Are Wall Street Protests A Harbinger?

The new millennium has spawned a sibling to the old adage that "You Can't Fight City Hall" -- "You Can't Fight Wall Street" -- a reflection of the bitter hopelessness most of us feel about reforming let alone fighting back against the financial institutions that are a de facto shadow government that is responsible for the ongoing economic downturn. And so I have looked at the Occupy Wall Street protests with skepticism.

That feeling is fueled by the fact that the vast majority of protesters in New York and Chicago and in other cities as the protests have spread are unemployed white kids with only a smattering of older folks and people of color. Now jobless white kids make up a disproportionate number of the 14 million out-of-work Americans, but I would feel a little more enthusiastic about the credibility of the protests if there were more Joe and Jane Sixpacks, the folks with children, foreclosed homes and repossessed cars.

Then there is the fact that Occupy Wall Street has no discernible agenda, "Money is bad" not being a mission statement that I can take to heart.

But I have a growing feeling that I am wrong, perhaps very wrong, and just because the lamestream media (thank you, Sarah) has studiously ignored the protests until recently doesn't mean it isn't worthy, let a harbinger of things to come.

Is it?