#OccupyWallStreet protesters: give ’em enough rope and they’ll hang themselves

I was dismayed when I heard that Mayor Bloomberg has assured the #OccupyWallStreet protesters that they won’t be harassed in his city.  I’ve since concluded that, wittingly or not, this was a wise decision on his part.

If Bloomberg brings out even more pepper spray, or if he adds in dogs, water cannon, rubber bullets, or whatever else is necessary to make those people go away, he creates martyrs.  However, if he contains them, all he does is allow them to expose themselves more and more to the American people.

While the American people might have been galvanized by a re-do of the 1968 Chicago riots, it’s unlikely that, when the 2012 elections roll around, they’re going to walk into the poll booths supporting 2011’s Woodstock on Wall Street — or, if they do, they’re going to vote against the political party that encouraged that encouraged that smelly, drugged out, exhibitionistic, crime-ridden decadence.