Demonstrations & Small Minds

For a while now, there has been much huffing and puffing about demonstrators in public parks, war memorials, whatever. These have been, so far, peaceful. Lots of people who are pissed off gathered together to tell their elected officals they were agrieved. Recently, our elected officials have been showing they will not be pushed around. The governor sent the state police to the war memorial across from the state house to confiscate personal property. Mayor Bloomberg ordered thousands of police to Lower Manhattan to do I'm not sure what - make all those people go home. Both the governor and the mayor made a big mistake. If were Chris Christie, I would have walked across West Street, introduced myself, (maybe even invited them into the statehouse), and listened to them. Michael Bloomberg should have done the samething as soon people moved into Zucotti Park. These people are not terrorists; they do not advocate violent overthrow of the government; they are just unhappy and frustrated. This is not the first time people have gathered together in frustration. Sadly, they are usually met with force although there is historical evidence that meeting and listening defuses the situation. In June 1381, the peasants of England rose up in revolt; a group made it as far as London where they did considerable damage. The revolt was pretty much stopped when King Richard II rode out to meet with them - Richard was about fourteen when he did this and a bit of a mama's boy. I have often wondered what would have happened if, when faced with a bunch of angry colonists, the government of George III had said, "OK, send a representative to Parliament." Or even, "OK, you can have your own government with taxing authority. Or if King Louis XVII had ridden out to meet the angry farmers marching on Paris and said, "Mes enfants, parlez a moi; je vous ecoute," or words to that effect, maybe there would have been no French Revolution. And lastly, what if Czar Nicholas II had met with Father Gabon that winter morning; that meeting may have short circuited the Russian Revolution. This, of course, is all speculation, but well worth considering before sending out the Cossacks.