Tweet On Nov 2, 2011, Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico introduced a Constitutional Amendment that would overturn the Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court (Technorati / WSJ).

The managers of Bank of America, who accepted $45 billion in TARP money, and decided to pay back its customers with a $5 per month fee for the privilege of holding a debit card, recently recently decided to reverse course on the fee for debit cards ( CBS Miami /Oregon Live).

Meanwhile, back on the streets, the authorities appear to believe that a show of force and the use of force by the police will quell the demonstrations. Yet the opposite is the case. As the cops overreact – pepper spraying 4 women in NYC (NY Times / YouTube), running over a lawyer for the Occupiers (CBS / Daily Mail / Salon / Yahoo) people get angrier and join the Occupation – causing the police to either moderate or escalate their response.

After a US Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war was injured in Oakland other veterans come to occupations all over the country. They came quoting Smedley Darlington Butler, the Marine Corps General who wrote “War is a Racket,” ISBN: 978-1434407009, and figured in the events described in “The Plot to Seize The White House,” by Jules Archer, ISBN: 978-1602390362.

These are examples of balancing feedback loops, as described by Dana Meadows in Thinking in Systems, A Primer, ISBN: 978-1603580557. (A researcher with Jay Forrester at MIT and Dartmouth, Meadows founded the Sustainability Institute.)

The initial arguments that “they are young, educated, and unemployed … they should go get a job” are countered by “If they could get jobs they’d be working,” and “look for yourself – they’re not all kids.”

The Murdoch media (Fox News / NY Post / Wall Street Journal) paint the Occupiers as crazy. People go to talk to the Occupiers and realize that some of what they say makes sense – and most of what they say makes more sense than some of the comments made by people running for President.

Writing in the NY Times, Alice Speri said (here) “Occupy Wall Street has an image of being mostly white.” Deeper into the same article she wrote “A survey conducted at Zuccotti Park by Fordham University a month into the protests … found that 68 percent of the protesters were white, 10 percent were black, 10 percent were Hispanic, 7 percent were Asian and 5 percent were from other races.”  And the demographics at Zuccotti Park closely match the demographics of the USA. According to the United States Census Bureau, quickfacts.census.gov, the USA is 63.7% white, 12.6% black, 16.3% Hispanic, 4.8% Asian, 2.6% other. So yes, 68% of the protesters are white, while only 63.7% of the population is white, and  blacks and Hispanics, are slightly underrepresented at Zuccotti Park. But 7% of the protesters are Asian and 5% are “Other”; while Asians and “Others” constitute 4.8% and 2.6% of the population, respectively. Does that mean the protesters are overwhelmingly Asian? Or overwhelmingly “Other”? I think it is more reasonable to conclude that the protesters match the demographics of the USA.

The Occupiers are angry. But they are also, like the “Dancing Guy” and the “First Followers” (YouTube) leading a movement.

Meadows, Forrester, and other systems thinkers know that all bubbles pop, all positive feedback mechanisms are eventually moderated. My question is not whether the Republicans and Tea Partiers will overreach in attempting to actualize Rush Limbaugh’s Jan. 16, 09 wish that Obama fails (Limbaugh / You Tube). It’s clear that they are. The questions are “By how much will they overreach?” and “What will be the reaction?”

(And as I wrote, here, “it is patriotic to question the wisdom and judgment of the President. However, a hope that the President fails is hope that the United States fails. This is many things, but it isn’t patriotic. Working to actualize that hope is treason.”)

Index to recent posts on Occupy Wall Street.

1. It’s The Feedback; It’s Always The Feedback, 11/3/11, here.
   
2. Occupy Wall Street News is Fit To Print, 10/30/11, here.
   
3. Occupy Wall Street – Demands, 10/28/11, here,
4. Progressive Tax Policy, 10/28/11, here,
5. Occupy Wall Street – Why are They There?, 10/19/11, here,
6. Corporations Are NOT People, 10/13/11, here,
7. Protesting Marked Cards and a Stacked Deck, 9/22/11, here,
8. Saving the Economy, Part Deux, 9/12/11, here,
9. Nuclear Power: Present Tense, 9/12/11, here,
10. Saving the Economy, Numero Uno, 9/12/11, here,
11. Zuccotti, the song, unmixed mp3,    lyrics in pdf,