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Wisconsin Republicans Have Done Progressives a Huge Favor
I stood outside the capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin last night. Late in the afternoon, I had been alerted via Facebook that Senate Republicans were readying a sudden legislative maneuver to ram through the evisceration of workers’ rights that had previously been attached to a “budget repair bill.”
As thousands converged on the capitol, the vast majority were barred from entering the public building. The crowd swelled, chanting “Shame!” and “Our House!” as fire trucks arrived, sirens blaring to respond to the burning of democracy.
The Republicans separated the anti-labor provisions from the budget bill, creating a “non-fiscal” bill with lower quorum requirements. They then passed that “non-fiscal” bill, 18-1, with no Democrats present.
In doing so, they have done the Wisconsin democracy movement a huge favor.
From the time that the fourteen Democratic senators left the state to prevent a vote on the budget repair bill, I have worried about the outcome. In my view, it was very likely that a “compromise” would be reached and the Democrats would return. Such a “compromise” would still include massive setbacks for working people. The recent email exchanges between the Democrats and the governor’s office reveal that a number of options were at least being proposed; for example, allowing slightly more collective bargaining than the original bill, but retaining the prohibition of dues deduction and the requirement for annual decertification votes.
I feared that one or more of the Democrats would take such a deal, feeling they were out of options. The result would have been a disastrous deal for workers – a deal in which the Democrats had gone over to the dark side. What would then have happened to the recall efforts and the movement that is clearly building toward 2012? It would have lost focus, just as labor and progressives lost energy and focus in 2010 because they were disappointed with the Democrats. Thousands of workers would have remained angry, but with no clear political options.
The favor the Republicans have done the progressive movement is that they have made the political lines of this fight crystal clear. The Democrats’ hands are clean. The distinction between those who stood with workers and those who are against workers is obvious and unblurred.
After the vote result was announced, thousands stormed the capitol, chanting “general strike!” Republican senators tried to sneak out of the building via underground tunnels, but were met by hundreds of protesters who were aware of the escape route. State police had to escort the senators through the crowd. Today, protesters were removed so that the Assembly could meet and railroad the bill through.
The escalation has begun. The scale of direct action will multiply, not just in Madison, but statewide. Calls for a general strike – previously dismissed by many – are now serious.
Ahead of us lies a string of recall efforts and eventually, the 2012 elections. The Republicans have thrown a tanker full of fuel on the fire, and have done so in a way so that the people’s movement will not hesitate to support Democrats right down the line. They have removed “lesser of two evils” from the political calculation, making the choice starkly apparent.
For that, I suppose, we can thank them.
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53 Comments so far
Show AllIt is a great day to peek inside the Trojan Horse and see that conservatism is not actually meant to have structural integrity as a philosophy. It is merely a parade float to rally the gullible to attack unions.
This "non fiscal" bill (as the Repugs call it) proves that collective bargaining rights issue is 100% political and ending them was never intended to repair any budget.
A general strike will be effective only if the police and firefighters strike. Hopefully the police and firefighters realize that they are the next target of the Repugs if they don't strike.
I think they do realize they are now facing two possibilities - their Unions will be eroded until they're gone, or they'll find themselves being replaced with non-Union workers like the air traffic controllers were. If they didn't know this, I doubt they would have responded in WI as they have. They probably weren't even sure that when it was all over there, they wouldn't find their Unions had been gutted too, despite what Walker had said.
Well, that's always a key turn. It looks hopeful, given law enforcements refusal to take strikers out of the capitol.
"The Democrats’ hands are clean."
In Wisconsin, yes. Not in Washington, and I have no intention of supporting the Democrats running for national office. Under Obama's guidance, their hands are every bit as dirty as the Republicans.
What happened to Obama's EFCA promises and the promise to enact a minimum wage of over $9.00/hour? What about investigating the Wall Street corruption which has led us to these horrible times? Why hasn't Trumka held Obama to account? Why is he sitting on a useless commission when he should be fighting the administration if Obama won't come through?
