How exactly will Occupy Wall Street protesters succeed?

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Updated: January 23, 2012 3:19AM

O Occupy America!

The movement that started in New York City has spread to Chicago, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco and many other cities, growing in numbers every day. (And coming Oct. 15: Occupy London.)

If you’re downtown in any of these cities, you might come across an enthusiastic, passionate group of people riding bicycles, waving signs, banging on plastic drums, tooting Vuvuzelas and chanting — I’m paraphrasing here — something along the lines of:

“What do we want?”

“Revolution!”

“When do we want it?”

“Now!”

“How are we going to get it?”

Crickets.

You say you want a revolution?

We’re a month into the Occupy Wall Street protests. But if you ask a bystander what the protests are about, specifically — even if you ask some of the protesters what they’re protesting, it gets a bit hazy.

“We’re the 99 percent!” they chant. 

That’s a start. Visit the Tumblr “We Are the 99 Percent” and you can’t help but be moved by stories posted by Americans.

“We are getting kicked out of our homes,” reads the home page entry. “We are forced to choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care...We are working long hours for little pay and no rights, if we’re working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.”

Those words could have been penned by an American citizen in 1935, or 1880. Those words could be penned by citizens of any other country — although expressing such sentiments could get you thrown in jail in certain lands. (On Monday an Iranian actress was sentenced to a year in prison and 90 lashes for her role in the underground film “My Tehran for Sale,” which dares to criticize the government.)

On the “We Are the 99 Percent” page, individuals post photos of themselves holding up handwritten, autobiographical stories:

“I am a student. When I graduate I will have over $100K in student loans, as will much of my generation. I believe education is the key to responsible, productive citizenship. So what happens when no one can afford it?”

“My mom and I lost our house. I dropped out of junior college to work full time, making minimum wage. I lived in my car for two months because of the Bank of America. A year later, we rent a home, we have no food...[but] we still have each other. We are the 99 percent.”

“I haven’t seen a doctor in 16 years cuz I’ve never been able to afford insurance. I’m 43, been unemployed for three years. I don’t want a handout, I just want a job!”

You read the stories and you think, there but for the grace of God...

But back to the Occupy (Your City Here) movement. We know they’re anti-Wall Street, we know they want the banks to be held accountable, we know they’re understandably frustrated and they want a “revolution” of sorts — but in what way? There doesn’t seem to be a single leader of the movement. (There’s also the bizarre, unintentionally comic effect of “The Human Microphone” — in which the group repeats each line uttered by a speaker. The now-infamous video from Atlanta is like something out of “The Life of Brian.”)

One Internet poster’s unofficial list of demands that gained some media attention called for open borders, $2 trillion to be spent on infrastructure and ecological restoration, a $20-an-hour minimum wage, a negative income tax, free college for all and immediate forgiveness of all debt. Other calls for change aren’t as insanely unrealistic, but in many cases the protesters still seem as unfocused as they are passionate. They’re offering far more complaints than workable solutions.

I talked to a protester last week who said he would stay at it “for as long as it takes.” Will he really still be out there when the weather turns frigid?

Wild demands aside, there’s also the “or else” factor. The protesters are saying they want this and they want that — or else what? What are you going to do if/when your demands aren’t met? What’s your leverage?

Times are beyond tough for far too many. It’s much better to cause a fuss and holler than to sit on the sofa. God Bless America and those who exercise their right to protest, and I mean that with a thousand percent sincerity.

But reality is harsh. By the holidays, most of the protesters will have long since gone home, and Wall Street will still be occupied by Wall Street.