A Comparison

I've been watching the whole fuss about the Occupy Wall Street and I remember all the fuss about the Tea Party.  It's been very amusing to watch the Facebook postings on each.  I have friends on both sides of the political aisle and I have now seen several postings comparing the two movements posted by each side.  It's fun to watch each side pick the worst fringe of the other side to compare to the best of their own.  I can't be sure if they truly believe it or if they are purposely being intellectually dishonest. 

Here is my comparison of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street.

Tea Party	Occupy Wall Street
Grass Roots movement co-opted by Republicans	Grass Roots movement co-opted by Democrats
Represents the little guy who feels stepped on by the government	Represents the little guy who feels stepped on by corporations
Has people dressed in goofy costumes from 1700s	Has people dressed in goofy masks from 1600s
Has people playing fifes and drums	Has drum circles
Blames big government for everything	Blames big corporations for everything
Thousands of people marching in big cities holding signs calling for change	Thousands of people marching in big cities holding signs calling for change
Actually has some good points about the situation we are in with too much corporate money controlling our government	Actually has some good points about the situation we are in with too much corporate money controlling our government
Hates the government bailouts of big corporations	Hates the government bailouts of big corporations
Blames President Obama for the bailouts	Remembers that the Bailouts started under President Bush and blame him.
Offers a several overly simplistic solutions to a single complex problem	Offers no solutions to a wide range of complex problems.
Caricatures the OWS by comparing the worst fringe element of the other side with the most logical and centrist parts of their own movement.	Caricatures the Tea Party by comparing the worst fringe element of the other side with the most logical and centrist parts of their own movement.
Forgets that they only represent about a third of our country and that the other 2/3 has perspective and ideas too.	Forgets that they only represent about a third of our country (despite the 99% claim) and that the other 2/3 has perspective and ideas too.
Thinks it’s a crime to believe in socialism	Thinks it’s a crime to believe in capitalism
Old Republicans and young hipster conservatives	Young Democrats and old hippies
Primarily composed of real people with a heart to make a difference.	Primarily composed of real people with a heart to make a difference.
Complained that the media, which is (of course) all owned by the left-wing, wouldn’t cover them.	Complained that the media, which is (of course) all owned by rich corporations, wouldn’t cover them
Fox News and Drudge Report cover everything positive about this movement.  Huffington Post and MSNBC cover everything negative about this movement.	Huffington Post and MSNBC cover everything positive about this movement.  Fox News and Drudge Report cover everything negative about this movement.
Conservative media writes articles saying that you shouldn’t compare these movements because the Tea Party is right, peaceful, and the voice of the people and the OWS movement is wrong, potentially violent, and doesn’t represent most of America.	Liberal media writes articles saying that you shouldn’t compare these movements because the OWS is right, peaceful, and the voice of the people and the Tea Party movement is wrong, potentially violent, and doesn’t represent most of America.
Small fringe groups in this movement calling for overthrow of government	Small fringe groups in this movement calling for overthrow of government
People seen carrying assault weapons at rally	People seen carrying assault weapons at rally
Flyers found threatening death of government officials	Flyers found threatening death of police
Someone spit on congressperson	Someone pooped on police car
Some prejudiced hangers-on hate black people and immigrants and seen carrying signs that suggest the country would be better off without them.	Some prejudiced hangers-on hate Jews and Evangelical Christians and seen carrying signs that suggest the country would be better off without them.
Supported by two rich old white guys – the Koch Brothers	Supported by one even richer old white guy – George Soros
Held their rallies and stood around complaining, but then got people out to vote to bring some change to government	Holding their rallies and standing around complaining, let’s see if they can actually get people out to vote to bring some change to government.

What a mess we are in as a nation because of discourteous partisanship.  It's perfectly OK to have differing points of view, but the lack of any respectful disagreement and the lack of recognition that the other side might have some good points leaves us at war with one another and keeps us voting charlatans and crooks into office because, at least they vote for my side.

Let's not forget that we are all in this together.