EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
- 'The Gilded Age' Statistics Corporations Don't Want Workers, or Anyone, to See
- As Death Toll Rises Beyond 500, Garment Factory Disaster 'Worst in World History'
- Wisconsin Bill Would Treat Organic Milk, Sharp Cheddar, Brown Eggs as "Junk Food"
- Report: Toxic Chemicals Found in Thousands of Children's Products
- Climate Change's 'Evil Twin': Ocean Acidification
- Report: Toxic Chemicals Found in Thousands of Children's Products
- Move Over, Koch Brothers: A Bigger, Darker Rightwing Funder Is Out to Destroy Public Education
- 'The Gilded Age' Statistics Corporations Don't Want Workers, or Anyone, to See
- Time for Big Green to Go Fossil Free
- Wisconsin Bill Would Treat Organic Milk, Sharp Cheddar, Brown Eggs as "Junk Food"
Popular content
Today's Top News
This Is NOT What Democracy Looks Like: Silencing Dissent In Wisconsin
First Governor Scott Walker announced that he was attaching to a budget-repair bill a scheme to eliminate most collective bargaining rights for state, county and municipal employees in Wisconsin. In the same measure, he proposed to restructure state government so that he would be able to consolidate decision-making authority over cuts in health programs and selling off public assets in his office.
The people objected, big-time, generating the largest protests in the state’s history. They even filled the Capitol with thousands of police officers, firefighters, state employees, teachers, students and their allies.
Then Governor Walker’s allies forced the bill through the state Assembly, holding an early morning vote open for so short a time – 17 seconds – that the majority of Democrats were unable to participate.
"With having just a 17-second roll call, they silenced their legislators, but far more important the people we represent," said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha.
Barca now says that he is reviewing recordings of the vote, as well as three Assembly rules which address voting.
"The final vote was 51 to 17, with 28 people not voting, including four Republicans, an Independent, and a score of Democrats,” the minority leader explained. “Even their own members didn't get to vote. It's almost as if once they reached the magic 50, they quick turned it off. But the part that I guess is so troubling is that we believe it was an improper vote. We're looking at tapes now. We're looking at whether or not anything is legally or constitutionally problematic. But we're in uncharted waters. This has never happened before.”
Then the Republican leadership of the state Senate announced that, if and when a vote is scheduled in that chamber, debate will be severely limited. That has strengthened the resolve of Democratic senators who left the state in order to prevent a quorum for voting on the bill to stay away.
Then, Governor Walker and his legislative allies engineered a scheme to close the Capitol, which has traditionally been one of the most open and accessible in the nation, to citizens who want to protest against the bill. While a handful of protesters remained inside the building, hundreds of union members, including police and firefighters, and their allies, sought access to the Capitol but were denied.
“I am disappointed in Governor Walker’s decision to block the public’s access to their State Capitol,” said state Rep. Mark Pocan, a Madison Democrat who is the former co-chair of the powerful legislative Joint Finance Committee. “I want to assure my constituents that I will not allow Governor Walker to limit your access to my office. If any constituents have legitimate business with my office and are being locked out of the Capitol, a representative from my office will be available at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd entrance to the Capitol at the top of every half hour to escort constituents into the building.”
At mid-day, Pocan attempted to escort a group of firefighters union members into the Capitol, but was blocked at the door. “You can’t stop the function of state government, just because Gov. Scott Walker says so,” Pocan yelled through a half-open door.
Capitol Police eventually allowed the representative and eight firefighters to enter the building but denied access to others.
Pocan announced that he and other Democrats would attempt to convene a hearing and promised to find a way to let the rest enter the building in time for a hearing that Pocan was attempting to convene.
At the same time, unions announced that they would take legal action to have a judge order the Capitol reopened.
Walker’s attempts to silence dissent comes at a point when he is preparing to deliver a Tuesday budget address that is expected to stir even more opposition – as it is expected to include proposals for dramatic cuts in state support for public education and local services.
