Who Will Steer the Occupy Wall Street Crowd?

Here's an admission: I'm conservative today largely because I was a liberal kid.

I grew up in Washington, DC, and was at a lot of the protest rallies in the '60s and '70s. I saw up close the false promises of the Aquarian Age, which protesters today seem hell bent on trying to recreate. While the demonstrations of the '60s were preaching peace and love, behind the scenes there was a lot of grandstanding and backstabbing.

There were supposed to be no hierarchies in the protest organizations, but when no one's supposed to be in control, someone always tries to take control…and it's usually the most ruthless.

And there are some very tough cookies at the Occupy Wall Street rallies. It's worth mentioning again the teachings of a woman who looks like she's making a move to direct the rallies.

She's a community and labor organizer named Lisa Fithian. In 2001 she gave an interview to the Internationalist Socialist Review and talked about power and tactics. Here's what she said:

"I have no issue with property destruction ... we're in a society where property is idolized, so a lot of people don't get it yet that it doesn't really matter. It's just glass or products."

We're not selectively editing here. These are her words. "Property doesn't really matter. It's just glass or products." These are the same sentiments that turned me away from radicals long ago.

But some things never change. The sentiments of destruction that eventually took over many of the rallies of old could become the hallmark of the Occupy Wall Street protests -- if folks like Ms. Fithian get their way.