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Tempers Explode as Wisconsin Assembly Passes Bill Taking Away Union Rights
SHAME! COWARDS! State Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee, and other Assembly Democrats approach the front of the chamber in outrage as their Republican counterparts cut off debate and voted on the union busting bill at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., early Friday morning, Feb. 25, 2011. (Wisconsin State Journal, M.P. King) MADISON, Wisconsin -- Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly took the first significant action on their plan to strip collective bargaining rights from most public workers, abruptly passing the measure early Friday morning before sleep-deprived Democrats realized what was happening.
The vote ended three straight days of punishing debate in the Assembly that made it the longest continuous session in Assembly history.
But the political standoff over the bill — and the monumental protests at the state Capitol against it — appear far from over.
The Assembly's vote sent the bill on to the Senate, but minority Democrats in that house have fled to Illinois to prevent a vote. No one knows when they will return from hiding. Republicans who control the chamber sent state troopers out looking for them at their homes on Thursday, but they turned up nothing.
"I applaud the Democrats in the Assembly for earnestly debating this bill and urge their counterparts in the state Senate to return to work and do the same," Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, said in a statement issued moments after the vote.
The plan from Republican Gov. Scott Walker contains a number of provisions he says are designed to fill the state's $137 million deficit and lay the groundwork for fixing a projected $3.6 billion shortfall in the upcoming 2011-13 budget.
The flashpoint is language that would require public workers to contribute more to their pensions and health insurance and strip them of their right to collectively bargain benefits and work conditions.
Democrats and unions see the measure as an attack on workers' rights and an attempt to cripple union support for Democrats. Union leaders say they would make pension and health care concessions if they can keep their bargaining rights, but Walker has refused to compromise.
Tens of thousands of people have jammed the Capitol since last week to protest, pounding on drums and chanting so loudly that police providing security have resorted to ear plugs. Hundreds have taken to sleeping in the building overnight, dragging in air mattresses and blankets.
With the Senate immobilized, Assembly Republicans decided to act and convened the chamber Tuesday morning.
Democrats launched a filibuster, throwing out dozens of amendments and delivering rambling speeches. Each time Republicans tried to speed up the proceedings, Democrats rose from their seats and wailed that the GOP was stifling them.
Debate had gone on for 60 hours and 15 Democrats were still waiting to speak when the vote started around 1 a.m. Friday. Speaker Pro Tem Bill Kramer, R-Waukesha, opened the roll and closed it within seconds.
Democrats looked around, bewildered. Only 13 of the 38 Democratic members managed to vote in time.
Republicans immediately marched out of the chamber in single file. The Democrats rushed at them, pumping their fists and shouting "Shame!" and "Cowards!"
The Republicans walked past them without responding.
Democrats left the chamber stunned. The protesters greeted them with a thundering chant of "Thank you!" Some Democrats teared up. Others hugged.
"What a terrible, terrible day for Wisconsin," said Rep. Jon Richards, D-Milwaukee. "I am incensed. I am shocked."
GOP leaders in the Assembly refused to speak with reporters, but earlier Friday morning Majority Leader Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, warned Democrats that they had been given 59 hours to be heard and Republicans were ready to vote.
The governor has said that if the bill does not pass by Friday, the state will miss a deadline to refinance $165 million of debt and will be forced to start issuing layoff notices next week. However, the deadline may not as strict as he says.
The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau said earlier this week that the debt refinancing could be pushed back as late as Tuesday to achieve the savings Walker wants. Based on a similar refinancing in 2004, about two weeks are needed after the bill becomes law to complete the deal. That means if the bill is adopted by the middle of next week, the state can still meet a March 16 deadline, the Fiscal Bureau said.
Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach said he and his colleagues wouldn't return until Walker compromised.
Frustrated by the delay, Senate Republican Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Jeff Fitzgerald's brother, ordered state troopers to find the missing Democrats, but they came up empty. Wisconsin law doesn't allow police to arrest the lawmakers, but Fitzgerald said he hoped the show of authority would have pressured them to return.
Erpenbach, who was in the Chicago area, said all 14 senators remained outside of Wisconsin.