On Saturday, more than 100,000 Wisconsinites protested Walker’s attacks on unions and his proposed power grab.
So how’s this all playing?
Wisconsinites don’t like autocrats.
A new poll by a polling firm that works with Democrats, which will be released Tuesday morning, showed that Walker would lose if an election was held now.
Last fall, Walker defeated Democrat Tom Barrett.
Now, according to the Public Policy Polling survey of likely Wisconsin voters, Barrett would win by a 52-45 margin.
“The difference between how folks would vote now and how they voted in November can almost all be attributed to shifts within union households. Voters who are not part of union households have barely shifted at all- they report having voted for Walker by 7 points last fall and they still say they would vote for Walker by a 4 point margin. But in households where there is a union member voters now say they’d go for Barrett by a 31 point margin, up quite a bit from the 14 point advantage they report having given him in November,” explained the polling firm’s analysis.
“It’s actually Republicans, more so than Democrats or independents, whose shifting away from Walker would allow Barrett to win a rematch if there was one today. Only 3% of the Republicans we surveyed said they voted for Barrett last fall but now 10% say they would if they could do it over again. That’s an instance of Republican union voters who might have voted for the GOP based on social issues or something else last fall trending back toward Democrats because they’re putting pocketbook concerns back at the forefront and see their party as at odds with them on those because of what’s happened in the last month.”
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
69 Comments so far
Show AllWalker laughs at the people of Wisconsin. He pulls his tough guy act and the people slink off. So far, as far as I know, nobody's tried to take over his office or break into the Capitol with a battering ram. Walker knows the people are afraid of him and will constantly back down because they fear public disruption and conflict.
We are all such good little obedient citizens, waiting for mommy union boss (read Mary Bell, president of WEAC--Wisconsin state teachers' union) or daddy guv'ner to give us permission before we do anything.
In short, the people will not take the risks they need to take to remove Walker from power. They will march, sing, drink coffee, and pray. Which one of those actions ever paid off? But the lefties will try the same non-effective tactics as long as they survive.
Beekeeper, is there a deafening buzz inside your head that prevents you from thinking clearly? Let's say the police protesting the Walker bill got out their guns and Tasers and bullied their way into the Capitol building - what would that accomplish? How, exactly, would that "pay off?"
Nonviolence is very powerful, especially in a democracy. Walker is the one who is employing strong arm tactics, or trying at least, and I predict it will result in him being overthrown by recall election. Non violent democracy is a much better and more powerful strategy.
You statement about the president of WEAC is disturbingly sexist and you should be embarrassed by it and remove it from Common Dreams.
Disturbingly sexist? Explain how. You missed the point that the citizens have been so conditioned to be quiet obedient children who respond to any authority figures as parent figures. Traditionally, in classic patriarchal society, the father has taken a dominant authoritarian role, while the mother has a stereotypical role of caregiver. People in Wisconsin are responding to these traditional gender roles. I oppose such stereotyped actions (and such stereotyped social roles) and believe that workers should have walked off the job because it was the right thing to do. They instead looked to their "leadership" to get permission. Dare to read a little feminist theory or perhaps some Reich and you might begin to understand!
Your belief in nonviolence has obviously never been tested. I hope you learn something in the coming months if you dare to open your eyes. For the worst off in this culture, your words couldn't be more bereft of meaning.
A Sting?
The Tea Party goons dressed in union T-shirts, and the "troublemakers" Governor Walker considered planting among the protesters, are part of a longstanding Republican tradition that dates at least to the "dirty tricks" Richard Nixon employed in his 1968 campaign. Today, right-wing provocateurs don't just infiltrate the real world, they also infiltrate the cyber world.
