Occupy exists outside politics on purpose. Its decision-making processes are meant as a rebuke to the electoral system, in which both parties, activists say, are influenced by lobbying and corporate cash.
And yet, the movement can have a greater impact on American politics than an Occupy caucus ever could. Putting its concerns at the forefront of the debate this campaign season through nonpartisan tactics is a stronger strategy than backing a flash-in-the-pan candidate — as the tea party found with Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell, who attracted fascination but then faded in 2010. Occupy will push candidates to embrace its positions but won’t rely on them to be leaders of the movement — leaders who can fail, compromise or be toppled in a vote.
Occupy has already increased political attention for its key causes. By targeting banks, moving homeless people into foreclosed homes and even living in public, activists have forced candidates and voters to grapple with topics rare for the national stage — housing, poverty, student debt and financial influence over politics — without being tethered to politicians’ power the way a caucus or a third party might be. And they’ve had a remarkable influence on the discourse, leading even those seemingly inimical to them to offer sympathy, at least nominally.
Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney went from calling the protests “class warfare” to saying, just a few days later, “I worry about the 99 percent.” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) softened from calling the activists “mobs” to saying they are “justifiably frustrated.”
And President Obama himself, in a December speech in Kansas, addressed Occupy’s primary issue, income inequality, in his strongest terms yet.“This is not just another political debate,” he said. “This is the defining issue of our time.”
The strength of Occupy’s approach was evident on GOP primary day in New Hampshire, as the candidates — dogged by chanting, sign-carrying bands of as many as 50 protesters — began to echo the language of the movement. Texas Gov. Rick Perry even criticized Romney as a “vulture capitalist,” an unrepentant 1 percenter. The story of the night wasn’t just Romney’s victory, but also the anti-capitalist tenor of his opponents.
Meanwhile, outside New Hampshire, Occupy maintained a distinct identity. That same night, Occupiers in New York City streamed into the newly un-barricaded Zuccotti Park, resilient and eager to focus on what they do best: calling attention to inequality in America.
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