Occupy LA: The Pro-Government Protesters?

Los Angeles became the first city to officially endorse the Occupy movement when its city council unanimously passed a resolution affirming the group's right to camp out on lawns in front of city hall. The council members had glowing words for the movement.

"These are things worthy of protest. And I thank you for speaking out and helping move the debate forward," said City Councilman Paul Koretz.

Many of the protesters had similarly positive words for their local politicians, as well as local law enforcement. Reason.tv was on the scene to ask protesters about their general attitudes towards government power. Is Occupy Los Angeles (and Occupy Wall Street) simply a pro-government movement, or is there room for libertarian sentiment within it?

The answer is... well, it's complicated. While we spoke to a few small government libertarians at the event, others eschewed anti-government rhetoric and said that criticism of the Federal Reserve is a libertarian "pet issue" distracting from the real matter at hand: economic justice.

The Occupy movement remains politically diverse and difficult to pigeonhole, and many of its members seem proud to remain fiercely independent, saying they will not allow politicians or unions to co-opt their movement.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller and Tim Cavanaugh. Shot by Paul Detrick and Tracy Oppenheimer. Edited by Weissmueller. About 5 minutes long.

Go to reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel for automatic notifications when new material goes live.

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[USA4July1776]

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

— Thomas Jefferson

[bosshog7169]

As a libertarian, I'm so happy I have the privilege to read and learn things so I can talk about them. If you can read too, please vote for Ron Paul.

[lafontaine13]

the stupidity of these people is breath taking

[normalkuriboh]

Ron Paul is an isolationist as well as an apologist for Bin Laden. I'm sorry, but America cannot stay neutral in the war on Fascist Islam, and Ron Paul does not understand that.

[americanliberal09]

if he can win

[rmcdaniel423]

"Calling Paul an isolationist is like calling your neighbor a hermit for not coming on your property and breaking your windows."

(nice analogy)

[KittenKodersViews]

That's the problem, they are not against the government corruption, they are against corporations which are only possible because of the government regulations. They are trying to cure a symptom and expecting it to effect the disease.

[bosshog7169]

Its not that they don't like their job. Its that they are over there and see what we're doing and why we're doing it instead of demanding we bomb everyone for oil from the comfort of their mom's basement like some people. Calling Paul an isolationist is like calling your neighbor a hermit for not coming on your property and breaking your windows. Supporting our troops means voting for Paul.

[AuntySemitist]

If command and control was left up to the enlisted men, there would be no need for officers or a commander in chief, so what if a few dont like their job, alot of people dont, but you gotta do what you gotta do. American isolationism is one of the key factors that brought on WW2, its idiocy to make that mistake again

[bosshog7169]

Ron Paul receives more money from active duty military than all other candidates combined. The people who fight for us disagree with you, and for good reason.

[AuntySemitist]

Paul would be a great president if it werent for his foreign policy. Far to big a fault to overlook

[eswyatt]

Zach is so relaxed.