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'This Is What Democracy Looks Like' in Wisconsin, as Largest Crowd Yet -- 80,000 -- Opposes Union Busting
MADISON -- Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker finished a bad week with a misstep that emphasized his inability to generate support for his attempt to strip the state’s public employees of collective bargaining rights.
Protesters demonstrate in front of Gov. Scott Walker's office at the State Capitol. (Andy Manis / AP) First, the governor’s radical proposal went to such extremes in its anti-labor bias that it sparked a protest movement so large, so steady and so determined in its demands that it is now commonly compared with the protests that have rocked Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries.
Then, the man that badges worn by marchers describe as “The Mubarak of the Middle West” really blew it. Saturday was supposed to be the day when the governor pushed back against the movement that has challenged his radical power grab. The governor’s Tea Party allies attempted to grab the spotlight with a rally at the state Capital. Unfortunately, the much-hyped event, which national Tea Party groups had poured money and organizing energy into generating, drew an anemic crowd of several thousand. Even by the optimistic estimates of the Tea Partisans themselves, the pro-Walker turnout was one-tenth the size of the crowd that came to oppose the governor’s so-called “budget repair bill.”
The governor made things worse for himself by going on CNN and announcing that he had received 19,000 emails from the “quiet majority” of Wisconsinites since he made his proposal and claimed that most of them were supportive.
Dumb move. Really dumb move.
Within hours of making his claim, the streets of Madison were filled by what veteran political organizers described as the largest demonstration ever seen in the city. Former Mayor Paul Soglin, a key organizer of anti-Vietnam War protests, said, “We had some big demonstrations in the sixties, but this is bigger.”
Organizers of a 2004 rally featuring Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and rocker Bruce Springsteen, where the crowd was estimated at 80,000, pointed out that Saturday’s protest against Walker’s budget filled a significantly larger space. And, they noted, thousands of addition opponents of the governor’s proposal packed the Capitol.
Mahlon Mitchell, the president of the Wisconsin Professional Firefighters Association, which has been a high-profile participant in the demonstrations, surveyed the crowd while recounting Walker’s boast about the 19,000 emails.
“I think I have 19,000 people behind me,” said Mitchell.
Pointing to one edge of the massive audience arrayed before him, he said: “And 20,000 there.”
He pointed to the other edge of the crowd: “And 20,000 there.”
Finally, he pointed down State Street, the thoroughfare that stretches from the Capitol to the University of Wisconsin campus, which was packed with students who have backed the unions: “And 20,000 there.”
Rallying with Mitchell was Wisconsin Education Association Council president Mary Bell, who picked up on the “this-is-what-democracy-looks-like” theme that has become so central to the marches, rallies and pickets that have swept not just Madison but a state where even small towns have seen protests against Walker’s bill.
“The power of government in this state does not come from this Capitol,” she said of the building that was surrounded by teachers, educational assistants, nurses, snow-plow drivers and state engineers, as well as their tens of thousands of backers. “The power comes from the people.”
And while Scott Walker may claim a “quiet majority” of 19,000 emails received by his office, a noisy majority of more than 80,000 Wisconsinites braved a winter day to tell the governor that the people have spoken: They’re with the unions.
121 Comments so far
Show All"In order to form a more perfect Union."
Solidarnosc comes to the Heartland.
I transferred to UW-Madison in January, 1969 as a freshman so I cannot speak to rallies that had occurred before this date. However, from 1969 until 1971's draft lottery ended much campus ferment, I was tear-gassed on at least half a dozen different protest marches or rallies. I know what i eye witnessed and the largest event I can recall being a part of during that era in Madison probably had something on the order of 20,000 anti-war protestors in attendance.
So yesterday's event is even more remarkable in my mind than perhaps it was to Paul Soglin.
I do not believe that Madison has ever before seen a political crowd as large what occurred yesterday.
What a turnaround from three and four years ago when the only street action of note in Madison was that of naive young fools battling the police over the right to all hours public intoxication.
I guess I have to thank a fascist ogre like Gov. Scotty 'the Slithering Snake' Wanker for finally waking the People up to the dire situation they face at the hands of an out-of-control nazi wannabee.
