Take the Tents Down

It’s time.

The people in the tents need to go home.

And the overnight raid in New York City is not the impetus for the statement.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is here. It has spread across the country, with outlets and people committed to the cause.

And the people in tents are only hurting their own cause at this point.

Rather than keeping attention on the message, they’re starting to become a joke. A joke that will eventually cost it supporters – the ones who will get tired of trying to defend the people who are sitting in a park all day.

It’s a question of focus. If people are more concerned with protecting their possessions from a police raid than what is actually going on in politics, then the Occupy movement - and all those nights in tents – will have gone for naught.

The leaderless movement is in need of a leader. Or at least a focus point. One that can take the movement, and its politics, out of the park and into the political arena. And the longer they stay in the park, the more chance there will be that the message could be overrun by a charismatic person who will twist its vision into a fun house mirror version of itself.

The Tea Party has proven this. The movement that started with rallies and demonstrations by people out in the streets, turned inward. It started organizing meetings and pushing its agenda by finding people who would support their issues and got them elected.

Then Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin got involved. And how has much of the Tea Party’s original message been twisted and turned from the people of main street trying to protest unfair tax treatment and big government into the angry “either-you’re-with-us-or-against-us” vibe I feel that some of the big names – and bigger money - have provided the movement.

So far, the Redlands group has been attacking their cause smartly. Small hit-and-run protests, open meetings and commitments to non-violence. No pitching tents in the middle of a park trying to arouse trouble. Helping others with keeping the message on point.

This should be the model that other groups can use to mold the future of Occupy groups across the country. Take a stand, but not by being the creepy kids sleeping illegally in the park. Be smart about it. Protest to get your message out. Spread the word. Recruit members.

Most importantly, start looking for ways to take the message out in a way that you can find candidates who can challenge Washington’s status quo in next year’s election.

And I can’t imagine someone getting elected from a tent.