Yes, kudos to the State Dems in Wisconsin, but don't trust the DLC Corporate Dems. Throw all Senators and Reps of both parties out and let's clean up that pig sty in DC once and for all.
Hopefully the good Congressional and state Democrats now realize that rubber stamping the regressive Obama agenda is costing them more votes rather than earning them votes.
Well please enlighten us! You make statements with no back up. Typical.
I've read many of your posts, vp. It's possible you are a republican who simply wants to discourage democrats, however I think it more likely that you have a mental flaw that is unable to distinguish either nuance or facts which are often quite strongly opposed to your political view. If it is a mental flaw, then I feel badly for you, since there is nothing on the horizon in the US to change the 2 party system in a truly meaningful way. You and others are free to pretend that some future group of third party politicians will magically 'do the right thing' more often than not.
You and Greg R are both dopes, but it's fun to annoy you.
You are betraying the shallowness of your own political thinking, or being disingenuous, when you claim to not be able to discern between what VP is saying and the right wing.
Perhaps I am not subtle enough to see what you see, but what I get from the article is that he is writing about the Democrats in Wisconsin. I do not see the need to extrapolate this example nationally. So your comments are not relevant.
The author may refer to the hands of the Dem legislators who left, and may intend "clean" with respect to this crisis. If so, this is correct, though it certainly says nothing about the Dems in Washington.
Let us hope that he is not correct that people will support the Dems down the line. Let us hope that even people in Wisconsin will have a good look at where those votes were going before they hit the streets. But in the state legislature of Wisconsin, the Democrats acted differently than did the Republicans, for whatever mess of reasons. And they likely did pick up some votes for that.
The author seriously blurs "progressive" and "Democrat," so his intentions may well be something like you describe them. But at least part of the larger thrust here seems accurate.
Good analysis. Thanks.
There is a concerted effort going on right now to take advantage of the political situation to promote very narrow partisan interests.
The political lines of this fight are becoming crystal clear, all right, but those lines are not drawn between Democrat and Republican nor liberal and conservative. The line is between the working class and both factions of ruling class apologists - liberal and conservative.
Enough already with Wisconsin! The stuff happening in Wisconsin is happening or will sonn be happening in almost every state - particularly more populous ones like Pennsylvania. At least the cheezeheads won't be having their countryside and waters ravaged by gas wells and fracking while they are being impoverished.
That must be awful having all that gas fracking going on in your state. I am so sorry for what the oligarchy of profit is doing to this country's air and water. The eastern part of this country seems to get the brunt. It is disgusting.
It's sad how energy in the ground has become a curse for so many: ruthless dictators fueled by the energy wealth, environmental devastation of ruined water and toxic pools,...
Living with less would bring us happiness... including turtle island. The vulgarity of the gluttony on display for all to bow down before is unacceptable and inexplicable.
According to SEP, both the Democratic Party and the union leadership are trying to diffuse the calls for general strike. Here is what they say is going on, and a broader perspective:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/madi-m11.shtml
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/mar2011/pers-m11.shtml
"The attack on all public sector workers’ rights and wages requires a response-in-kind—a general strike, a demand that is already winning broad support. The determined resistance to Walker will win broad support from the entire working class, which is being subjected to vicious wage and benefit cutting in the private sector, and which will be ravaged by Walker’s proposed two-year budget and its cuts to education and health care.
The union bureaucracy opposes such a course of action far more than it opposes Walker’s bill. In the immediate aftermath of its passage in the senate on Wednesday night, the leaders of Wisconsin’s two largest public sector unions, Mary Bell of the Wisconsin Education Associate Council, and Marty Beil of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, indicated their acceptance of the bill and told workers not to strike. “I ask Wisconsin's educators to be at work tomorrow,” Bell said, the only demand she made during her brief remarks. The no-strike order was repeated by teachers’ unions in the state’s two largest school districts, Milwaukee and Madison. Unions of teaching assistants at the University of Wisconsin campuses in the two cities also said they had no plans to schedule a strike vote.
