#OccupyColumbia

So, we've got about 75 people sleeping on the front lawn of the capital here in Columbia. Awesome. Why are they there? Are they upset about unemployment? Are they upset about our foreign policy? Or maybe it's one of those controversial social issues like abortion or gay marriage.

The protesters are part of demonstrations taking place across the country that criticize the influence of corporate money in politics, tax policies that favor the wealthy and policies that don’t show good stewardship of natural resources. -The State

 Well, isn't that special. Let's take these three issues in turn:

1. The influence of corporate money in politics. Corporations are groups of people working together to make money. They donate money to candidates who support their agenda. This has happened since the dawn of democracy. It's not a new phenomenon. Read your history books, kids. If you don't like it, you're not going to get very far by protesting the corporations. They should be protesting at Capitol Hill and at the White House.

It's like this. If you have a friend who drinks too much, you don't go protest the liquor store for selling him booze. You try to convince your friend not to drink too much. There's always going to be someone who will sell him alcohol. It's the same thing with money in politics. If you don't like it, hold the politicians accountable. They are the ones you vote for, not the donors. Finally, if you're really upset about the contributions of big Wall Street banks, guess who the #1 recipient of money from Goldman Sachs is? Also, if you don't like the bank bailouts, maybe you should join the TEA Party, bro.

2. Tax policies that favor the wealthy. Currently, our main federal tax system is based on your income. The more you earn, the higher your marginal rate. However, the tax code is full of deductions, loopholes, and exemptions that are the result of the government trying to encourage or discourage certain types of behavior. Example: The government wants people to own homes (for some reason) so they encourage it by making your mortgage interest deductible. Same with having kids, same with donating to charities, and so on and so on....If you don't like this system of taxation, what do you propose? Simply raising the marginal rates? That's not really going to change much since you'll still have the swiss cheese of the deductions and exemptions. If you really want to change the system, you need to make the tax code simple.

3. Policies that don't show good stewardship of natural resources. All three of these points are broad, but this point is really vague. I'm not sure what they're upset about. Are they upset that the internal combustion engine is the most efficient way to power a car? Are they upset that America is too large and spread out for efficient mass-transportation? Are they upset that the wind doesn't blow all the time, or that it's not sunny all the time, making wind and solar pie-in-the-sky ideas at this point? We have an EPA that seems more worried about CO2 levels than anything else. Also, what does Wall Street have to do with this? Doesn't the guy over at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have a small role on what America does as far as natural resources are concerned? I think you're protesting the wrong people, bro.