just for the free food or for comedy skit insertions, I wondered at the effectiveness of this particular method to create the intended response. Imagine my surprise to discover over the weekend that they haven't really got a message yet. Normally people get together to work out their major purpose and then go out prepared with a theme.
There are plenty of things on which I disagree with Hermann Cain. However, I do agree that they're probably doing one of the less effective things they can do. Why are they in these cities? Why are they gathered around reciting the same chants and parroting things others in the group say? Can they speak for themselves? Imagine if they were calling and writing and visiting the elected officials or the captains of industry from whom they demand action. Imagine what they might accomplish.
I've been a missionary, and I learned that it accomplishes very little to speak to people who believe as you do. Mostly, all that does is make you more confident that you're not alone, but those people already agree with you, and you have accomplished nothing. If you want to proselytize people to your point of view, you cannot go to the homes of people who already agree with you. You must go out and speak with those who do not share your views until they convert. So far, most of the protests appear to me nothing more than staging areas to attract like-minded individuals for whatever reason they share the opinion. They don't have a specific target or complaint, only that someone else has stuff they don't.
Most class-envy is not based on a desire for true equality but rather on pride. We are not satisfied with what we have. We do not care how much swag we have amidships. All we care is that someone else has swag in their ship, and if it's not ours yet, it should be. Pride is the attitude of a servant of Mammon. It is well that we should be upset with mammon, but it is unwise that we should employ mammon's attitude and action plan in order to bring him down. People don’t really want equality. They want things to be better for them, and some of them want things to be better for them at the expense of others. They think it's unfair that they don't have as much, nevermind how much more any of these Americans has compared to the average Ethiopian. The very notion that we should take down those greedy people in itself is greedy.
The easiest way to get money from rich people is to provide them a service at a reasonable price they cannot or will not do for themselves. Last school year, I worked as a private tutor for high school students. Given that chemistry is difficult to teach, I charged what some people might consider a confiscatory rate. However, the parents for whom I worked, who were all independently wealthy, gladly traded the cash for my time because they trusted that I could accomplish something they could not. When I met the students, they all had scores under 50%. When the semester ended, they all had grades of 'B' or better.
If you want more money, go out and earn it. Convince someone to value what you offer enough that they will trade their money for what you have (this is one of my favorite joke images of late regarding this notion). Show the rich that they need what you have, that they need you to do something that benefits them. They, like you, will take a win-win scenario any day. They resist, like you do, if you offer them a win-lose from your perspective. Clearly the protestors do not value what else they could be doing with their time as much as this effort to equate themselves with the rich. Nevermind that if they were rich they would never consider themselves evil. Only the other guy is greedy. If their jobs are not satisfactorily delivering what they think they deserve, they should go out and find another employ that will. There is an opportunity cost for everything of value.
The same old arguments are targeted at the same straw men. If they think government should do something, then appeal to government. The people on Wall Street don't have time for them or ears for their pleas. However, if you have something to offer, they will let you into their homes, into their lives and into their budgets, no matter what car you drive, clothes you wear, or address at which you live. The 'rich' for whom I worked discovered that they needed me, and I was handsomely rewarded.
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