Short of resorting to violence, which would only call out the National Guard and force the cops to turn against the protesters they so far have supported, one tactic remains for getting rid of Walker: Recall the asshole. He'll have to be there at least until next January but that gives Wisconsites plenty of time to get the wheels in motion for recall. By then he can do a lot of damage, and will, but charging his office with a battering ram and dragging him kicking and screaming down State St. would only backfire, possibly initiating a police state crackdown all over the country. Focus on the recall option. It can work.
Folks, 45% of Wisconsinites still approve of Walker. What does that say about these protests? I'd like to see any of you in a good bar brawl. You'd be hiding beneath tables, praying you didn't get hurt.
Recall? Yeah, let's just wait for someone else--the courts, the voters, God--to do our work for us.
Walker intends to read his budget information in a Capitol without a protester in sight. He'll probably pull this off and this whole situation cools to a nice simmer. Opportunity missed.
Fine. So you get on over to Madison and try your street or bar brawling tactics. See how far you get. If you can agitate persuasively enough and get about 10,000 dedicated protesters to follow you by storming the barricades and setting off a riot, a la Paris, May/June '68, maybe you're on the right track. But you won't be able to do that. Too many of them are convinced this has to be done non-violently. Meanwhile, you're a tough talking typer on a web site. If you were able to turn this all into street fighting, you'd see that 45% Walker approval rating shoot up to around 85%. Recall elections, or even better, a general strike, are the only ways to get that corporate lackey out of there. "God" doesn't care one way or another, any more than He, She or It cares about who wins the Super Bowl.
Thank you for injecting a bit of sense here, Ephraim.
Recalls and planning for a General Strike (if this bill is not defeated) are already in planning stages.
Right now, the protests have almost unanimous support from downtown businesses, pretty much every local coffeehouse has worked together to provide free coffee to protesters. (As this is a Wisconsin Winter, this is a wonderfully welcome thing to all out in the streets).
Boycotts are also underway. A friend of mine works at one of the few Grocery stores in town that did not support Walker, and she said business is crazy there as they're having about 2x as many customers as they did a couple weeks ago.
For these protests to turn Violent would hurt the City of Madison, and noone wants to do that. Our Mayor basically called for these protests to happen and continues to encourage them in his blog. Most of the protesters live in town, and we love our city and would not want to do anything to hurt it. (We have good reason to love it too - which is why this was the WORST place the GOP could have tried this.)
This is not going to "fizzle out" - Many people I have talked to here in town that have not been to the protests yet have not been for the simple reason that it is REALLY cold. Spring is around the corner, and soon after that summer. If Walker does not go soon, expect this to grow bigger, not fizzle out. Already long term plans are being made to make sure this happens.
Anyone who knows Madison realizes that we look forward to a "Festival of Protest" that will last longer than Walker.
IF this bill somehow gets passed, there will be a General Strike.
And though "God" may not care about who wins the Super Bowl, most Wisconsinites do, especially as this year it was the only publicly owned non-profit football team in the US, the Green Bay Packers. Normally pro sports are external to my reality, but since the Packers are publicly with the protesters here, I will be a Packers fan from now on, though it is still unlikely I will watch a game unless it is unavoidable.
John you or someone else should research the mechanism for a recall election in Wisconsin. The Republicans here in California managed to recall Democratic Governor Grey Davis a few years ago in reaction to Ken Lay and Enron extorting $50 billion out of the California economy through manipulation of the electricity supply. Republicans were the actual crooks, but through control of the media with big money managed to pin the catastrophe of blackouts during hot weather and shutdowns on the Democratic governor.
But in Wisconsin Walker is really the guilty party and the forces aligned against him look overwhelming.
Walker cannot be recalled until Jan 2012, recall efforts are underway, however, for the 8 Republican Senators who are subject to immediate recall. In WI someone has to be in office a year before a recall can happen.
There are, however, other things that can be done, as Walker has acted criminally here.
The prison guards at the protests seem to be eager to have Walker under their "protection".
I suspect that the Democrats are no better than the Republicans in Wisconsin.
Both of the major parties are nothing more than subsidiaries of big corporate businesses.