As an emblem for our times, this is most disturbing: Democrats literally fleeing to save their political butts. Rachel Maddow points out that we may be looking at the demise of the Democratic Party, whose main institutional donors are the puiblic unions. It was definitely not supposed to be going down this way.
In retrospect, everything Obama has done in his Presidency has sent out the clear and loud message to the Right: "You are stronger than us. We will not oppose you. We will service you." No wonder they've risen from the ashes and are launching huge, multipronged attacks on the left.
As one who predicted much of this and who tried to warn his fellow progressives that Barack Obama would be the death of the Democratic Party (and was, like all early critics of Obama, rebuffed with nearly insane savagery), I am taking some comfort in Schadenfreude. But I would rather have been wrong.
As in any time in history, if the people so will it….they will have the final Schadenfreude… moment.
"Right now you are down and out
And feelin' really crappy.
You and me!
Schadenfreude
Making the world a better place
Making the world a better place
Making the world a better place to be!"
It sucks to be you!
Yeah, I remember the hoots and hollers against the ones who saw through the Obama show.
Now, those same people are whining.
But, those people have not learned. The next eloquent shill who comes along will receive their fawning devotion.
"Rebuffed with nearly insane savagery". That puts it quite well Perry. Yes, I too wish I had been proven wrong. Just like I would much rather believe the Governments 911 conspiracy theory and find it painful and take no comfort in knowing 911 was an inside job and that our Government was complicit in murdering thousands of our innocent, fellow American citizens before and after 911. The lie that the air was safe to breathe is still killing many first responders. Unfortunately, that truth is like the Obama con and is also rebuffed with insane savagery. The MSM and even CD do not want to go there.
The truth be told when the late Senator Kennedy shocked the Democrats by backing the now President Hillary was the front runner. I already knew and foretold that a disaster was in the making. Hilliary was thrown to the wolves and we now are seeing the ugly results.
BIGOTRY. That's what this whole thing is about and quite sad. However, what the workers of Wisconsin are doing I support completely.
What is more dangerous is that we may be heading for another CIVIL WAR in this country and this one will make the 1800's version very tame.
I truly hope I am wrong.
So I will lend my support to the Wisconsin Workers efforts to stop the obvious anti-union Governor in his tracks. The GOP must be defeated or our nation as we see it today will really turn ugly.
Support the DEMS/Progressives now and right through to 2012.
Tyranny will and can be stopped. We did not become the United States for nothing.
Civil war? Where? When? - Where can I sign up?
Don't be so quick to wish for something so ugly, friend. Take a peak at what the last Civil War did to this country.
"As one who predicted much of this and who tried to warn his fellow progressives that Barack Obama would be the death of the Democratic Party"
But, aren't you the one who continually thinks that Hilary Clinton is the answer?
I agree with most of your post, but I'm not sure where you are coming from on the unions. With union membership in this country down to around 7%, the Democratic Party has not been a friend to Unions. Union busting, has occurred because of actions taken by both parties, so I don't think Union positions as a whole, have been represented in anything close to a fashion of being "main institutional donars" to the Democratic Party, let alone just public unions.
My hats off to the Democrats in Wisconsin. My take on it, isn't that they are fleeing to save their political butts, since it is obvious, that there act of preventing a quorum – the only direct act they could have taken to prevent such – allowed and was the catalyst for the massive demonstrations in the first place. If only, the so-called "progressive caucus" in the House, or Senate, would have staged any kind of revolt, to prevent a quorum on a host of bills that this Republican Democratic Consummate Con Man has signed, we would have all been cheering them for finally standing up – even if it were in the form of "fleeing".
I wholly agree with the rest of your post, as to Obama, except perhaps, I don't feel he is has made a determination out of his own perceived weakness as a Democrat. Rather, I think he is operating from his own sense of himself, the Consummate Con Man that he is, playing an exhilarating political game. He is quite happy and energized in his new more comfortable element, having a Republican majority in the House. I've been referring to him as our very first openly Republican Democratic (in party name only) president.
