Both the Occupiers and the Tea Partiers changed the American political conversation in a large way. Still, it cannot be denied that the Tea Party has moved closer to actually changing the American political system and its laws than the Occupiers have managed.

What happens next is anyone's guess. Is the Occupy movement poised for a comeback? Or is it about to be co-opted altogether? Can both, in fact, happen simultaneously, and would that be a good thing or not?

You have awakened the sleeping giant, too long dormant, but ever present, deep in the American democratic spirit. You have given voice and space to the unspoken feelings of countless others about something that has gone terribly wrong in our society.