The original version of this piece was peppered with references to Michael Mann movies and featured a politicized vow that I’d begin urinating in Manhattan snowbanks this winter. Somehow these didn’t make it through the editing process. (Speaking of the editing process, our video from Friday night’s event is finally ready for consumption. We’re uploading it to Vimeo right now. It’ll be posted in a couple hours.)

Part of me was heartened to read Sarah Leonard’s call for bank occupations. It feels like the paradigm of American politics has shifted over the past month and I’m glad to see the avowedly reformist young minds at Dissent radicalized a bit by the spirit. After spending my first years on the left struck by how depoliticized the milieus I engaged with were, I’m thrilled that people are now not only interested in talking about tactics and strategy, but are doing so with a sense of urgency. So it’s with equal vigor that I insist that Leonard’s call would be completely counterproductive.

More at Dissent.