Anyway, just wanted to share that perspective in GOOD WILL. I'm tired of fighting on these forums, so I'm trying to be very clear in my intent.
My arguments aren't that impressive anyway, it's just my two cents, one of which might have been run over by an errant train of thought.
That is a thoughtful and humble post, hue sir name. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, your "two cents."
You speak for me, and probably for many of us.
One writer here used to end his posts, "But I could be wrong!" and I always chuckled when I saw that.
"Different opinions are always worthwhile," likeitornot. I have to agree.
Bill in Dubuque
The very first thing we the sheeple MUST get into our collective heads is this:
THERE NO LONGER IS A TWO PARTY SYSTEM. There is ONE party......part called Democrates part called Republican. Two parties, one agenda. What we're seeing now is the culmination of allowing both parties to "break it off" in the proletariats' rears. Sadly, the bulk of us cannot even grasp the fact that our "leaders" are bought and paid for by AIPAC and every other lobby there is. How many of you are even aware that the Supreme Court granted citizen's rights to corporations? And, as a "turn of the knife" recently lifted all limits to the amount of money they can give to get their favorite "candidate" elected? What has been done about the stinking electronic ballot machines they've used to steal virtually every election of the past 15 years? Do any of you know what Fascism is? Well, wake up folks, you are living in a fascist nation....of....by and for the corporations! Most of which are multi nationals.
You are absolutely right about there being only one party. How many Democratic leaders do you see coming out in support of those demonstrating in Madison? Answer: zero. You are also absolutely correct about elections being stolen. Electronic black box voting conveniently leaves no audit trail. The winning margin goes to the highest bidder, and no one questions the results. People take for granted that every person's vote is counted, but they are seriously mistaken.
But it was a good thing when the GOP refused to govern for 2 years? Hmmm. I think, in this case, the Dems were spot-on in their move. They have made their stand for the people, and the people will remember this. In time, the party of "no" will be blown away from the country by their own arrogance. It was a minuscule election in 2010, and the 'win' of Walker was of the most minuscule margins. This was hardly representative of "the people". Don't go pounding your chest in grandiosity just yet.
The death of the Democratic party and the revival of the organized Labor movement - that is a good trade off if you ask me.
Hey, People - Here's an excellent website with a slide show of union women in early 20th century and with 2 singing versions of Woody Guthrie's "Union Maid."
http://newyorklaborhistory.blogspot.com/2008/05/there-once-was-union-maid.html
I last sang this song at a huge union rally around the Jay, Maine paper mill strike against International Paper in the late 1980's.
The people in Wisconsin are inspiring.............On Wisconsin!
Thank you so much! I am singing my heart out right now!
Oh Yes Woody a man who lived what he believed. My cousin sang with him when during the organizing of the UFW in California in the 50's, early 60s. My Cousin Mary Ann was involved with him for a time as well as singing with him.
While I applaud the Wisconsin public sector workers for hanging tough in their fight against the union busting that their Governor and Republican led legislature are engaged in, I'm not so happy with their union leadership who seem all to willing to bargain away some of their hard won gains.
From another article here on CD,
"Wisconsin Education Association Council President Mary Bell and Wisconsin State Employees Union Executive Director Marty Beil have both said the state's unions are willing to consider the governor's changes to their pension and benefits plans. But the unions remain dead set against his bid to end most collective bargaining rights."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/02/19-4
The union leadership seems to be happy with the same type of across the board cuts that so many politicians and members of the general public embrace when they propose cuts to government. This type of "shared pain" completly ignores the fact that not all government agencies can absorb cuts of the same magnitude and the same is true of workers.
Cutting the pay - and making workers pay an increased percentage of their retirement and health care costs is cutting pay - of someone who makes $10 or $12 per hour has a greater effect on the standard of living than someone who makes $20 or $25 per hour. And it seems that the many public agency executives (management) who in many cases earn several multiples of what their employees make and have other perks such as government provided cars, housing allowances, and even often have access to such things as taxpayer paid "working lunches" won't be part of this "shared pain".