"It's not so much the Democrats holding things up," Erpenbach said. "It's really a matter of Gov. Walker holding things up."
235 Comments so far
Show AllWill anyone else on this website express disapproval of the efforts of the Democrat Senators to derail the voters' choice to have the Republicans lead the Wisconsin government? Is that the action of a government committed to free elections and respect for the expressed will of the voters? How is that different from a third-world dictator who, having been defeated in an election, refuses to turn over the reins of government to the victors?
Not me. Suppose the Congress of the United States in 1964--by some fluke containing majorities of racist politicians--passed legislation that effectively barred blacks from voting in Federal elections. Would it not be appropriate for the minority to walk out so as to deprive the majority the opportunity to take away rights from a body of citizens? That is the issue in Wisconsin: depriving workers of the right to join together to bargain working conditions. Sorry you can't see the difference between Libya and Wisconsin.
Such a statute barring African Americans from voting would have been unconstitutional and the appropriate remedy would have been an immediate federal court injunction barring its enforcement, not a effort to block the government from functioning altogether.
Even in optimal circumstances though (which realistically, they wouldn't have had) such a case would take years to work through the court system. In the meantime, people that were being unfairly discriminated against would have had their rights further abridged.
In comparison, by acting immediately, they would have preserved the rights of Americans instead.
Are you familiar with the concept of a temporary restraining order?
Yes, I am. That is also, again, dependent on finding a judge that would grant it-and if they couldn't find one then the law goes into effect.
I think, quite frankly, that the underlying problem here is that you really can't conceive of a situation in the American system of governance in which injustice emerges from the rules-and those who manipulate them-to the point where the only meaningful recourse is to defy the system to one degree or another.
Yes Iconoclast. And that is a constitutional right.
That's the problem with the rule of law. Going back to Hammurabi, the rule of law is designed to impose limits on the power of government to do what it wants. It sets standards, limits, processes, protections. Those who break the law and defy the government will of course face consequences.
Tell that to Obama, Hillary and the CIA murderer Davis. Go wet your pants about the rule of law if you want. There is NO RULE OF LAW in the USA thanks to people like you who play word games justifying any abuse of power commited by the elite. People have had it with this pseudo-intellectual bullshit the lawyers come up with to justify tyranny.
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/478
The problem with the rule of law, Horace, is when it is applied differently to some or others.
We sure could use Hammarabi around these parts today. I would love to see a bonfire party buring all the silly tomes we keep so that corruption can rule, and then replace them with a simple, clear code that applies to one and all.
No doubt you object to Washington, Adams et al when they broke the law and defied government.
Actually I thought the Constitution makes it a duty of people to replace their government when it no longer represents them, but I could be wrong.
donnalou,
Well said. Horace is a cherry picking liar.
Wasn't there something in the constitution about the right of free assotioan? The right to grevience and redress. Even the Wisconson Militia is legal. Certinally ledgislation against groups, not advocating the destruction of the government is wrong, Who's next the girl scouts?
>^^<
Here's some rule of law, Horace. The Constitution makes it a right of the people to assemble together and that includes unions. It also makes it a right to redress the government with our grievances, and that includes collective bargining. What the Wisconson legislature has done is unconstitutional. The dems and the unions have a case.
Hmm. Subverting rules of law. You mean like the Republicans did in Wisconsin at 1AM in the morning, dismissing Wisconsin Assembly procedural rules and subverting democracy? Yeah, I agree they should face consequences ...... and they will.
Off to gitmo, with the lot!
>^^<
Horace, I apologize for some of the unnecessary sharp retorts below, but the facts remain as they are.
1. This is not so much an attack on the working class as it is an attack on the Democratic Party. Though workers in Wisconsin will certainly have their rights abridged, and legal contracts voided by this heinous effort on the part of Republicans it is unions that are under attack here. Unions are the primary contributors to the Democrats as you may very well understand, thus ,yet again, the GOP plays dirty pool with our governance.
2. As to the departure of the Wisconsin legislators to prevent a vote, is it much different from the national stage wherein minority republicans exercise filibuster rules to block legislation that they wish blocked? You argue semantics when fundamental issues are at stake.