Now the unions declare that the only means of defending workers is through supporting “recall efforts,” as Beil put it, to replace eight Republican senators with Democrats. This gambit, even should it work to remove a handful of Republican legislators, would in no way reverse the wage cuts or the draconian state budget, which the Democrats support. The real aim of this maneuver, as was the case with the Democratic senators’ flight from the state, is to defuse the growing militancy of the workers and youth."
I think one of the casualties of Walker's moves will be Marty and Mary. The WEAC members around here are NOT happy with her so-called leadership, anymore than public nurses and other health care workers are with Marty. Once the bullshit detectors were turned on, the file have smelled plenty in the ranks.
A STRIKE is the only effective tool left. This effort by Walker was as much an attack on women as it was an attack on unions. Walker excluded the Police and Fire Departments (mostly men) and included the Teachers and Nurses (mostly women). Where was the equality spirit among the women. It was AWOL. How can women TALK about equality when they FAIL to act forcefully enough to achieve it? The lessons I take from Wisconsin are to eschew Democrats & Republicans and to Strike, Strike Strike. Nothing else works!
The real solution is to build a whole new union movement. Present unions have only managed to organize 7% of workers in private industry. That leaves 93% for a new movement, the 21st century version of the 1930's CIO.
What would that be? Since the growing majority of workers today are in "service industries," - teachers, medical, retail, etc, the new movement needs to center around them. Unlike factory work, their jobs can't be exported to China. And "service workers" by definition have a natural connection to the customers and community around them, who can back up a strike with a boycott. In times of high unemployment workers can be easily fired, but if the customers are fired, the company is out of business. The new union movement, therefore, needs to be based primarily on location, where workers and community can unite, rather than on job category across the nation, although, of course, a national alliance is also necessary. Geographical organizing was used by the "Knights of Labor" of the 19th Century, and by Polish Solidarity in the 1980's.
Local worker - community unions could push for co-ops, especially as the best outcome of a strike. If the boss won't comply with union demands, fine, we'll form our own co-operative business, and WE are united with the customers, not the boss. And local worker - community unions would be in a perfect position to run local candidates, and take over cities and counties, which would support local unions and co-ops, and then move on to the state and national level.
With only 7% of private workers in unions, and many of them voting Republican, it is far too early to pull off a successful general strike. Newly awakened worker energy and awareness would be better used now to ORGANIZE, and to do it in a new way. Workers and community together are an unbeatable combination.
http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/lp-chair-the-problem-in-wisconsin-is-not-unions-but-government
LP Chair: The problem in Wisconsin is not unions but government
WASHINGTON - While Republicans and Democrats battle in Wisconsin over a bill to reduce the collective bargaining power of state employee unions as a means of balancing their budget, Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle points out that the problem lies with government control of activities it has no business running.
Hinkle comments, "Libertarians are neither pro-union nor anti-union. We believe that the right of association and freedom of contract allows any group of people to choose to bargain collectively rather than individually. Naturally, we oppose violence and threats of such, but unions per se can play a major role in a free society. The problem is that the battle between the Wisconsin state government and state employees isn't even remotely a free market.
"Government monopolizes many services that could and should be provided in the voluntary sector by profit-making and/or non-profit organizations. This also gives them a 'monopsony' as virtually the only potential employer for workers in these fields. Once someone has trained to be a teacher or prison guard, they are essentially at the mercy of government for their employment in that field. Blaming them for wanting collective bargaining representation would be comparable to siding with the Polish government against the union Solidarity headed by Lech Walesa that freed Poland in 1989 from Soviet rule. The problem is with the employer: the government."
Hinkle considers the education budget to be the best example of a solution only Libertarians have offered:
"Far and away the largest part of the budget of the State of Wisconsin, once aid to local governments is allocated to underlying expenditures, is in the category of education. This is true of virtually all state and local governments, so it is the best example of how freedom can provide a solution. Unfortunately, government expenditures for education are driven by political considerations rather than the needs of the students. The result is outrageous costs that are not primarily for the most important ingredient in education: the teacher.