The union leadership has also allowed Governer Wagner and those who support him to define the debate. They have publicly stated that they are willing to enter into discussions with the Governor over their members cost sharing of "benefits" - a term that implies something that isn't earned. This is why the general public is so easily convinced that public workers have it too good.
They have also refused to drive the debate about the costs of "management" and the salaries and benefits - including the perks - and how they should be leading by example.
I know the unions are fighting what can only be described as a "rear gaurd action" to avoid catastophic reductions in collective bargaining rights but they seem to be failing miserably in getting out in front of the debate and challenging the public perception of unions being the problem instead of failed management. Instead of calling for mass unionization drives and equitable wages and benefits for Wisconsin's private sector workers while they have the spotlight on them it seems that the union leadership is more concered about retaining their places in the union than in truly fighting back against the cuts to supposedly over paid union workers.
And to Perry logan,
The reason Wisconsin's State Senators have left the state is that were they to stay the Republican majority would simply pass this piece of garbage without them. It's what happens when you elect a bunch of right wing conservative tea party types to run government. Its not that I'm defending the Democrats but why on earth would you want to elect this bunch of loony people unless you truly don't care about anything except the guns, gays, creationism, and abortion. There are alternatives to BOTH the Democrats and Republicans.
But then, here in my own state the Green Party candidate for Governor, Laura Wells, was excluded from the debate between Brown and Whitman and was even arrested for just trying to attend the last debate as a audience member.
Just as State and Governement Officals need to see the people out in mass.....Union leaders also need to hear and see from their rank and file. Numbers count, and if you do not represent your constituents, and you are not doing the biding of the people, then you lose your job.
"why on earth would you want to elect this bunch of loony people unless you truly don't care about anything except the guns, gays, creationism, and abortion"
Good question. It reminds me of the comment the late Ann Richards made when she was governor of Texas. When the ACLU complained about the presence of a creche at the state capitol, she said that that was probably the closest three wise men would ever get to the legislature. So, why not let it be?
I wonder how many of those protesting actually voted.
I can answer a portion of this question. Implied in this question as well is "how many of the teachers at my schools voted for Scott Walker?" About 1/3, the same sort that pushed their union to drop an organizing drive for the support staff when only the classroom aides unanimously voted for representation. They thought it would raise their property taxes if we got health benefits they have. Still as a related commenter stated, it won't do any good to me to demand that someone else legs should be chopped off just because mine are. So Forward, Wisconsin, workers' rights all the way!
Good KK, the Dimo apparatus has effectively kept the Greens off this staes ballot also.
Tax the bloated 2% 80%, no loopholes.
Thank you, Krazy Katz. I too don’t understand why the union leadership is willing to accept cuts in pay and benefits. First the governor of Wisconsin gives away the money to his corporate buddies who financed his campaign, then he says that there isn’t enough money to pay the public employees, but the only issue seems to be the “bargaining rights?”
Here is an article on the World Socialist Website that pretty much says the same thing you are saying:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/feb2011/pers-f19.shtml
It’s well worth reading. A couple excerpts:
“The working class cannot allow this struggle to be channeled behind the perspective advanced by the state AFL-CIO and the teachers union WEAC, of putting pressure on Democratic and Republican state legislators to delay or block the legislation. Workers should oppose and denounce the position taken by the union leaders, that cuts in pay and benefits are acceptable provided that the unions themselves are involved in negotiating them.
There is a vast social gulf between the instinctive and heartfelt opposition to the cuts on the part of rank-and-file workers, and the posturing and demagogy by the union officials, who support the cuts so long as their own role and income from dues checkoff, and the salaries and the perks of the privileged bureaucracy, are maintained.
Thus Marty Beil, head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, said yesterday: “We are prepared to implement the financial concessions proposed to help bring our state's budget into balance, but … we will not—I repeat we will not—be denied our rights to collectively bargain.” This only begs the question, however: what is there to bargain over if one starts by agreeing to all the concessions?”
“the Democratic Party is conducting identical attacks on workers at the local, state and federal level. The brutal attacks on Wisconsin workers are not unique to their state, but are taking place in every region of the country. Democratic governors in New York, North Carolina, Illinois and California are demanding similar cuts in wages and pensions, slashing jobs and attacking democratic rights such as the right to strike.
