Occupy LA—Pro-Government Protesters?

Los Angeles became the first city to officially endorse the Occupy movement when its city council unanimously passed a resolution affirming the group's right to camp out on lawns in front of city hall. The council members had glowing words for the movement.

"These are things worthy of protest. And I thank you for speaking out and helping move the debate forward," said City Councilman Paul Koretz.

Many of the protesters had similarly positive words for their local politicians, as well as local law enforcement. Reason.tv was on the scene to ask protesters about their general attitudes towards government power. Is Occupy Los Angeles (and Occupy Wall Street) simply a pro-government movement, or is there room for libertarian sentiment within it?

The answer is… well, it's complicated. While we spoke to a few small government libertarians at the event, others eschewed anti-government rhetoric and said that criticism of the Federal Reserve is a libertarian "pet issue" distracting from the real matter at hand: economic justice.

The Occupy movement remains politically diverse and difficult to pigeonhole, and many of its members seem proud to remain fiercely independent, saying they will not allow politicians or unions to co-opt their movement.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller and Tim Cavanaugh. Shot by Paul Detrick and Tracy Oppenheimer. Edited by Weissmueller. About 5 minutes long.

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