"The U.S. Department of Education calculates that the per pupil cost of K-12 education is nearly $11,000 in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The Cato Institute, however, in a paper entitled, 'They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public Schools,' discovered that actual spending in the districts they examined was 44 percent higher than official reports due to the failure to include various categories (such as spending financed by bond issuances). We can reasonably estimate that true spending is more than $15,000 per pupil. With class sizes, on average, exceeding 20, the total spending per classroom is probably well in excess of $300,000. Obviously, most of that money isn't going to the teacher in the classroom. In private schools that don't depend on taxpayers, it does: teacher pay and benefits averages nearly 80% of the total budget of the average private school. Not surprisingly, while private schools are often described as havens for the rich, public school spending per pupil is nearly DOUBLE the average private school tuition, mainly because it is a haven for administrators and other recipients of `education' money who never step foot into a classroom.
"The answer to Wisconsin's budget crisis, and that of governments throughout the country, is to return education to the voluntary sector. Compulsory education dominated by tax-supported schools was not established until the mid-1850s, yet literacy rates prior to that time were higher than they are today. Parents have ALWAYS valued the education of their children, and the religious and secular private schools of that time knew they'd only be paid by parents if they taught their children. Free or reduced costs for poor parents was always part of the tradition, and would be again in a country freed of massive taxation and spending.
"Returning education to the voluntary sector and eliminating compulsory funding and attendance laws, not to mention centralized bureaucratic nightmares such as the bi-partisan No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 championed by Republican President George W. Bush and the late Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, will free teachers to be responsive to the needs of their students instead of the desires of politicians. As for how to do it quickly, a case can be made for selling all the local schools and putting the proceeds into the underfunded pension and benefits funds, then leaving the reorganization of education in the hands of the buyers. But, the workers at these schools are the ones with the strongest interest in ownership. We could just give each school to its local employees and let them decide whether to run it or sell it. Either way, the teachers, the students, the parents, and the taxpayers are all big winners.
"Education is the largest item in the Wisconsin budget, but the same principle applies to other expenditures. The legitimate debate in Wisconsin and elsewhere is not about whether the politicians or the government employee unions should win. It is why we should be stuck with only one employer sucking the money from taxpayers and then complaining when their power to decide how it is spent is not unlimited."
The Libertarian Party platform includes the following:
2.7 Labor Markets
We support repeal of all laws which impede the ability of any person to find employment. We oppose government-fostered forced retirement. We support the right of free persons to associate or not associate in labor unions, and an employer should have the right to recognize or refuse to recognize a union. We oppose government interference in bargaining, such as compulsory arbitration or imposing an obligation to bargain.
2.8 Education
Education, like any other service, is best provided by the free market, achieving greater quality and efficiency with more diversity of choice. Schools should be managed locally to achieve greater accountability and parental involvement. Recognizing that the education of children is inextricably linked to moral values, we would return authority to parents to determine the education of their children, without interference from government. In particular, parents should have control of and responsibility for all funds expended for their children's education.
Can you give an example a successful society based in this "philosophy" that you misapropriate the word "libertarian" to?
The best real world historical examples of something apporaching this "philosophy" places like El Salvador, Honduras, Guatamala, or Colombia. Or, the United States in the late 19 to early 20th century. It works splendedly for small minority of the wealthy - they enjoy fabulous levels of freedom. For the rest, their liberty is of a rather degerate, binary sort - consisting of the choice between offering their bodies up for sale for a lower price than their impoverished neighbors, or unemployment and starvation.
>>The answer to Wisconsin's budget crisis, and that of governments throughout the country, is to return education to the voluntary sector. Compulsory education dominated by tax-supported schools was not established until the mid-1850s, yet literacy rates prior to that time were higher than they are today.
A ridiculous statement. Prior to 1850 MILLIONS of residents of the United States of America were not measured for literacy. Prior to 1850 the typical census only measured the head of the household.
In 1850 blacks were first measured for literacy and it was lower then 20 percent.
Nor were womens educational achievements measured in the Census.
Thus the "Higher literacy rate prior to 1850" typically counted only white males.