As for Obama, he has already demonstrated his class solidarity with Governor Walker by imposing a two-year freeze on federal workers and targeting public school teachers for attacks on seniority and job security. The Obama administration is now proposing a budget that demands working people pay, through cuts in domestic social spending, for the deficits produced by the bailout of Wall Street, tax cuts for the wealthy, and imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Bea,
Thanks for the link. Very informative and says pretty much the same things I've been thinking but in a much clearer way. This bit about the union leadership willing to cave at the start is a large part of why so very many people in this country have turned anti-union.
I think a lot of people on the left forget that a large part of the problem isn't the concept of unions that has driven so many workers to denounce them, but the actions of the union leadership. They see unions as have selling them out and being no better than either the company management or the politicians and see all three groups in their smiling photo-ops playing nice.
I've actually witnessed unionized shops where the workers have become so fed up with their union that they voted to un-unionize and take their chances. Kinda like cutting your own nose off because you saw a pimple. Instead of getting active in THEIR union and throwing out the corrupt union leadership they throw out their collective bargaining rights themselves.
As always it seems that money (and the power that comes with it) is the true corrupting thing. Many of these people who run the large unions are so overpaid and insulated from the workers they are supposed to represent that they have come to see themselves as part of the same class as the corporate class whom they are supposed to oppose.
It would never fly in this country but one of the things that should be taught in every high school in the nation is a course on the true history of labor in this country - all of it - the struggles, the repressions, the bloody fights. I don't know many young adults who have any concept of the horrid working conditions that people face when business is left to have their way. All they see are the bright, clean supermarkets or the neat, "friendly" big box retail stores.
Even those who have read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" or similar accounts only see this as something that was in our distant history, like the revolutionary or civil war and that "we fixed all that stuff" long ago.
Gov Walkers actions have reached out and affected every sector of the economy in Wisconsin. All the right wingers can cry about is the teachers aren't there to babysit thier kids. Sounds like maybe you underestimated the importance of public education? I also can't believe the crap advertising trying to make the public worker look like they are making way too much money. Why do you anti-labor types want to pull down union labor? Wouldn't a more productive fight be to try and get that kind of deal for your own self and familes? Just asking....
Exactly Define Freedom. I work alongside teachers in our school where I have been denied union representation, even though a majority of persons holding my job title want it. We have been thwarted in organizing by the state DILHR (under Jim Doyle's admin) which regulates organizing in our state; they clump us classroom support aides with bus drivers and lunch ladies. We need an Associate's degree or higher certification, so how do they come up with that? In the meantime the teachers have been perfectly content to NOT support our fight for representation, from their union yet, to obtain comparable benefits,because they were afraid to rock their comfy boat. So it isn't like I don't have a beef with the teachers and their union.
But, I know supporting organized labor is the right thing to do now and SO DO OUR STUDENTS! That is what has been so amazing, the students over the last 5 years have made a real turnaround, as they have seen the suffering building in their families and neighborhoods all around them. We no longer have to explain why there was sawdust in the streets during the French Revolution. Most them work already and know their future is at stake both educationally and economically.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12517110
A lession to conservatives...is god trying to tell you something? Learn to bend with the winds of change ...or be ground up for mulch.
Walker will have to resign, but look who is coming up behind him, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch who appears to have attended the Sarah Palin school of politics.
We need a revolt in this country, maybe even dissolve the Union and divide the country into several republics. Otherwise, we will continue to become a 3rd world country
I hope you were being factious. Right!
We should all divide some more. How in the hell did we ever manage to come down out of the trees and take care of the community…..Well those individuals that took off on their own didn’t survive.
Any individual that is so arrogant to think they can make it on their own….they and their prodigy will not survive in this present climate.
Personally, if I know someone who is like that, and they are unwilling to change and take responsibly of and sharing what is best for all of us…..then I will dump them. They are dangerous not only to themselves but also to my survival . They are an impediment to human advancement. I will always defend the helpless and infirm. That is my duty as part of my living on this earth.
