Street Protests Won't Work?

Message To 'Resistors' From Occupy Co-Creator: Stop Protesting. Run For Office : NPR



This referenced  article from NPR directly contradicts the essay I published yesterday calling for active street presence.  One of the lessons that we can learn from the Occupy movement is that there was no central authority that could organize and take advantage of the visibility created by the bodies in the street.  Without organization that will convert the temporary advantage into permanent assets
there is no political need for the protest.  One has to take into account the sophistication that embodies campaigns these days where polling and opposition research dominate the direction campaigns will take.



This article does make a valid point in that there still must be candidates who will carry the passions of the protest into the political realm where they can be converted into reality.  That is where the organization comes in.  Political candidates must be able to see how the interests of the public can translate into votes or they will pay attention to someone else who can actually demonstrate how he can contribute to electability.



In some cases the protest may actually change a seasoned politician's path but most likely he or she already has assets in place that one would tend to not forgo.  It is important to try simply for the benefit of participation in the public marketplace but in reality the visibility created in the streets must be converted to political reality.