It typical of Libertarians to cherry pick data.
More free market solves all bullcrap.
Speaking of rallying the gullible....
I feel the same way, Jill.
I agree with Taylor's point that the Democratic politicians did better to entirely distance themselves from this legislative travesty, rather than their usual approach of reluctantly climbing aboard the bandwagon, whimpering and moaning.
So, OK, in this case the Dems didn't wretchedly capitulate and attempt to de-escalate and de-polarize the political crisis. Yes, this is a rare and mildly refreshing change from the usual Democratic abused-spouse approach: blur the hard lines that have formed in recent weeks, and mollify their outraged and victimized base with the usual hollow promises of continuing to Fight the Good Fight with renewed energy and determination.
And, of course, the party will be counting on their bruised and battered constituents' support; it's more vital then ever when one defines the political conflict as a war of attrition-- a Long Haul.
But, as Visiting Professor and others have noted, the Wisconsin Democrats' tactic of washing their hands of political iniquity in this instance will not remove the layers of hardened blood and filth caked on by their customary complicity in a corrupt and pathological political process.
This relatively "radical" act will be remarkable and praiseworthy if it somehow profoundly radicalizes the state Democratic Party going forward. If this were the case, the Democratic pols and party apparatus alike would seek to identify with and encourage the most militant and least conciliatory elements among the outraged and aroused citizenry.
That is, instead of settling back to "business as usual", in accordance with the bankrupt bromides of "picking one's battles", "keeping one's powder dry", and piously invoking compromise as the inevitable outcome of "the art of the possible", the Democrats would have to insist that "We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it any more!"
Taylor is a dupe or a fool if he believes that the temporary perception of the Wisconsin Democrats' being on the side of the angels, and making hay with electoral gains, is in and of itself a real "victory" for labor and the prospects of restoring the ravaged common weal.
Of course, others are free to pretend that the political "Good Cop" truly has their best interests at heart, and that trusting and cooperating with the Good Cop is the wisest and best-- in fact, only-- alternative in a less than ideal world. And regardless of how long and harsh their sentence is, when that prison door clangs shut behind them, they'll console themselves for the duration with the conviction that going along with the Good Cop is the smartest move they ever made..
OS, I think many CDers forget how far left we are compared to the average American. If the democrats would move as far left as I am (and certainly not as far as many CDers), then they would lose spectacularly. For one thing leftists do not own the media. For another, most Americans are middle-of-the-roaders. Sure they're leftist on some issues, but big changes are generally frowned upon. It's our job to fight the good fight and the smart fight.
And then lose badly because you are way, way out of the mainstream and your "ideas" will get no traction in an election
Not true. CD posters are quite a bit to the right from everyday working class people. We can see this playing out in Wisconsin. When the issues are clear, the general public comes done heavily on the side of the working class - our side. Liberal and progressive intellectuals are not so reliable, as we can see by the posts right here every day.
There is a much higher percentage of people here than in the general public of people who support the existing system and identify with the ruling class.
You are projecting your own deep conservatism onto the general public. Come on down to the local tavern in this rural county. You will be the most conservative person there. I never hear some of the conservative things there that you routinely say here. Perhaps you don't know what the Left is - has been historically. It means standing with the working class. You don't. Most working class people do, and when it seems that they do not it is because they are confused,. One of the main ways that they become confused is by people like you who are not friends but who claim to be.
"The favor the Republicans have done the progressive movement is that they have made the political lines of this fight crystal clear. The Democrats’ hands are clean."
LIES, LIES, LIES !!! This isn't about the corrupt sell-out national democratic party. THIS IS ABOUT WISCONSIN TEACHERS and they lost their tenure!!! This is a defeat of enormous impact. If Jackson, Schultz, Moore, or Trumka show up in your state send them packing. They kept the Teachers from striking which is the one thing that would have forced Walker to give in. Trumka is a joke, a woosie, and a clear sell-out. Trumka might as well have worn a pink skirt and waved a white flag. If Trumka is the face of unions then they can kiss their ass goodbye. The Facists are playing for keeps and the unions are bowing before them. Hubris !