Keep voting for the two major parties and you will get the same corporate controlled government.
Don't vote at all and eventually the system will be exposed as the sham it is.
You got it!! There is no democracy in our nation. When the people want an end to the wars, when the people want health care for all without the insurance companies, when the people don't want to give trillions of dollars to the scum on Wall Street...what happens? Is there any sign of any democracy?
Any evidence that 'our' government care a wit about the opinions of the citizens? Any evidence that our 'Representatives heed the advice of their constituents?
NO!
Time for regime change here in the 'homeland'. The anniversary of Shock and Awe, the fireworks that lead to our illegal invasion of Iraq, is the 19th of March. Get out on the streets!!!
And resolve NEVER to vote for either of the corporate political parties. The Democrats have turned their backs to the working people (and to those of us who used to have jobs) and we need to turn our backs on them. Both of these bunches of corrupt bastards are working for the top 1%.
Thats the truth of the matter whether you like it or not,thats how the treat the people thats not in the 1% class, "whether we like it or not" We must unite!We are the Majority we the people (the 99%) get them old codgers out of office.Yes! those multi millionaires that are out of touch with reality those greed mongers!No Justice no peace!
The Dems here are, surprisingly, standing quite firm with the workers on this. I completely agree with you on a national level, frankly I was surprised at how strongly the Democrats have stood here though. I hope they split from the DNC as the National Democrats have been providing little if any support. I am by no means a fan of Democrats (as anyone who has seen my past comments can verify) but the 14 Democrats in the WI senate have proven themselves to have both a spine and a conscience, in a big way.
Let's get back on topic.
The Article mentions "Republican Union Members" Talk about Cognitive Dissonance. (Regan Democrats ring a bell) It seems that way too many Citizens out there in American can't tell shit from shinola. They have voted completely AGAINST their own best interest - repeatedly - over the last 30 years or so. Why is it that 'the People" are so easily fooled? Lackoff has some ideas about this, but I don't think what he contributes to this connundrum gets to the core of it. All I know is that this nasty little fact about the human condition has got to change as a pre-requisite to reversing the onslaught of the Corporate Warmongers currently in Public Office in our Country.
from the article:
~ The people objected, big-time, generating the largest protests in the state’s history. ~
Mr. Nichols has prematurely used the 'adverb' 'big-time'...if they had objected big-time, they would have the upper hand...
they actually have only objected small-time...
big-time, in the traditional union sense, would mean bloody fists and baseball bats and guns ad crime and guys disappearing in trunks and concrete foundations...
big-time, in the current weaponry sense, is white phosphorous, DU ammunition, biological agents, etc., launched remotely from drones...or crowd-controlling dvices like sound and water cannons, microwave beams, group tasers, what have you...
this problem with the media is rather wide-spread, at the moment...
holding up a peace sign in the shape of a V for Victory is not the same as actual victory...
did any of the cops give their guns away to any protesters, no matter how cozy things became?
Dane County Sheriff's office (Madison) has publicly stated none of their deputies are to prevent people from getting into the capitol. He actually stated they were not Walker's "palace guard".
When I was at one of the days of this ongoing occupation, some of the cops on duty were asked by a protestor "Since you are standing there, want a sign to hold?" to which the cop responded "I can't I'm on duty, sorry". By 5:00 this cop had gathered the rest of the officers on his shift with him and yelled out "It's 5:00 we're off the clock, who has signs for us?" at which point they joined the protest IN UNIFORM.
A Couple nights ago, when Walker had ordered Capitol Police to kick protesters out of the Capitol, the WI Police Union came with many of its members to sleep amongst the protesters to prevent them from getting kicked out.
This bill has not passed yet, already a General Strike is being planned for if and when it does.
Trust me, though it may not seem "radical" enough for some of you hiding behind a screen, there is most definitely a unspoken knowledge that though we play nice now, if this actually does pass, the gloves come off.
