NC Sec. of State Elaine Marshall and U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, both Democrats, are the only Tar Heel politicians overtly to embrace the Occupy movement. Marshall and Miller both have attended Raleigh Occupy gatherings, giving their support to the movement.

One wonders whether both might be reassessing their support in light of reports coming from Occupy demonstrations in several other parts of the country. Anti-capitalism, violent revolution, and overt Marxism have dominated the gatherings in signs and discussions.

Legitimate concerns about crony capitalism, which Tea Partiers share with any Occupy demonstrators who genuinely care about that issue, are difficult to find among the Marxist platitudes, “Eat the Rich” signs, and Che Guevara t-shirts.

Were Marshall and Miller aware of the creepy collectivism that dominates these encampments when they rushed to the streets to help take it to The Man? Were they aware of the mindless grade-school hand gestures and robotic repetition of any speaker’s comments that have been adopted even by NC-based Occupy groups?

Do they still want to be associated with a movement that encourages rape victims within its ranks to hush up for the good of the collective?:

Efforts by the Occupy Baltimore protest group to evolve into a self-contained, self-governing community have erupted into controversy with the distribution of a pamphlet that victim advocates and health workers fear discourages victims of sexual assaults from contacting police.

The pamphlet says that members of the protest group who believe they are victims or who suspect sexual abuse “are encouraged to immediately report the incident to the Security Committee,” which will investigate and “supply the abuser with counseling resources.”

Perhaps Marshall and Miller were just naive about this movement. Maybe they didn’t realize it’s radical, collectivist, and violent nature. One hopes so.