One must pick his fights with care. At this point the public is far more aligned with teachers than with Walker. If the teachers strike, they must be certain their goals and message are clear, that they have the ability to get that message to most all citizens, and that the majority of citizens truly agree with those goals. If ALL of these items are not met, this will simply help the republican fascists.
Is it the case that much of the anomosity that animates the debate in Wisconsin results from the urban/rural divide? According to U.S. Census Bureau data released yesterday, rural Wisconsin counties are losing residents, as a lack of jobs pushes young people to Madison, the state capital, and its suburbs. Is that what has created the resentment that impelled Governor Walker and the Republicans into office last November--resentment by those working two or three jobs without pension or health benefits, in the largely "outstate" private sector, to support what they see as excessively comfortable public employees subsidized by private sector tax dollars?
Um, I suppose that might explain the "tractorcade" of farmers from rural areas coming to the big rally on Saturday. Hey, I know lots of people working more than 1 job, me included, and some of them are yes (gasp) teachers and other billionaire public employes ...you know, those greedy, lazy types sucking the public coffers dry. They only work those 2nd jobs for fun, you know.
By the way, I've been reading some of your insipid posts, and I keep asking myself: Who's paying you, Horace? Is this YOUR second job?
The relentless program by the right wing of destroying the public agricultural infrastructure and facilitating "free trade" and globalization, with full complicity by the Democrats and liberals, is what has crushed the rural economy.
All of farming is dependent upon federal and state programs and "excessively comfortable public employees" - a lie there, by the way, as has been pointed out, but don't let facts get in the way of your talking points - and your imagined resentment by rural people toward public employees is another lie.
I would make a friendly suggestion - don't try to take me on when it comes to ag issues, you will take a beating. Best to just withdraw this idiotic talking point and maybe we will forget that you posted it.
Horace, your comment: "resentment by those working two or three jobs without pension or health benefits, in the largely "outstate" private sector, to support what they see as excessively comfortable public employees subsidized by private sector tax dollars?"
Can we clarify something here? The private sector employees pay into Social Security for their retirement. The public employees do not have Social Security for their retirement but have a pension instead. You, plus the media, seem to either not know the difference or purposely try to confuse the public and foster resentment so more people will consider pensions as an unfair benefit. Plus, we are talking about public employees who have four year degrees and many with Master's Degrees. I would not call their compensation "excessive" as you do. Besides that, how many people do you know that want to take over the job they do? With less compensation, retirement and stability how many students in college will decide to switch their career choice from teaching to something else?
How about using your words to describe those Wall Street traders who do not contribute anything tangible to this country but seem to reap "EXCESSIVELY COMFORTABLE" bonuses. Why don't we compare what a teacher contributes to what a Wall Street trader contributes? And after that, how about we discuss which group has done more damage to this country? How about we put the resentment where it belongs?
There is no urban/rural divide. That is a trumped up bunch of nonsense by the right wing propaganda machine.
There is a divide between upscale suburbia and the rest of the country, yes. Much - probably most - of the support for the Republicans in rural areas is a reaction to suburban liberalism.
This is about class - the haves versus the have nots. That is what politics are always about.
There is no logic here. The author seems to agree that the democrats could cave at any moment. That hasn't changed just because they were prevented from doing so. They will still remain a spineless liability in any effort to keep the movement rolling. Forget about the democrats! Let them follow the workers and activists' lead or become irrelevant! Who cares?
I wrote this as a comment for a CD article (Shame Shame Shame) yesterday, but unfortunately this author makes my point and not in a positive way.
"Do you think the Democratic Senators didn't know when they were negotiating that the provision could be split off and voted on separately while they were out of state? The Repubs offered collective bargaining for Wages, Overtime and Work rules. That was shot down by the Dems and will also be lost to the union personnel. Those same Dems are now playing the part of the blindsided heroes who only wanted to help the little guy. While a loss for the unions, their personnel would be in far better shape if their Dem heroes either knew the parliamentary rules of their legislature or chose not to throw their loyal constituents under the bus to get some good grandstanding PR time."
