This is from a Salon article about Occupy Des Moines:

Welcome to the latest and perhaps most unique iteration of Occupy Wall Street, where a splinter cell of Occupy Des Moines protestors, many of them former Obama supporters, are heading the movement’s first significant injection of street politics into electoral politics. And if what’s happening in Iowa augurs anything for the 2012 cycle, Democrats nationwide will be facing a vote of no confidence from former allies who now see the party as part of the system they’re trying to occupy. Earlier this week, when more than 100 progressive occupiers caucused to pick their candidates of greatest “dispreference,” the largest number, 30, picked Barack Obama.

“I voted for Obama in 2008, and I feel really let down by what’s happened since then,” said Ross Grooters, 37, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa. His mother-in-law had to move in with him, his wife and his daughter after she lost her job and then her home.

If disruption is the name of Occupy’s game, Occupy Iowa Caucus has already succeeded in Des Moines. The local Obama campaign office was conspicuously shuttered on the day occupiers had identified it as a protest target. Meanwhile, state Democratic leadership had no idea what to do with the few dozen protestors — many of whom they’ve worked with before — who then decided to show up on their headquarters’ doorstep for a sit-in instead.

Without a doubt BOTH parties are a part of the problem, and a focus on only one party won’t fix the problem. But at the same time, the system we have is the system we have. A full system change will not happen overnight- it will be a larger, broader cultural change. So, with an eye on long term system change, I believe we also need a short term agenda- a way to work within the system, at the same time we are seeking to change the system. That will be the only way to create positive change in the long run without screwing outselves in the short term.

via Occupy Des Moines is the Democrats’ problem – Salon.com.