"This Is NOT What Democracy Looks Like"
Perhaps not, but it's certainly what the system that labels itself "The Greatest Democracy on Earth" looks like to anyone other than its brainwashed participants. That's why its "gift by force of arms" exportation is resisted so strongly by others around the globe who are labelled "terrorists" for their opposition. Domestic opposition, such as it is, on the other hand, plays the game in accordance with the rules set by that undemocratic system itself.
The state of the American populace resembles nothing so much as what Charles Freeman described as "The Closing of the Western Mind" following the authoritarian church's bargain with the Roman emperor Constantine in the fourth century CE. Several fundmental aspects of the "official religion" were redefined to serve state interests at that time too, including the most basic tenets of its nominal founder. The "enemy combattants" who disagreed then were labelled heretics and were also subject to indefinite detention, torture and death at the emperor's arbitrary discretion.
As in the case of the divine real estate agent of the Jews, whoever writes (or re-writes) the book defines the terms. Now shut up and enjoy America's capitalist version of "freedom and democracy." God wills it!
RV: Thank you for drawing a compelling analogy.
VENI: You left out the role of media in causing this "cognitive dissonance." If people are angry, if they see that their limited paychecks don't go far enough, and they turn on the TV or radio in search of answers... what do they get? They get Rush, Sean, Glenn and Bill O. all identifying their problem, but then using that basis for contact as a deflection device. Tapping into the pool of abundant anger, these shock jocks sound like the empathetic guy next door. Meanwhile they direct all that angst towards the targets most apt to change things for the BETTER!
If the average Joe hears someone "speaking his language," and he doesn't know much about history, politics, or economics... he may be inclined to trust this voice.
Add all the $ poured into recent election campaigns (thanks to the grotesquely UNJUST determination on the part of our "Supreme" court) and you see how it is that propaganda has nearly completely taken the place of facts. Redundant advertising spins minds into a hypnotic spell that bears its fruit in the form of numerous, newly elected right-wing candidates. They SIMULATE popularism by appearing to CARE about everyday people. Having managed to demonize government (the only force capable of standing up to big business interests were it, itself, not sold out) they posture as "the alternative."
Since media silences those who understand the dangerous degree to which big business interests have melded into government structures, the public is left with a Catch-22. Voting against what it thinks is the status quo/previous government party, it presumes it will get "other." Luckily, more and more people are seeing that the party brand names increasingly mean nothing: both serve their corporate masters with near equal enthusiasm.
It is unfair to blame the public when the public is being manipulated by forces that are not even conscious! Bernays was hip to that. Any medium that can get healthy people to kill themselves (cigarettes), think it makes them look cool, while PAYING for the "pleasure," is an item not to be under-estimated.
Americans are the most propagandized people on the face of the earth. The situation reminds me of Reverend Sun-Moon (also a media mogul) and how those drawn into his ilk had to be seriously de-programmed!
What is truly pathetic? that this fascist governor would only lose by a 7% margin if an election was held today. This, after all the absolutely mind-blowing fascist tactics he has employed, the spit-in-your-face middle finger he has raised to the people of Wisconsin, and the "don't-bother-with-the-Vaseline" bending-over he is giving to so many in his state, while all the while kissing so much corporate ass and lying to the people about what all of these tactics are really about - smashing people's rights, not "fixing the budget" - and EVEN AFTER ALL OF THIS 45% of Wisconcinites would still vote for his fascist ass.
Pathetic. Says a hell of a lot more about the American electorate than it does about Mr. Walker.
Unfortunately, in WI, which is very rural, the only broadcast TV available is the local FOX affiliates. Several of the newspapers are also failing to report the truth on this.
Also, keep in mind that most polls only call landlines. The importance of the skewed results caused by this limited (and regularly shrinking) demographic can not be underestimated.
I can tell you that in Madison, I have met literally NOONE who supports Walker on this. As it is the talk of the town, for obvious reasons, I think this is rather telling.