No, there are ways of depriving people of the vote short of banning them from voting. Literacy tests, for example. Personal I.D.s that are hard to obtain. Registration in places hard to reach. I do not believe an injunction in the Wisconsin case could be obtained--that avenue is blocked. Wisconsin legislators are responding in the only way the can--by demonstrating that certain actions of government are so egregiously wrong that they do irreparable harm to the fabric of society. Suppose the EPA was prevented from monitoring toxic emissions from companies (as you conservatives are advocating) and suppose those toxic emissions were damaging public health. Under those conditions it would be appropriate for legislators to walk out, too.
Another way of depriving people of voting is fraud such as use of machines that can be manipulated and leave no paper trails.
As if hand counting votes in a county is such rocket science and so impossible to do within a few short hours.
Hey! some of my best friends are machines! they have no prejudices.
Humans on the other hand are courruptable petty, and often will sell themselves for a pittance.
>^^<
Governments demonstrate how easily people can be imposed upon----even impose upon themselves for their own advantage.-------H.D. Thoreau.
The most outrageous power grab in any election in my lifetime was the appointment of Bush to the presidency of the US by the supreme court.
Not me! When I see billionaire Koch brothers in Texas helped buy this governorship where I live, I'll fight anyway to prevent that type of corporate take-over. Anything less would be cowardice.
The difference with the dictator is that the dictator has the greatest power. These state senators are fighting against the great power.
My great-grandfather died in the ovens of Germany as a German who opposed the Third Reich. He did the right thing to fight the Nazi monsters. Now we have corporate monsters in the US. I'll fight and die if I have to.
What you say MIGHT be true if a significan percentage of the electorate knew about and supported the POLICIES of the "winning" party. But because we have anything but "free and fair" elections this is what we wind up with -no where did Walker say that his plan was to crush organized labor, and even though he did say that he was a servant of corporate overlords he never indicated the dishonest way his corporate tax cuts (gifts) would be used. Money so dominates electoral democracy and corporate power has such a vested interest in the issues being obscure that many people have no idea what they are voting for in our system. This is also true because of the fact that we have such a weak social and political culture, and this is by design. Hopefully this is starting to change and what we're seeing in our state may be a part of that change. (And the comments about "a third-world dictator" are preposterous.)
"What you say MIGHT be true if a significan percentage of the electorate knew about and supported the POLICIES of the "winning" party. But because we have anything but "free and fair" elections this is what we wind up with -no where did Walker say that his plan was to crush organized labor, and even though he did say that he was a servant of corporate overlords he never indicated the dishonest way his corporate tax cuts (gifts) would be used."-- Leo M.
I am going to go out on a limb here at the risk of angering my friends at CD, but Leo's statement here points to the fact that there must be karma for the people who just voted for a Republican majority. Propaganda or no propaganda. IGNORance is no excuse. Whose ultimate fault is it that we do not have free and fair elections? There is karma for the American people for allowing the moneyed to rule. It looks like they will have to learn the hard way. I'm on your side on the issues Leo, but I hear the same people who elected the Republicans saying they WANT the unions busted. Yes, they are acting as their own worst enemies.
You might say we who are not IGNORant do not deserve the same karma. However, what have been our personal failures up till now? WHY could we not convince our fearful fellow American bullies to REFRAIN from the sin of invading countries and attempting to dominate other people? What can we do bertter to help them understand? I admit I felt powerless in being able to have an OPEN discussion with MY OWN FAMILY AND FRIENDS. Then, I thought I had no choice but to continue to demonstrate with my words and deeds in whatever way I could and that eventually they would learn the truth on their own. When it came to light that the US went to "war" on LIES, that still wasn't enough to convince them to stop clinging to those lies.
What is needed is a POWERFUL lesson in FORGIVENESS and ATONEMENT and there is even confusion over what that means.
There is likewise karma and SHAME for the Republicans and corporatists and classists and their actions. What do YOU HORACE have to say about attempting to outlaw unions? Where do YOU think that leads? Please explain your goal.
