New York magazine conducted an informal poll of fifty random Occupy Wall Street protesters, and the results are astounding. Actually, no, they’re exactly what we expected.

For example:

84% have no idea what Dodd-Frank is, 42% can’t name the chairman of the Federal Reserve (just 38% can name him accurately), 68% don’t know what “SEC” stands for, just 10% can identify the top marginal income tax rate for the rich, and 94% wrongly identify military spending as the federal government’s largest expenditure.

That last one provides particular insight into why so many people think our fiscal issues can be solved by cutting defense spending. As New York says, just 20% of the federal budget actually goes to the top federal responsibility of national defense. The biggest expenditure is the “health care and pensions” category, which accounts for 43% of all government outlays.

And at the end of the day, what’s driving these Occupy protesters is the same thing driving those opposed to entitlement reform: Ignorance of reality. They live in a world with “facts” very different from the one most people inhabit. They either believe left-wing bullcrap or don’t actually take the time to learn anything regarding the topic about which they’re protesting.