To the Editor:

I guess it’s inevitable that comparisons will be made between the Occupy and Tea Party movements. In many respects Occupy is a mirror image of the Tea Party.

To the Tea Party, government is the enemy. To Occupy, the huge corporation is the enemy. Occupy wants to raise taxes on billionaires. The Tea Party wants to reduce them. Occupy wants to rebuild and strengthen the safety net — food stamps, heating assistance, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The Tea Party wants to eliminate or weaken it.

Every Tea Party event was covered by the media and advertised beforehand by Fox News. The media first ignored the Occupy movement for over a month and then ridiculed them. Tea Party participants mock the sick and the poor. At the larger Occupy locations, participants provide free food, health care and emotional support to everyone present at their events.

Tea Party participants are anti-union, anti-poor, racist, bigoted, and xenophobic. The Occupy movement strives for inclusion and worldwide participation. The Tea Party is funded by the Koch brothers. Occupy avoids leaders and bases decisions on consensus. At Tea Party events people showed up with assault rifles, shouted and spit at members of Congress, and the police took no notice. At Occupy events, people show up unarmed, are committed to non-violence and are maced and beaten by police.  

An October Time Magazine poll shows that Occupy Wall Street demonstrations are viewed favorably by 54 percent of Americans while only 27 pecent have favorable feelings toward the Tea Party. The Tea Party advocates for the wealthiest 1 percent. Occupy is standing up for the rest of us, the 99 percent.

Carole Larivee

Waynesville