For the most part I'm actually with you. I live in a right wing section of the state and there are plenty of people who, whether ignorant or not, support the crushing of unions. But I was speaking of a subgroup of people who have been exploited in their own right, who have been sold out by "liberals" over the years, who see no difference between the parties and respond to the anger, insularity (even racism) and cultural trappings of the right and yet are working people and therefore share the same ultimate interests with other working people whether they recognize it or not.
This is controversial ground, as you get into stuff like free will, choice and autonomy and can easily become "vanguardist" or parental with respect to the interests of others. Nonetheless I do come in contact with many people who "culturally" identify with (and vote for) the right yet when presented with issues are fiercely against everything they demonstrably want to do. This is uncontroversial and in innumerable polls, etc. I don't have a good answer on what to do about this other than continued education and being on the right side of issues, yet I have a problem with the "tough love" of accepting the fact that these people deserve what they get, as I do feel that they are victims of corporate capitalism and the imperial state, and not its lackeys or functionaries.
Thanks for replying Leo,
It looks like I did a poor job of framing words and did not mean to come across as blaming victims. I don't think anyone deserves punishment but rather I see karma as a good thing in that it is a lesson people are free to learn at any time. I see the results of karma as beneficial for all.
The exploited ones can probably on average see more clearly than most as to how they have been sold out.
I don't have an answer either other than what you advocate about continued education. It's about openmindedness. I do realize that people close their minds against their fears and I have compassion.
People from a wide spectrum of ideologies and education voted for Obama because of his claims (lies) that he would support green energy, stop mountaintop coal mining, end wars, protect the people...the important part of this being that the American people demonstrated a deep, deep desire for a democracy that values the quality of life and quality of work of its citizens.
The trauma of seeing that politicians could be as openly manipulative, lying, and destructive as Obama has been has left many of us pretty well thumped. The republicans didn't win because most of America voted for them: the republicans won because there was no one that Americans could trust on the democratic side.
The desire for a decent, community life and a country we can be proud of is out here: the politicians, republican and democratic, are toying with a true sleeping giant.
Well said, Dmadrone.
I think the jubilant crowds and the relieved weeping at inauguration time are proof that most people are on the right side of issues but can't find the way to get their desires enacted by the government.
Obama either lied egregiously during his campaign (in between some of the more disturbing promises he was simultaneously making which contradicted what he apparently stood for) or that once in power he found out he's really not in power.... dunno.
One time he said "make me" do the right thing... was he hinting that only if people rise up will the powers be counterbalanced?
I think "lied egregiously" is pretty obvious. Nader kept warning about that s.o.b. corporatist Obama long before he was elected.
You ask -
"WHY could we not convince our fearful fellow American bullies to REFRAIN from the sin of invading countries and attempting to dominate other people? What can we do better to help them understand? I admit I felt powerless in being able to have an OPEN discussion with MY OWN FAMILY AND FRIENDS."
Frustrating, yes.
Consider this - the reason for failure is because the alternatives you were offering are not legitimate alternatives.
There is a trap here, and it is easy top fall into. We are indoctrinated to think that elections cause social and political change, and to believe that we actually can choose who will be in power, and to believe that how people vote is determined by their beliefs. We then think that people voting a certain way based on how they believe lead to certain events. Therefore, we think that changing people's beliefs is the goal, and we get into debates with others about beliefs, and we lose those arguments.
But elections are not a cause of political and social change, they are an effect. We cannot choose who is on power. People do not vote based on beliefs. Changing people's beliefs will not change how they vote, and how they vote will not cause events.
People who voted Democratic are equally guilty of supporting the horrific government actions. People who, through their own ignorance, present false alternatives in the form of partisan electoral choices are equally guilty.
But it does not really matter who is guilty, what matters is who will take responsibility and how. The political battle in the country is between the haves and the have-nots, between the ruling class and the working class, between the owners, landlords, investors and bosses and the rest of us - workers, tenants, consumers, and the dependent. Take a clear and ambiguous stand for the working class people and all of the frustrations and failures you have been experiencing will disappear. That does require one to stop seeing Democratic party loyalty as the most important thing. It does require one to stop obsessing power their personal beliefs and trying to persuade others to agree with them. It does require a person to question all of the mythology about "democracy" and the "American dream." But is is a good trade-off. You will gain far more than you lose.
