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Eight Civics Lessons from Governor Walker
Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin has taught the nation some very important civics lessons. The price is high, but we should pay careful attention to what he teaches by example.
The first lesson: Citizens should not be hoodwinked by rhetoric. Governor Walker said that the state was broke. He said that public sector workers had to make larger contributions to the cost of their pensions and health care, even as he handed out generous corporate tax breaks for the same amount. Doing a reverse Robin Hood, he took from the middle class to enrich the powerful. The unions promptly agreed to pay what the governor proposed, effectively cutting their compensation, but the governor would not take yes for an answer. He insisted on breaking the unions, even though no financial issues were involved.
Lesson two: It is really important to vote. Only 51.7% of eligible voters in Wisconsin cast a ballot last November, and they ended up with a governor and a legislature who are wreaking havoc on state government and decimating vital public services.
Lesson three: Voters should listen carefully to the candidates and ask for details about what they will do if they win. Scott Walker promised to balance the budget but he didn't reveal his intention to strip away collective bargaining rights from public sector workers. Journalists and citizens should have asked how he planned to balance the budget.
Lesson four: Politics in a democracy is different from politics in an authoritarian state. When there is strong opposition to their decisions, they negotiate and compromise. Negotiation and compromise are not signs of weakness, but of the disposition needed to build consensus.
Lesson five: Leaders in a democracy do not crush their opposition. Politics is not war. Leaders may not agree with the people on the other side of the aisle, but at the end of the day, they recognize them as "my loyal opposition," not my enemy. That spirit of comity is at the heart of our democracy. Elected officials do not destroy those with whom they disagree.
Lesson six: Citizens should not believe politicians who talk "school reform" yet plan to cut $1 billion from the state's education budget, while privatizing public schools. Schools will be devastated by the cuts. Class sizes will soar. Programs that children need will be eliminated. And for-profit operators will find a way to make money from a dire situation. This is not school reform.
Lesson seven: Governor Walker's attack on teachers has galvanized millions of demoralized teachers across the nation. The fact that Wisconsin's teachers organized and protested in the face of insuperable odds has inspired their colleagues across the nation. Teachers realize that it is not only their collective bargaining rights that are at risk, but their profession. Wisconsin will lose many senior teachers -- the master teachers needed in every school -- who will retire to save their pensions, their old-age security.
Lesson eight: In his effort to destroy public sector unions, Governor Walker joins in common cause with other Republican governors, including those in New Jersey, Ohio, Idaho, Tennessee, and Indiana and elsewhere. It's time to remind them that the International Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, contains Article 23, section 4, which says: "Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests." When the Declaration was passed, only eight nations abstained, not only the Soviet bloc, but also South Africa -- which opposed the pledge of racial equality -- and Saudi Arabia -- which objected to the pledge of religious toleration.
So Governor Walker and his fellow anti-union governors have decided to demolish one of the pillars of a democratic society: the right to join a trade union for the protection of one's interests. Totalitarian societies ban unions outright or create faux unions without any collective bargaining rights. Not a club that good Americans should want to join!
By his negative example, Governor Scott Walker has reminded us about the rights and obligations of citizenship, about the importance of standing up for the right of children to attend a good public school, and about the dangers to our democracy of the path that he has charted for his state.
Now it's up to us to learn from those civics lessons and get our democracy back on track.
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20 Comments so far
Show AllGreat article!
The more this governor opens his mouth the more laws he breaks. I do believe this governor's schooling has failed him and he has chosen to drink the Republican Kool-Aid. He could have chosen to be a champion for his people but he chose to bully his way into power. His career is at an end.
Diane Ravitch said:
Lesson two: It is really important to vote. Only 51.7% of eligible voters in Wisconsin cast a ballot last November, and they ended up with a governor and a legislature who are wreaking havoc on state government and decimating vital public services.
My Comment:
Well, yes it is important to vote, except when it is important not to vote.
It is important to vote despite the fact that we know that the election game as it is currently played is rigged, in fact because we know the election game is rigged, we should vote as much as possible for third party and independent candidates for office who demonstrate their support for the establishment of genuine democracy in this country, who support raising taxes on the wealthy and large corporations, cutting military spending, breaking up the big banks and other gigantic financial institutions, and who oppose draconian budget cuts and the destruction of collective bargaining rights.