Now this author basically says boy I'm really glad the Dems stayed away because now people are really mad and will send boatloads of money that they earned to the DNC so that Democrats can be elected.
My contention was/is that the Dems new the collective bargaining portion could be voted on separately, but valued the good press more then their loyal constituents' best interest. The author thinks the loyal constituents interests also needed to be "martyred" to get the desired outcome. And worst of all the constituents' interests and needs can only be met by electing politicians who already threw them under the bus to get good PR time.
Disclosure, I am a libertarian who was in two Unions at points in my life, I support Unions for the most part, but distrust politicians motives almost always no matter the label.
I'm afraid this is wishful thinking. Progressives have no Party or organization to turn to. Yes, they may be alarmed, mad as hell, and ready to do battle but where is the power, money, or political structure to do anything about what has befallen them?
They have no Party any longer that they can turn to. The Democratic Party is anemic at best and collaborators with Republicans, corporations, lobbyists, and Wall Street at worst.
Listen to the debates taking place in Washington from draconian budget cuts, to attacks on entitlements, to Muslims and you'll quickly figure out that 'people and their plight' are not in the equation, at all. No one is talking about stimulating the economy, softening the blows of joblessness, or even creating jobs.
The Congress is in a parallel universe shut off entirely from the needs and pain of the citizenry. It's almost surreal to listen to these politicians talk these days. It's like we don't exist, that our problems don't exist, that our pain doesn't exist. It's maddening on the one hand and sad on the other.
Finally, and most tragically, our President has just shut his door, gone inside, and is in self preservation mode. I don't even understand what he is up to. This is just sheer madness.
I keep saying this, but the Two Party System, assuring that the only "choice" is between a Democrat and a Republican is, also, sheer madness. I don't know what it would take to get The Two Party System monopoly on politics out of the American psyche, but elections stand no chance of accomplishing anything at all unless there are more choices than between the Tweedledee and Tweedledumber twin political entities.
Campaign finance reform -- one of those ideas that goes then comes back briefly during campaigns, so Democrats and Republicans can say they're for it, then goes away again. I doubt if it could cure what ails us, but regulating (the "R" word!) campaign contributions and spending (there are countries that are democracies in the world where paid political advertising is illegal) certainly couldn't make things worse. Well, anything has the capacity to make things worse so I guess I should be careful what I wish for, not that there's a chance in hell of it coming to pass.
The Two Party System, assuring that the only "choice" is between a Democrat and a Republican perfectly reflects the binary thinking of many here - that the choice is between liberal (or progressive) and conservative to the exclusion of the Left.
People are unhappy that Obama and the Democrats don't look much different from Republicans. But what they refuse to see is that this is because there is not much difference between liberals (or progressives) and conservatives. So they fantasize about a new party of "true" or "real" progressive politics.
We don't need "campaign finance reform" - that is yet another desperate liberal attempt to save the existing system by reforming it - we need "society finance overthrow." Money has no more influence over partisan politics than it does over every other facet of our lives.
Of course ideas come back briefly during campaigns, so Democrats and Republicans can say they're for it, then go away again. Nothing else is possible. The only time anything other than that has ever happened, and ever could happen, is when powerful and militant radical groups operating outside of partisan politics fought for them.
This is like the mice getting together and saying - "I know! We will outlaw biting by the cats!"
The cats won't vote for that and the mice cannot enforce it. The liberal and progressive mice will then say "but our hearts are in the right place, and if only we could outlaw biting it would be a better world. We believe in the ideals of no biting. Aren't we special mice? Those mice calling for fighting back are just trouble makers and are helping the cats. We are working inside the system, and if only we could get all of the mice to change their beliefs, then things would be better."
I would like to see a poll taken of Union membership two weeks ago and membership numbers now.Not just in Wisconsin but throughuot the U.S.
Conservatives have the advantage of not caring
Again! This is what happens when you elect corporate prostitutes to public office! And yes Virginia, that includes President Zero!