You outline in your post many good reasons why workers fight for our right to bargain collectively and wish the same for all of our fellow workers.
"Federal workers cannot bargain for wages and benefits. Why should these groups be different?"
Why should anyone be able to negotiate anything at all with our economic masters and overlords? If you only have one job, such as a teacher who's been at it for 30 years, you're a freeloader, unlike those land-levelers, company field men and mechanics who've worked at many jobs over their lives. They're real people, unlike those unionized parasites. Who really cares about "small groups" complaining about wages and benefits? Nobody has any real rights to such "privilages" [sic], it's just those whining public service workers who perversely associate with progressives, themselves historical footnotes who are a bunch of stupid Luddites anyway.
This may be your most obtuse post ever, though I'm thankfully forgetting scores of others that I'm sure were stupider still. mightymite/Caligula/Henry8/likeitornot, etc. counsels that those disgruntled public workers in Wisconsin just suck it up and join the disenfranchised millions who have no unions and no "privilages" of any kind. If they're not linemen, garbage collecters or truckers, they face no physical dangers, so they're a bunch of whining sissies begging for handouts from the taxpayers.
What really comes thru here, as it often does in your posts, is a visceral hatred of TEACHERS. Probably because none of them could ever get you to understand some elementary-level basics about the English language. You will use apostrophes eternally for plural nouns, for example, no matter how many times the error is pointed out. You haven't the vaguest idea what apsotrophes are even used for. I imagine some dreadful teacher tried to get you to learn this 50 years ago, and you've hated them ever since.
Here in Madison, I see more private sector union members and non-union workers represented at the protests than I see public union workers. Maybe it is just the times of day that I have been there...?
What many, including yourself seem to really be afraid of is that we are actually becoming more aware of the problems of hard-working Americans in that "Tax The Rich" is becoming a more and more popular sign.
If you think someone who has 30 rambunctious kids under their charge all day, who then has to spend all night grading papers is "lazy" what do you think of, say, hedge fund managers?
Which provides a more valuable service to society?
Who really needs to share more in "sacrifices"?
Is Obama's lack of progressive leadership responsible for the Republican win?
Does it really matter? The "democratic" system itself is pre-ordained.
Yes.
In the elections that Walker won, Republicans got no more votes than they had gotten in those districts for the previous election. Democratic turnout was down by something like 30%.
Do not take this as "apathy" - it is more disillusionment and disgust at seeing single payer "off the table" before debate began, no prosecution of Bush, the continuation of Wars and Guantanamo, and the bank bailouts.
Feingold lost because he defended Genocide repeatedly.
so again,
Yes.
The people need a Jimmy Hoffa right about now.
Why? Do the mobsters need a loan? I thought the gumment had set up its own direct finance scheme now.
RV, I remembered in the beginning of his career of organizing truckers for better rights - from the movie of the life of Jimmy Hoffa. He had a charismatic and loud voice.
Forgive me, the People, need someone like César Chávez.
Nice idea Dancing Bear...any one out there???
Dear Stonepig,
No, we have to be our own leaders now. Most people, I believe, stand in common with the people in the streets in Wisconsin. A nation united, cannot be divided. We say we are a Democracy; a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Walker has shown he is not interested in representing the people. Obama is thisclose to being an enemy of the people, by allowing Walker to act with no greater oversight. By not using his greater authority and addressing the just grievances of the people.
With Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, he and she were known as honest and truly represented the people. I remember those days and it was powerful.
Yes, the People could use a leader like that. Or even someone like Jesus Christ, to help them grow a pair and throw the money-lenders from the temple. Or rather the capitol building, where the corporations - not the people - rule.
The problem is that most Americans would swiftly brand both Jesus Christ and Cesar Chavez as anti-American, terrorist-sympathizing, socialist scum, and crucify them both, at least figuratively (for now). The so-called born-again "Christians" on the right would be the very first to demonize and stone Jesus to death if he actually DID return, as they allegedly want him to. How's that for irony?
