Occupy your mind.

• Author: Gearino, G.D.
• Position: FINEPRINT - Column

I've studied the Occupy Raleigh movement on a daily basis since the protest began but not exactly by choice. I can see the protesters from my desk in downtown Raleigh, and it's not a matter of my having to take the trouble to look out the window. Thanks to the placement of my desk, I have to go to the trouble not to see them. They're right in front of me all day long. I've seen them snooze, sit, stroll, wave, parade, exhort and even be arrested. The one thing I haven't seen is any reason to support them. And that's too bad, because I'm available.

That the various occupiers around the country don't have a focused message isn't news. In fact, the media have made note of that so often that I've recently seen some pushback from writers who describe the lack of focus as a virtue. One writer for my local alternative weekly The Independent (which isn't, actually--you'll never see a paper more constrained by progressive ideology), declared that the absence of a list of grievances is proof of its inclusiveness. The online magazine Slate explained it as "a movement that feels no need to explain anything to the powers that be." Yeah, that's how you stick it to The Man: You mumble obscurely.

Still, not all occupiers got the memo. The organizers of the Occupy Chicago movement were reckless enough to release a list of 12 specific things they'd like done. Here's the list--with comment, of course.

Pass a bill to reinstate Glass-Steagall, a safeguard separating banks' commercial lending and investment operations. Actually, 1 think this is worth talking about. As we learned the hard way, a fully functioning banking and credit system is as vital to the country as the power system. Think of the banks as a utility, the stability of which is absolutely necessary to a modern society. Once you do that, Glass-Steagall makes sense.

Repeal Bush-era tax cuts. Unless spending cuts are also on the table, this is a nonstarter.

Prosecute the Wall Street criminals who clearly broke the law and helped cause the 2008 financial crisis, and Overturn a 2010 Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to contribute unlimited amounts of money to campaigns. These two, taken together, suggest the occupiers are a little fuzzy on constitutional procedure. Setting aside the fact that the "Wall Street criminals" were working with the full permission, and even connivance, of the government, you don't decide guilt first and then go through the pretense of a fair trial. Also, Supreme...