Clearly the Occupy movement has the corporatist politicians running scared. Their problem is that, other than resorting to easily disprovable lies about how the protests are drug-infested orgies in the streets, there really isn't anything negative they can say about the movement, because everything it stands for has the suupport of the vast majority of Americans. OWS is everything the Tea Party aspired to be before it got co-opted by the 1%.
So the only thing the opponents of the movement have been able to do is make weak noises to the effect that it has no coherent message and nobody knows what it's trying to accomplish. This is, as I heard someone on TV say recently, "a pantload." However, it's being repeated enough that it's starting to take hold in the minds of a lot of people who might otherwise be supporters. And it is serving as an excuse for the politicians to ignore the movement.
There is one simple thing OWS could do that could wipe out the "no message, no purpose" argument and, more importantly, increase popular support for the movement. Most importantly, I think it could have a huge impact on Congress.
Here's my idea: Every time a piece of legislation impacting fiscal or economic issues is proposed, introduced, or comes up for a vote (either procedural or substantive) in either house of Congress, OWS should desisgnate it "Pro-99%" or "Pro-1%." Every action taken on that legislation by each member of Congress -- sponsorship, committee vote, etc. -- should be tracked as a pro-99% or pro-1% action.
Over time, each member of Congress will have developed a "report card" of their relative support for the 99% vs. the 1%. The data should be trackable by individual items of legislation and by politician.
The beneficial effects that I see from doing something like this would be:
1. It could generate popular interest in what's actually happening in Congress, enabling more people to see how successfully the 1% have been able to hold our democracy hostage.
2. As the campaign season gets fully underway, there will be ample data that can be used in both primary and general elections to support those who support us, and get rid of those who don't.
3. The designations of pro-99% or pro-1% will tell the rest of the country exactly what the OWS movement is trying to accomplish, and will thus remove the only talking point that opponents have been able to muster against it.