Americans, by and large, are extremely adept at screwing themselves over, and not recognizing that they are doing so.
The problem with collective bargaining on the part of public unions is the conflict of interest Democrat politicians have--they take gobs of money from the very people with whom they are supposed to be bargaining on behalf of the taxpayer. A large number of those who post on this site claim the government is owned by the corporations, and there is some truth to that (e.g., defense contractors), but the more insidious truth is that the public unions are the real corrupters of the goverment. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, that great protector of the poor, scourge of the rich and friend of the unions, warned against collective bargaining by the public unions:
“Meticulous attention,” the president insisted in 1937, “should be paid to the special relations and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government….The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.” The reason? F.D.R. believed that “[a] strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of government until their demands are satisfied. Such action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable.”
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/worth-recalling-fdr-was-no-fan-public-employee-unions#ixzz1FMqlYOjF
"... they [the Dems] they take gobs of money from the very people with whom they are supposed to be bargaining on behalf of the taxpayer."
And the GOP has no such sponsorship conflict, of course.
It's a little more complex than that:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/21/948033/-Wisconsin:GOP-Lying-About-FDR-Again.
"The people objected, big-time, generating the largest protests in the state’s history. They even filled the Capitol with thousands of police officers, firefighters, state employees, teachers, students and their allies."
These aren't the regular folks, they are all special interests...all of them union members who suck on the teats of the public at large--at a most unfortunate time I might add. I'm not dissing the hard working public servants, but this is a greed/money issue, not one by and large involving democracy, at least the founders definition of it. You aren't owed anything.
Now, sadly, but predictably, the firings will begin. I suggest getting to work now, cleaning-up & rebuilding the murderous /criminally led democratic party (or better yet a new one). You'll have plenty of time when you're out of work like the hoards of other citizens. While you have time to reflect, remember the ones who led you down this road are still very much employed, yukking it up, and living large back east.
Just my opinion.
Don't feed the troll.
OMG! There are IGNORAMUS droppings all over the roof! I hope it doesn't seep into the basement.
OMG! The IGNORAMUS droppings have seeped into the basement! I hope it doesn't get into the sub-basement.
"Just my opinion."
And a very ignorant and poorly informed one at that. Read the parts of the bill that don't cover unions and it still stinks just as bad!
Wow, I'm a union member who sucks off the public teat?
I was there... I am a non-union public sector worker.
The steelworkers, electricians, ironworkers, teamsters, airline pilots and many of the other unions that showed up as unions are sucking off the public teat?
Please at least acknowledge reality before you feel fit to spew forth bile on a topic you obviously know nothing about.
Mahatma Gandhi liberated a country with the philosophy of non- violent protest. Surely Wisconsin can be liberated that way also.
And for that matter if comes to it, the rest of the country.
Gandhi was a man of his own times and circumstances. Somehow I'm highly doubtful that his resistance tactics (which weren't always quite so "passive" as some people seem to think BTW) would meet with the same results in dealing with the American Empire.
There's always a conflict between the desire of union leaders to push for wages and benefits that will cause the layoffs of some of their members since those that remain will continue to pay dues and support the union leadership, who in the main live rather well.
per usual horiss
this is not what democracy looks like???? is this a surprise?
This is definitely one of the moments Obummer should be seeing as his road to his losing the next election. He is just playing safe cause the money guys are telling him too. He is a PUPPET, and nothing more. He was well trained by the trainers of schmooze and lie. We need to focus on who we can replace him with within the two party system because at the moment that is all we got. 2012 is too soon to go the Nader route again unless he wants to be the Dem candidate, we must find a decent...oh god...democrat...or we all bail and help the Repubs find a decent...oh god...conservative. But the Koch-suckers on both sides of the aisle are not in our playground, so now what?
Union folks should be shutting down everything they can. Close the schools, close the public offices, shut it down nationwide.