The whole point of the game you are trying to play with people is to trap and frustrate and neuter you. Don't play it. The right wingers don't have any "ideas" or "beliefs." All of the stuff they spout is to upset and neutralize liberals and Dem partisans.
Good comment 2Americas
Every EVERY E V E R Y union person in the US should go on strike tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. in support of Wisconsin.
That'd get Obama's attention...and maybe Walker, but his head is too far up the.........ok, you get the picture.
What's 'Third-World' about all this is the Republicans' attempt to subvert the US Constitution, which says Congress shall make no law regarding the right of the people to peacefully assemble.
To forbid collective bargaining obviously flies in the face of that. Republican legislators forfeited their right to lead by disregarding our Constitution.
"Is that the action of a government committed to free elections and respect for the expressed will of the voters?"
Ha, ha, ha... You berry funny man, Horace. (As Stephen Colbert would say).
Man, if we REALLY had free elections (not manipulated by money and lies), and our elected officials REALLY acted in our best interests, according to our REAL, and INFORMED wills, this would be the utopia of the planet. No wars, no outsourcing of jobs, a living wage, not a minimum wage, a retirement where you didn't have to worry about ending your life in poverty, a health care system that wouldn't force you into bankruptcy if you get really sick, and of course legalized pot...
Ahhh, what a place the USA would be, could be, if our masters REALLY acted in our best interests, oh well back to reality.
Welp, I gotta go and make me something to eat. For some reason, (that I can't get into here), I have a serious case of the munchies... ;-)
"Welp, I gotta go and make me something to eat. For some reason, (that I can't get into here), I have a serious case of the munchies... ;-)"
Shoot that gage my way ace when you're finished with it!!! For some reason, even though I expected it, the beginning of the end in Wisconsin has me a bit down. Of course now we have the senators to hope for, and maybe on the back of the anger their collegues in the House exhibited, they can remain incognito until somehow, someway, this fascist attempt to further subvert employees' right to asseble dies.
There is a worldwide force growing against the richfilth. They can stay in dennial for only so long before the start to panic and bring out the guns here. Once they do that, they are mere days from having their heads posted on fence posts.
There is plenty for everyone on this planet. There is absolutely no excuse for a majority of the world's population to be starving while a .1% group of sociopathic, unbelieveably selfish greedpigs rake in more wealth than they could possibly use in a dozen lifetimes. They must be either stopped or eliminated. SImple as that.
..
This isn't the end aussidawg, it's just beginning. Finally people in America are waking up to the truth that the "Koch Heads, Tea Party, Republican's" are nothing more than liars, murderers, and thieves.
What other recourse did the Democrats have to tyranny of the majority?
Give it up, you planted astroturf blogger.
No. The Dems are not breaking any laws.
Just as the Repugs by one or two Senators stopped alot of Dem legislature in the DC Capital, perfectly legal.
Horace how do you stand on prosecuting all the USA war crimes responciple for the deaths of approxamately 1 Million Iraqi's as oppossed to a perfectly legal hindrance of draconian legislation in Wisconsin?
"Horace how do you stand on prosecuting all the USA war crimes responciple for the deaths of approxamately 1 Million Iraqi's as oppossed to a perfectly legal hindrance of draconian legislation in Wisconsin?"
Well?
Horace's lead comment is outrageous. Suggesting that we abide by an electoral system plagued by unregulated money, a corporate press, and low turnout is worthy of Bull Connor. (Horace could be a paid troll, but that's another matter.) Ironically, he nails the problem: whatever process takes place is not the final word. If politics is hijacked by a greedy minority, then continued resistance not only should, but must take place.
As in the past, the people of Wisconsin could lead the way again. The brinksmanship of the fascist right has prevailed for 30 years, and the progressive left has always stopped short of open revolt. That needs to change, and the time for that is right now. No matter what technology and brutality the state apparatus will employ, they are a tiny minority and could not possibly stop a determined backlash. Go Badgers! By whatever means necessary!
