Both the French Revolution and the Occupy Wall Street movement are spearheaded by people who are fed up with aristocratic and religious privileges enjoyed by those in the government, religious organizations and corporations. As in the French Revolution, the people are taking a stand.
During the French Revolution, the Sans-culottes were the common people of Paris, the shop owners, the working class, the artisans and even the factory workers. These people saw their livelihoods disintegrating and inflation pushing them to fight for their very existence. The wealthy on the other hand got richer. The people of the Occupy Wall Street movement are fed with seeing the income of the one percent grow by leaps and bounds while the income of the nation’s ninety nine percent does only modestly well if anything at all.
The New Enlightenment replaced old ideas about the monarchy, aristocracy, and religious authority. There is a type of New Enlightenment taking shape here in America. The people on Wall Street are taking a stand against the government which is meant to be by the people for the people. They are opposed to intolerances and abuses in church and state. They are questioning why religious organizations are exempt from paying taxes while they themselves have to pay through the nose. The Occupy Wall Street people are fed up with the lies of the president promising change in this country. They are starting to see him as a gutless wonder. The people on Wall Street want to utilize the power of reason to reform society and advance knowledge just like the French did. Also like the French, they want to promote principles of equality citizenship and inalienable rights.
The first year of the French Revolution saw members of the Third Estate called the bourgeoisie enjoy material comfort and respectability while the rural people had no wealth and yet were forced to pay disproportionately high taxes. The rural people were unhappy because they wanted more rights.
Other parallels between the two events are the ever rising cost of living, an enormous national debt due in part to the costs of the burdens of previous wars. The there is the inadequate financial system that is unable to manage the national debt partially caused by the burden of an inadequate system of taxation.
The parallels between the two events are uncanny. The people are fed up and the government doesn’t seem to care. Hopefully the government and the people can come up with some sort of peaceful agreement.
References:
French Revolution, Wikipedia
Sans-Coulettes; a summary of who they were, thinkquest.org
Age of Enlightenment, Wikipedia
Craig Glen, What is Occupy Wall Street and Should You Care?, freefrombroke.com
Garance Burke and Terry Collins, Occupy Crowd takes to Berleley for day of protests, sfexaminer.com
OP ED, Occupy Wall Street-The Precursor to Revolution, dirtandseeds.com