On this we can agree

We are not alone.

I'm not talking about visitors from outer space here, I refer to "friends" responding positively to the many #occupy, #ows, #occupyetc links I've been posting to my Facebook account.

Having grown up in deep East Texas, quite a large number of the people I am networked with through Facebook are pretty damned conservative. Unlike my "friends" from the quarter-century I spent in the big city, the East Texas contingent seems heavily Christian—and I mean, obnoxiously, patronizingly, evangelistically Christian. Even more commonly, the people I was raised among are political conservatives—and I mean, obnoxiously, patronizingly, evangelistically conservative.

I am always pleased when anyone "likes" or comments favorably on my political posts and links. (And I even enjoy Facebook dialogues with the benighted, by the way.) Generally, which acquaintances past and present who respond favorably are unsurprising. Occupy Wall Street, though, has revealed a remarkable confluence of political opinion.

Perhaps the best example is a splendid piece written by that socialist Bernie Sanders published on Huffington Post. The article consisted of Senator Sanders explaining that the Occupy-ers do have an agenda. A list of grievances, certainly; but a list of grievances that clearly transmits a list of demands, a set of proposals.

In addition to posting the link to the article, I excerpted a slimmed down version of Sanders' main points. So even my Facebook "friends" who did not follow the link would still get the message. This is what my visitors saw:

1. ‎ If a financial institution is too big to fail, it is too big to exist.
2. Put a cap on credit card interest rates to end usury. When credit card companies charge 25- or 30-percent interest rates they are involved in extortion and loan-sharking.
3. The Federal Reserve needs to provide small businesses in America with the same low-interest loans it gave to foreign banks.
4. Stop Wall Street oil speculators from artificially increasing gasoline and heating oil prices.
5. Demand that Wall Street invest in the job-creating productive economy, instead of gambling on worthless derivatives. The "heads, bankers win; tails, everyone else loses" financial system must end.
6. Establish a Wall Street speculation fee on credit default swaps, derivatives, stock options and futures.

I am delighted to say that people is never expect to agree with me "liked" or even posted favorable comments ... approving the opinions of the depraved socialist Bernie Sanders!

This remarkable development reveals, in my opinion, a broad and general acceptance of the #occupy movement. Doubtless there will be some bitter disagreements when—or if—our government starts translating the pervading anger into policy specifics. But the fact remains, this spontaneous eruption of protest reflects the feelings of a national majority: Big business and its political representatives are screwing the poor, impoverishing the middle class and destroying the economy. The game is rigged.

President Obama is already channeling the #occupy anger in his speeches. And not a moment too soon, let me stress. Other Democratic politicians are also showing some spine, now that the unwashed masses have given them some cover. Republican politicians too are sensing that something large has shifted in the American polity. Outrageous injustice and unconscionable crony capitalism are bad things. Wall Street and investment banking have driven this country not just into the ditch but clear over to the other side of the ditch. And we're fed up. Enough.

When even the Obama haters start agreeing with me, politicians will ignore our anger at their own peril.