The "Occupy Wall Street" movement is being talked about as if it originated on another planet and, in its completely alien

form, showed up in lower Manhattan with no warning. Naturally, the establishment dealing with it with a combination of bullying and condescension.

To the establishment's amazement, the movement, like some science fiction horror movie creature, is not going away. Indeed, it simply continues to grow and morph into other "Occupy" efforts in various cities around the country and, now, around the world.

No one in the establishment as yet knows what the "Occupy" movement is. Though not a card carrying member of the establishment myself, I confess I do not know what it is either. Having spoken to a number of past and present Occupiers I find that there are almost as many separate grievances as there are participants.

However, there does seem to be one constant grievance all the Occupiers to whom I have spoken hold. All the Occupiers, to greater or lesser degree, seem to share the belief that average citizens need relief from the crushing, life diminishing debt loads being shouldered by the American consumer. Whether this is debt in the form of upside down mortgages, consumer debt, small business loans, or whatever, debt is weighing on the minds of the Occupiers I have spoken to and have read about.

This crushing debt also seems to be doubly difficult for the Occupiers to justify as the vast, vast majority of this debt is owed to financial institutions that continue to exist only

by virtue of tx payers bailouts. In other words, the poor citizen currently drowning in debt is being made to pay twice. Once through forced transfer of wealth via taxes from the middle class to the plutocrat bankers and second through personal financial sacrifice and ruin. This double jeopardy seems un American, unfair, highly ironic and criminally absurd.

Hold this thought for a moment.

Another interesting socio/political phenomenon going on all around the globe is the Pirate Party Movement. The Pirate Party originated in Sweden in the wake of the infamous Pirate Bay prosecution resulting in the incarceration of several of the Pirate Bay principals.

As I know you will recall, Pirate Bay was one of the many ad hoc organizations, like Napster, set up to "free" certain intellectual property, such as musical recordings, video and film recordings, software code and so forth. The philosophical notion behind such organizations, and here I would include Wikileaks though that is more about freedom of information than free access to intellectual property, is that the cumulative knowledge and art of mankind should belong to all mankind and not be stuffed up behind selfserving legal protections.

I am a big fan of intellectual property. I own a good bit of it and I hope that someday some of it may have some value. It is not, therefore, my intent to stir up that debate. I

mention it only to illustrate how a movement that began in the chaos and anarchy of an internet subculture added privacy concerns to its intellectual property desires and, somehow, morphed into a worldwide political party with an intense focus on reforming the intellectual property rights laws of the international community of nations while enhancing personal privacy on the web.

Starting no more that six years ago and organizing through strict "word of internet" social networks, the Pirate Party of Sweden already has members in the Swedish Parliament, the German Party recently elected eighteen members to the Berlin provincial parliament and there are elected representatives in four other European nations. One recently resigned Tunisian cabinet member is also a Pirate Party member. The International Pirate Party has official and affiliate member parties in fifty-six different nations around the world. All this since the first Pirate Party was established in January of 2006.

Now, back to the Occupiers:

It seems to me that no one should be surprised if the Occupiers, using social networks, recreate themselves into a national party built around one, single issue. Like the totally surprising capture of the Berlin provincial and municipal parliament seats, no one should be surprised if some number of self-satisfied tools of corporate America are booted from Congress by the stealth candidates of the OWS movement. If that issue is debt relief for consumers I predict such a movement will garner substantial votes.

Neither major party is touching the unemployment problem in a meaningful way and neither one will touch the problem of the dying, debt burdened middle class in this country. As this craven abdication of political responsibility continues, the kind of under the radar political campaign run by the German Pirate Party and by some fundamentalist political organizations in this country could defeat some tone deaf, callous Congressmen from both parties, though I suspect Congressional Democrats are most vulnerable.

Like the Progressive/Farm Labor movement in the Midwest, the Bull Moose movement in the early twentieth century and the whole George Wallace movement, the Occupier movement could become the next big thing in the third party history of the nation. Just as all the other, significant third party movements in our political history were co-oped by one or more of the major parties and resulted in significant modifications in public policy, the Occupier Party will follow suit.

This is not to say OWS is all a tempest in a teapot. To the contrary, I believe the Occupier movement will morph into a debt relief movement and it will accomplish some of its goals in that regard. I think it will do so after it is absorbed into one or both of the major parties. In doing so, it may become the angry, uncompromising left that balances the angry, uncompromising right born of the Tea party movement.

No matter if I am correct in my prediction or not, the Occupier movement will morph into something of significance. It will do so, if for no other reason, because the establishment's negative reaction to it is so hysterical and outsized.

Follow the OWS on Facebook and see where it goes.