Horasce asked:
"Will anyone else on this website express disapproval of the efforts of the Democrat Senators to derail the voters' choice to have the Republicans lead the Wisconsin government? Is that the action of a government committed to free elections and respect for the expressed will of the voters? How is that different from a third-world dictator who, having been defeated in an election, refuses to turn over the reins of government to the victors?"
No, Not me either. I won't.
First of all Horace. we do not have free and fair elections in the United States. Neither Plurality Voting nor Instant Runoff Voting can determine whether or not the consent of the self-governed exists for candidates on a ballot, since they to not directly permit voter expression of consent and dissent about each and every candidate on the ballot.
These severe restrictions on every voter's freedom of speech and freedom of political association at the ballot box unconstitutionally favor political elites and the voters who support them over everyone else violating the constitutionally guaranteed right to equal protection under the law, creating an almost absolutely self-filling distortion of elections that favor Republicans or Democrats, which is revealed in part by the language we use when we talk about voting and elections: "wasted vote", "the lesser of two evils' dilemma, "campaign war chest", "the money primary", "the bandwagon effect,." This would of course be true whether Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, or members of some other political party happened to have control of the legislature. Except that Libertarian Party candidates, Green Party candidates and non-wealthy independent candidates do not have the same support from wealthy people and their corporations as well as other political elites who hold positition of institutional power as do Republicans and Democrats and so do not derive the same unfair advantage from Plurality Voting as do Republicans and Democrats.
Added to this is the repeated failure of the Supreme Court to address the equal protection problems cause by money expenditures used to disseminate political speech during election campaigns in any way that is remotely consistent with the Consitution. The problem of money in politics is particularly interesting when issues of freedom of speech and freedom of political association are intertwine in organizations such as political parties, unions, and for profit and non-profit corporations. The existence of voting procedures based upon explicit expressions of consent and dissent provides a legally critical element that enables resolution of this problem is a manner consistent with the Constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of political association, equal protection under the law, consent, and free and fair elections. Instead, the Supreme Court has given us the Citizens United decision and other decisions which undermine democracy and further empower the powerful.
Given the severe defects in the way we hold elections the people in the streets in Madison are a more realible indication of the will of the people than last year's elections.
Aside from that, even if our elections were free and fair, elected representatives are elected to represent their constituents, To do this they need to continue to listen to their constituents after the elections and to deliberate on passing legislation which is in the best interest of their constituents. One of the most effective ways for their constituents to speak particularly given the failure of the Supreme Court to protect free speech is through massive demonstrations like the one we are seeing in Madison, Wisconsin.
Given the great disparity of wealth in the United States, and the fact that large corporations are withholding some $2 trillion from the productive economy, giving a tax break to the wealthy or to large corporations is not in the interests of any but the most wealthy constituents. By passing tax cuts for corporations and the weathy, Republicans are betraying most of their constituents and have created the budget problem in Wisconsin which they are now using to bash working people.
All of us should protest this attack on our teachers and other unionized workers. If government controlled by Republicans and Democrats hasn't already taken us down, then after the teachers and other unionized workers we should expect that we will be next.
You've done a real public service with this post, Puffin Thrush. Thanks.
"Horasce asked:
Will anyone else on this website express disapproval of the efforts of the Democrat Senators to derail the voters' choice to have the Republicans lead the Wisconsin government? Is that the action of a government committed to free elections and respect for the expressed will of the voters? How is that different from a third-world dictator who, having been defeated in an election, refuses to turn over the reins of government to the victors?"
Puffinthrush, I hope I haven't repeated a point made by you later in your response as it was excellent, but I wanted to add to the fire on "Horace":
Horace clains worry that freely elected officials are basically being repressed by "democrats." Well Horace, you open minded plutocrat you, why was the recount of votes cast by voters in Florida stopped by a GOP controlled Supreme Court, which then proceeded to *APPOINT* the next president, the disasterous dolt George W. Bu$h?
