Bill Maher's new rule to Occupy Wall Street

On Real Time last night Maher laid into the OWS movement for not getting politically involved (starting around 53:10). While he agrees with the sentiment they must come up with a more effective form of protest besides camping. The message is right: "That America's wealth is increasingly in the hands of a tiny kleptocratic priesthood of finance cowboys and the politicians they buy, protected by a free firezone of rules they wrote themselves, feeding on the Republic from within like a transcontinental tapeworm the size of Route 66."


But messaging is not enough. And sit-ins and singing songs just ain't going to cut it. They need to get involved in the political process. Like canvassing neighborhoods, raising money, running candidates for office, manning phone banks, registering voters. These basic methods are working for the Tea Party, who now have 62 seats in Congress and are shaping the entire agenda of the Republican Party. Maher insists that we need OWS to be the progressive Tea Party, "an unwavering block that will force things to the left." We need the same kind of strength of character and conviction in Congressional representatives, who won't back down or be bought off like so many spineless, greedy Democrats to date.

If only they'd listen and get involved?