Four Iron-Clad Demands for Occupy Wall Street: Michael Kinsley

By Michael Kinsley | Oct 20, 2011 7:00 PM ET

So I sat down to write up some demands for Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Washington and the related groups that have sprung up to terrify the political and financial establishments.

Not everyone thinks demands are a good idea. Could this disparate collection of malcontents actually agree on a platform? Would the attempt destroy the almost magical unity the protesters have achieved? Might a list of demands -- or, as they were called in the 1960s, “nonnegotiable demands” -- turn out to be embarrassingly anti-capitalist, offering grist to the Glenn Becks of this world and turning off many potential recruits? Or might it be the opposite: so banal and unambitious that the most devoted followers lose interest?