Last week, in an editorial called "Occupy Elected Office" where I urged the 99 Percenters to translate their demands into electoral politics, I wrote:

My advice to the Occupy folks is to get out of Lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park—there's a metaphor about irrelevance in there somewhere when your movement becomes about occupying an alternative space that's set off from the rest of the society.

I exaggerated a little. Or more succinctly, I think they should eventually get out of lower Manhattan—once they've demonstrated mass support and successfully lodged their lefty economic message into the gears of the 24-7 news machine. They're getting pretty close to that point. Otherwise, as I said, the movement will turn into separate battle over a patch of land.

And that's what's already happening here in Seattle. The protesters are in a standoff with the mayor and the SPD about their right to set up tents and sleep in Westlake Park over night. It's a healthy standoff, and one that can demonstrate the protesters' commitment to their cause; so I get the symbolism, pride, and machismo of wanting to stay put.

But I'm also wary that an important movement about challenging economic inequity will lose focus and turn into a debate over parks and tents and permits. And umbrellas. Which shouldn't be what this protest is about.

It'd be one thing if the city wasn't offering the brick mall outside City Hall on 4th Ave. as an overnight spot for protesters to camp (while still using Westlake during the day). But given that they are, the protesters should rise to the challenge of packing the plaza, making their real point, and then really moving into City Hall so to speak by electing some 99 Percenters to office.