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Scott Olsen appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show and showed exactly why they can tear down the camps, they can arrest people for peaceful, non-violent protesting, they can broadcast every ugly conservative smear, but they cannot win this war.
Frankly, I'm of the belief that losing the encampments is not a bad thing. There's only so much attention they draw, and it declines unless there is a raid or arrests and potentially injuries or worse. It's time for the movement to evolve and work out how they can make an impact in ways that matter: Occupy K Street, Occupy the Media, constitutional amendments to get money out of elections or eliminate corporate personhood, Occupy the Ballot Box, etc. To stay static with the camps does nothing more than to feed into the patented Luntz talking points of dirty hippies with drum circles.
I've been to the camps. I've spoken to these protesters and they're incredibly well-spoken, intelligent and politically engaged. There is more sense coming out of their mouths than the clown brigade currently running for the Republican primary. These are voices that need to be heard, as Scott Olsen tells us, they're not going away:
MADDOW: As the movement goes on, you`ve obviously made a commitment
now to speak out, even as you`re continuing to recover from your injury.
What do you hope happens? What do you -- I mean, I know there`s been a lot
of stupid discussion, frankly, on how specific people`s demands should be
and how -- and how the strategy should proceed.But what do you want you fellow occupiers to accomplish? What do you
think the movement can accomplish?OLSEN: I want -- I want them more than anything is to get more people
involved because politics isn`t something that you sit at home and go out
once every few years and vote. It`s about creating a community with your
people and sharing ideas and meeting people and learning their story.
If you would like to donate something for his ongoing recovery, please do so here:
Scott Olsen keeping up the good fight despite some significant recovery is nothing less than inspirational. As you can see, while he's made significant strides, there's a lot more therapy and treatment in his future. We've been thrilled by the outpouring from our readers and we're trying to schedule a time to bring your donations to Scott before Christmas.