Like the Occupiers everywhere–Occupy Boston has a message, but no plan.
Protesters claim, "You can't evict an idea"–and "the 99%" has proven to be a powerful idea–but it no longer needs tents to support it.
So Occupy Boston has gone from showing the way, to being in the way.
That makes it time to pack up the tents on Dewey Square or, more likely, to let the police sweep them up.
Occupy Boston has taken public land and made it private. It seized for itself what belongs to everyone, and that's exactly what Occupy Boston accuses the one per cent of doing.
The demonstrators argue that staying where they are is an act of free speech. But it's only free for them. The rest of us have to pay–and we've already paid three quarters of a million dollars, mostly in police overtime.
Unfortunately, Mayor Menino has shown more patience than leadership, so his tolerance for Occupy Boston is seen as support.
But–ultimately, the protest will turn against him, because–to Occupy Boston–government is an enemy. The end, whenever it comes, will not be pretty; conflict seems inevitable. The encampment itself is a provocation…and I just can't imagine everyone leaving peacefully.
Boston is known as the cradle of liberty. Shutting down Occupy Boston won't change that.
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