Occupy Wall Street protesters evicted, will be allowed to return

It's a sad morning in New York City.  Occupy Wall Street, which has inspired protests across the globe, has been sealed in its coffin.  

At 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, police in full riot gear, pepper spray in hand,descended on the protestors who have now lived in New York's Zuccotti Park for nearly two months.The social media tent located within the park tweeted up until its last moments.

By all accounts, New York has decided to evict the protestors on the basis that they need to "clean up the park."  By 7a.m.Tuesday,one correspondent described it as "smelling freshly of bleach."  

All over the web, cries for help urged people to rush to the park to defend it from eviction, but it was too late.  The police gave everyone twenty minutes to evacuate and, in the eviction process, arrested somewhere between 20 and 70 people with the exact number remaining unknown.

Simultaneously,Mayor Michael Bloomberg has stated that protestors are welcome to return to the park, but there will be a law in place to keep people from staying overnight.  

Part of what has made these protests so far-reaching has been their ability to reach multiple audiences.  College students have been especially able to relate to the varied messages of the so called "99 percent."

The debate across news channels has been interesting and on social media, even more varied.  The vague message of the protestors has been a source of anxiety for some.

The fogginess of the message has been the main crux of the argument against the movement.  People have referred to the Occupy movements as everything from "communist revolutions" to "an attempt at a fascist regime change."  

The real message, though, has been much simpler and much more peaceful in nature, despite the multiple attempts to discredit it.  The message is that the gap between the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor has grown too large.

In the United States, we have a lot of trouble with defining ourselves.  Everything is relative in this country.  Whether you have no car and live in a studio apartment, or have three cars and a four-bedroom home, we all consider ourselves "middle class."  

The reality of the situation is much more grim.  We are not all middle class and the rising gap between the richest one percent of the country and the rest of us has become so large that it has helped to create a permanent underclass.

The fact is that the distribution of wealth in this country is so distinctly separate that it is hurting the majority of Americans - Americans who lack any sort of real social welfare net and who are expected to pay for things that most western nations would consider ludicrous.

In the United States, your average American is going broke over college loans and medical costs.  It is absolutely asinine to consider that the defense department receives 20 percent of the total budget, which is the same percentage as social security, whereas other western nations spend nearly half of their budget on education, social security and healthcare, and less than 10 percent on defense.

These are the things the 99 percent have been protesting against.  There is a host of social injustices in this country.  Unemployment remains high and the debt even higher. All the while, the average U.S. citizen continues to either stagnate or suffer.  

Although "socialist" has become a bad word as of late, there is nothing to fear from socialism.  The fact is that 99 percent of us could benefit from more social welfare programs.

The Occupy movements did not advocate a communist overthrow of government, and it is a complete fallacy to think they did.  

What Occupy Wall Street represented was the need for change in the system.  What they advocated was a real examination and discussion about the problems facing our country, and instead, what they received was pepper spray and handcuffs.