However, for those who deliberately set themselves up as an obstacle in the path of others trying to stay alive for their own greed or stupidly, ultimately, the world will have no mercy for them either.
I venture to interpret the above poster as possibly not being facetious yet standing by their statement in the following way: It might be best to have a loose confederation of autonomous regional governments so local issues can be addressed locally within those regions. I don't know if it would be good or bad to have larger regions like Canada; I could see that adding another layer of non-responsive government that individuals would have to navigate to obtain inalienable rights. But it might work in a direct democracy, doing away with our current representational form of the republic. Haven't thought it through but we don't need to reject a re-division out of hand. I do agree with you about divisive, non-adaptive, "rugged individualists" that somehow find their way to the crowd; sometimes drowning victims have to be knocked out to be rescued or they'll take down the lifeguards.
I agree. I live in California and we would be better off if we didn't have to send the huge amount of money we do to Washington every year for the war machine. Texas ripped us off for $50 billion in the Enron crimes that elevated our electric and fuel bills and sent that money to Texas corporations. It is common public knowledge that that rip off occurred, yet nothing has been done to get our money back. And both major parties use the deficits that are certainly related to that big rip off as an excuse for take backs from the working class.
Only Laura Wells of the Green Party had good ideas to get California back on a solid economic footing and none of them were attacks on the working class.
Thank you for your post. I often think about the manufactured power outages and rolling blackouts and what that cost Californians. I'm sure it was a test run to see what the pirates could get away with; hence when BOA and others are fined $500,000 million for fraudulently foreclosing not one dollar of it goes to making the dispossessed whole. G~d bless those families, you are not forgotten.
Heavyrunner,
As a lifelong Californian who was living in San Diego at the time Pete Wilson signed the energy deregulation bill it was almost hard for me to get all worked up about the rest of the state crying foul with Enron and the energy fiasco that drove rates through the roof. Why do I say that? Because if you go back and look at the history of the damn thing, you'll see that San Diego County was the deregulation "guinea pig".
We were the first to have this "deregulation" shoved down our throats and our electricity rates skyrocketed well before the rest of the state's did and we had local talk radio shows who were detailing the plant shut downs (running turbines idle at peak hours) for supposed "maintenance". Many small businesses were driven to shut their doors before deregulation even hit the rest of the state and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) sent a delegation to Sacramento to meet with the Governor and State Legislative leaders.
Guess what happened? NOTHING, NADA, ZIP. The state leaders wouldn't even MEET with them.
So, bottom line is that the rest of the state had at least three or four months warning on what was to come in the form of Enron because WE warned them - us fellow Californian's.
Something else that people may not remember is that the Bush administration refused to step in when California was showing clear and irrefutable evidence of what the power companies were doing to intentionally drive prices up.
While I've always assumed that politicians had more loyalty to party than people, this is the point that I knew it for sure. If anything should have made the California delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives come together as ONE BLOCK representing not Republicans or Democrats but CALIFORNIANS, we would have had the Enron scam stopped in its tracks and people would be in prison.
And as far as "Grandma Millie wants her f...... money back for the all power jammed up her a... for f...... 250 dollars a megawatt hour." Well she'd have gotten it and more.
Anyways, sorry to rant, but sometimes it gets old getting screwed and when you're screaming your head off being ignored by your fellow neighbors (in this case those insulated in Northern California away from the great rip-off test)
http://unionsong.com/u103.html
Who was the principle financiers of Wisconsin's Republican Governor, now embroiled in a controversial attempt to destroy public sector unions?
None other than reviled tea party financiers Charles and David Koch, is who.
I'll do my part by boycotting Georgia Pacific and other Koch Brothers' products.
Perry, you are clueless about the whole thing...and too much blah blah here.
Did anyone read the article about Walker's $ cut for the union people was 130,000,000 while at the same time he gave WalWart a 140,000,000 tax cut?
Now how does that sit with you? I don't think anyone wants to see teachers and service people get less than they earn, which isn't enough now.
It's kinda like your boss coming to you and informing you that your pay has been cut in half because he wants to give his illegitamate son a job and pay him double what you were making. I'm sure the analogy is mathematically incorrect but hey...I'm trying to make a point...
