(David Shankbone, Creative Commons)

In response to protestors using the phrases “demolition of capitalism” and “if we can learn to share we can all live in prosperity,” Coulter said:

“All of those quotes could have been said in 1789 in France before the French Revolution, or the Russian Revolution, or with only slight modifications when the Nazis were coming to power…This is always the beginning of totalitarianism.”

She also compared the Democratic Party to mobs:

“the Democratic Party loves ‘mob uprising’ as it is their ‘path to power’ and that Democrats ‘always assume that the mob leaders will remain mob leaders and not end up like Maximilien Robespierre, beheaded a couple years after the revolution began, that is often the way revolutions go.’”

The mob-style revolutions she cites were inherently violent from the very beginning. The violence soon got out of hand, and the result was one ruler or small, elite group of rulers seizing absolute power.

Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together, on the other hand, preach nonviolence. The only violence being committed is violence against the protestors by authorities.

Her claim that the protests will result in totalitarianism is ridiculous. In reality protests such as these keep this country from sinking into totalitarianism of the wealthy, a small elite on its way to wielding most of the power in the country, to the detriment of the majority of the people.

It is clear that the system of capitalism currently in place is antagonistic toward democracy, as it has only allowed the concentration of wealth in the hands of a very few, although it allowed the creation of a middle class. That middle class is now shrinking; the divide between rich and poor is increasing, and something needs to change.

Protests like these remind this country that its’ priorities should lie with the well-being of the people, not the well-being and prosperity of a very few. Learning to share resources would allow more people a chance to be financially secure and happy, rather than uphold the two extreme divides of rich and poor that leaves the majority unhappy.

If changes are not made to the system now, and more and more people are deprived of their financial resources while only a few benefit, then there is a danger that should a revolution occur, it will then follow the course of the French or Russian revolutions, rather than the relatively peaceful one occurring now. The focus will be on food, out of desperation; the focus now is on politics, out of reason.

Protest movements like the one occurring now have occurred before in our country’s history. They are essential to ensuring that the people retain their voices in our government, where the main influence on law should not be the wealthiest 1 percent.

Comments like Coulter’s reflect the fear these protests are inspiring in the elite of the right wing. Her comments are attempts to scare people away from joining the protest movement by defaming it, because she and others are afraid of the revolution. Her comments should thus not be taken as truth.

Reach Senior Opinion Editor Cara Palmer here or follow her on Twitter.