On Saturday 10/15/2011, Occupy Wall Street Came To Rapid City.
I visited their event which was centered around the new Main Street Square in downtown Rapid City, South Dakota.
It appeared that some 40 or so folks were in attendance, some displaying signs indicating their displeasure with various issues but the common thread seemed to be class envy.
They peacefully stood or walked about on the sidewalks and sometimes engaged passersby in conversation. I got the message that these were people that were beginning to experience the real effect of our deteriorating economy on a very personal level for the first time.
South Dakota has not experienced the pain of the economic recession as severely as other states. The unemployment rate in South Dakota hovers around 4 percent and there is no state income tax.
Nonetheless, the class envy message being advanced by the White House has emboldened working class Americans. Seemingly for the first time, even middle class Americans in fly-over country are realizing that the entitlement mentality of the progressive socialist agenda is not sustainable…..and they don’t like it. It’s been great to enjoy the fruits of prosperity which was provided by the free market economy and our capitalist system but not so great to realize that it is not sustainable. Our liberty and freedom fueled the economic engine, private enterprise, to create the biggest and most powerful economy in the world.
But the entitlement mentality grew as well and with it the monstrous Federal government with its appetite for control and regulation of every aspect of our lives. Now that the economic engine has been encumbered by taxation, regulation and the increasing demands of entitlements, some are expressing their frustration and anger at the very system that provided the economic success we have enjoyed.
The real message of Occupy wherever is that they have bought into the malaise of entitlement. They believe they are entitled to a free education, free medical care, and indeed free anything they want, when in fact, all we are truly entitled to is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
***Ed Randazzo, is a nationally syndicated author. He has been a conservative activist and consultant for over 30 years and is currently the Chief News Editor of Life and Liberty Media***