I'd like to see all the band kids out there playing 'On Wisconsin'...geez I want to go there so bad. Hope the snow storm doesn't scare away too many. For sure it will make the tea bags scatter. dumb people...they don't even have a clue as to what it is that is being protested.
Pretty sure it won't. We've decided we're going Tues, even if we have to drive 10 miles an hour to get there. Some former students that work or attend school there tell me the storm will probably lead to more people out there, not less. Even if the Dictator declares a state of emergency. The National Guard might come into this sooner that anticipated if that is the case. We're still going, no matter what. It's time.
The governor of Wisconsin is simply taking the agenda of the current president of the United States (and every administration since Reagan) and the Congress of the United States to its logical next step.
As bad as Teabags can be, to defeat the oligarchy we need Unity.
19 Teabags voted with Kucinich against Patriot extensions.
The Teabags uphold the Constitution, your Constitution being shredded by Oilybomber et. al.
Find areas of agreement, educate the ignorance.
Divisiveness of Citizenry is a Corporate tool.
We need to overcome the Fascist Corporate Oligarchy not fellow citizens.
All Power to the People and Anonymous
I agree Glenn. If you are in a position of political power and wealth you love division. What is needed, in my view, in America is to forget the left right; liberal conservative; Republican Democrat; paradigm. The one thing that the plutocracy and corportocracy fear is that all Americans would unite and do away with political parties. Yes, many of the Tea Baggers I have spoken to are politically ignorant as hell, but they are not the problem and they are a red herring and a persiflage that distracts Americans from the real problem.
Sorry, Glenn, i usually agree with you. Teabaggers no doubt, wanted to vote against the dem president. And show they are 'mavericks'. That is about it.
And the Germans needed better roads and a more productive economy and they did have that in common as well.............I am getting the "change you can believe in" vibe lately. That is what i feel. And i never bought that one for a minute.
I don't feel any substance, that is the bottom line. In fact, where is Bono???? He should be organizing a concert or writing a song about now. Wisconsin went repub and the dems want them back . That is what is happening here. Like i said. I was in DC for the october pro dem union fest disguised as..........i don't even remember, to be honest. The original obama fans didn't learn anything. Maybe not to vote for this guy again. But change the face and they will be just as easily fooled.
peace, rita
I agree that the fight is not one of left vs. right. It is a class war being waged, so far, mainly by those posessing extreme wealth (and their duped followers).
But educating the ignorant can be a tough job (ask the teachers of Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio, for example).
It is a tough task made tougher by a Tea Party mentality that basically says, as one T-shirt I saw at a Tea Party get-together in South Bend, Indiana : "Dum as Mud
and proud of it". Pretty tough to educate folks with that attitude.
Dum. (sic)
Class struggle is what Left versus right has always been about.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/480085
If any of you plan on vacationing to Wisconsin, or if any of you want to flex a little political muscle, call up the hotels and resorts and restaurants you would visit and tell them you're canceling if the Governor's bill passes. Or send a letter to the Kalahari Resort and Water Park in Wisconsin Dells, telling how you really won't spend money in a union-busting state. Many Wisconsinites survive on your tourist dollars. If they know that tourists dollars will not be trickling in, they might take the opportunity to figure out what's really going. Suggest that they turn off Fox News (and CNN and the rest of corporate media).
I'm ready to be bashed here. I am not feeling a sense of connection with the strikers in Wisconsin. I just don't. I heard one teacher spokesperson giving a speech and she served in the military so she could get to teach when she got out. If they were out there to stop the wars, it would be different.
Sorry, i just don't feel anything about this one. It reminds me of the lame event i went to in DC last october which was basically pro democrat. Many teachers' unions filled the mall. Peolosi announced to the Wisconsin teachers that she is on their side. Sorry John N., this is what the 2012 obama campaign looks like!
Prediction. Obama will stand with the unions on this. They are a dem vote getter. They were just waiting to see how far they could go. In fact, i won't be surprised if the governor decides to change his mind. Then, yay, we did it! We won back what we just had until like a few weeks ago!!!