Recounts continued anyway, just for grins of course, and they showed that Al Gore had elected by popular vote. Further, in Ohio during the 2004 "election" of the Decider, vote tampering and fraud was discovered, and the difference created by the fraudulent vote count would have put Kerry in office. Bu$h was NEVER elected as the president of this country, yet this unelected bastard subverted our Constitution, the Geneva Conventions, and the rule of law in general.
Of course the "democrat" Obama, in what was called the best marketing campaign in history, replaced the "Decider", not as the progressive he promised (and won the election by majority and electoral vote) but as Bu$h's third term plutocrat.
So Horace, don't give me any of your bullshit concerning the will of the voters. The will of the voters has been ignored for *AT LEAST* thirty years and it has been ignored for the advancement of trash such as yourself.
Fuck off hypocrite.
It's kind of hard for Horace to think with that silver spoon in his mouth.
Pity Obomber can't be impeached for false advertising. I think I know the will of the people, and it sure isn't what we got!
>^^<
The later informal recounts did not show what you say they did.
In case you have not noticed, we no longer HAVE "free elections." We now have what Mussolini coined as one form of fascism.....a wedding of corporations and government. Do you honestly believe that what is going on in our country is the "free will of the voters?" The most recent Supreme Court decision of "Citizens United" essentially gave corporations the right to buy our elections, and with NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY TRANSPARENCY. They can even be global corporations with absolutely no "patriotism" to the USA. ($4 billion was spent on our last "election.") One way they buy elections is to buy campaigns of our so-called representatives. Another is to spend untold MILLIONS to distort reality so that we end up voting against our own interests. (Why else would millions of Americans vote for people and world-views that ONLY benefit the rich?) Do you really think the clearly sociopathic Koch Brothers give one damn about the pollution they create and the inablility of our country to create new alternative energies until the Kochs have exhausted whatever energies THEY are invested in?....And even when we DO create companies investing in solar energies (with our tax breaks), many have since been moved overseas. Why aren't our representatives supporting legislation to keep corporations HERE (Republicans, very cozy in bed with corporations, voted AGAINST legislation to give tax breaks to corporations to STAY HERE, and for legislation that supports moving jobs overseas. WHY DO ANY OF US VOTE FOR PEOPLE WHO TAKE OUR JOBS OVERSEAS...??? IT IS NOT LOGICAL.
Sorry, but I feel whatever civil disobedience it takes to save what little is left of our democracy is nothing but our DUTY as Americans. The Republican Party embraces a world-view of perenniel wars (oh, so profitable)....HORACE, do you even know that our military "empire" budget is more than twice that of the REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED.....this is the "spiritual doom" ML King warned us about. And the Democrats are not far behind.....neither live up to our forefathers ideals. So, it is up to us, people, to stop watching lying, propagandist Fox News, get news from various sites overseas (have more "free press" than we do at this point), and take to the streets. Tea Partiers (who seek more news sources) have a lot in common with people like those wonderful protestors in WISCONSIN. Do not let "politicians" divide and conquer us......THEY are the problem, not you, not me.
"Why aren't our representatives supporting legislation to keep corporations HERE (Republicans, very cozy in bed with corporations, voted AGAINST legislation to give tax breaks to corporations to STAY HERE, and for legislation that supports moving jobs overseas."
Just out of curiosity... Why are we giving ANY corporations tax breaks? Especially with our state and national economies in the condition that they are. I believe we should be imposing heavy tariffs on companies that produce durable goods outside of the US, then import them. Also, we should work to close all tax havens. In short, if you want to sell your goods in the US, make them {the goods} here, or pay the costs associated. Lastly, the idea that corporations desevre the same rights as individual citizens is absolutely APPALING!
Free elections? Kind of like what happened to Gore and the Right Wing Supreme Court's fiasco ruling? Or the voters who were harassed at the polls, not allowed to vote, or deliberately delayed from voting? We're already a Third World, pal. There is no democracy here. This is a corporatocracy. Besides, the will of the people is not reflected in an election that has 40% eligible voter participation. Polls today have Americans on the side of collective bargaining by a 2 to 1 margin.