Turning point

Looks like Occupy Portland has reached a turning point with a new focus on expanding into more parks. More arrests this morning when this was done. Those arrested wear it like a badge of honor. I've seen this movie before.

I've become pretty cynical about the truly progressive future of this movement. What protesters must realize is this:

• 99% is a misleading emblem of support. Change the question -- should we have socialism? should capitalism end? or even should laws be obeyed? -- and they will discover they are in the minority.
• The protesters live in a culture with an established strong anti-intellectual tradition. I hear romantic notions of radical workers, slogans popular in the 30s. (When my labor play was performed to longshore union members in the 70s, younger members thought it was a commie play!) I hear "the people" used without notions of reality.
• I see self-indulgence, getting arrested being its own goal and focus, romantic revolutionaries in the zone.

I want radical change. The major question is, Can this happen within the system itself? Not without a vital third party because clearly the two-party system has been sold. But I don't see this happening. I see violence, major violence, but I think I'll pass before it happens.

I also think Norman Brown is probably right: politics itself is the problem. History is a self-repeating nightmare, as Joyce said. It's all been said before. And the madness continues.

Perhaps there are no social solutions, only individual ones. You learn to live "out of society" as much as possible .Self-reliance. Thoreau.

These are the same questions my protagonist wrestles with.

As in almost everything I think these days, I hope I am wrong about my prediction of future violence.