Otherwise, we should not vote at all, at least not for Democrats or Republicans or anyone else, who refuses to support the establishment of a genuine democracy in the United States of America and who refuses to protect our interests. Clearly, the "lesser of two evils" has never been good enough; for far too often the people we have elected have simply betrayed and deceived us!
So, please consider another lesson along with Lesson two and the rest of Diane Ravitch’s lessons.
Please consider Lesson seven seventy-seven!
Lesson seven seventy-seven:
Democracy and the establishment of democracy are about controlling the abusive use of power in society.
Genuine democracy is possible, but not without difficult and determined struggle.
The U.S. Constitution was primarily designed to control the abuse of power among competing elites. As such there is much in the U.S. Constitution which is useful to genuine democracy.
But genuine democracy has never existed within the United States at least not at the federal or state levels. At best what we have experienced is a form of proto-democracy or quasi-democracy. [In many of her lessons Diane Ravitch describes behavior consisent with a particularly benign form of proto-democracy.]
That is actually good news. A failure of genuine democracy is not what has brought us to our current predicament.
If genuine democracy is to exist in the United States, the power of the people and the laws that regulate power, including the Constitution must be strengthened.
In 2008 weeks before election day in an exchange with Donna Brazil on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," George Will spoke the truth, not to power, but to everyone in the television audience.
Mr. Will said, “Let's not get sentimental about democracy. We don't get to choose whether or not the elite will govern; we get to choose which elite will govern.”
By "we" George Will was, of course, referring to us, not to himself. After all, while Mr. Will may or may not indulge his own sense of sentimentality about democracy by casting his vote on election day, Mr Will is first and foremost a part of the punditocracy.
Replacing Plurality Voting in elections with a consent-dissent based, grading scale voting procedure such as Yes No 'Maybe So' Voting or Category Scale Power Voting is an essential step toward establishing democratic elections and genuine democracy in the United States.
These two voting procedure completely eliminate the "lesser of two evils" dilemma and all the other problems associated with Plurality Voting by expanding each and every voter's freedom of speech and freedom of political association, including allowing voters to express a preference between major party candidates without supporting either candidate and at the same time supporting or opposing any or all of the other candidates on the ballot.
This is the power of a sovereign people, the power of the boss!
For your first assignment, Ms Ravitch, read everthing George Lakoff has written. Then re-write this Article. It might then have the desired positive effect.
What's the matter, Veni? Have you been so infantilized by reading Lakoff that you can no longer understand a clear and forceful piece of writing that tells the truth? The adults among us don't need the childish euphemisms of your hero George, who thinks all we have to do is rename everything and all our problems will be solved by magic. Most of us here agree with Ravitch that this is a time to see the truth and act accordingly.
This Article is just more bleeding-heart Liberal Twaddle - IMHO. It will NOT work. It will not accomplish anything. Lakoff is NOT a hero of mine, but he does make a valid point: Language Matters.
Lesson nine from Obama, ask the torturers if their acting "appropriately".
"I have asked the Pentagon whether or not the the procedures that have been taken in terms of his condition are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards. They assure me that they are. I can't go into details about some of their concerns, but some of this has to do with Private Manning's safety as well," Obama said.
I wonder if he'll also be asking Kadafi if he is treating the people of Libya "appropriately". I tell you Obama gets more and more useless/worthless with every passing day.
Don't you just love that new smell of RECALL! I wish the citizens of WS well.
We here in GA have the same outfil; they are not pushing SB-209 and SB-211, one to make aboriton illegal after 20 weeks, irrespective of the mother's situation and then to mandate that all abortions be done in hospital; of course NO hospital in GA will do that, so effectively, abortion is outlawed here. Please contact GA Senators and ask them to vote NO on both bills. See below.
Thanks!
Ga Legislature's Attack on Women's Rights Still Moving ForwardSunday, March 13, 2011 5:00 PM
From: "Atlanta Area Democrats" Add sender to ContactsTo: ynotaskalice@yahoo.com
Thank you to everyone who responded to yesterday's call for action. By the afternoon, all the Committee voice mail boxes were full and their desks held tons of messages. But this is not over and we cannot relax! A news article today on this issue needs another word - "Temporarily." SB-209, which closes the doors on Georgia's women's health clinics and requires termination of pregnancy only be done in approved hospitals, was taken up by the Senate Rules Committee yesterday and tabled. But this is a temporary maneuver; any bill that is laid on the table can be removed and acted on at any time. The Legislature has used only 28 of its session days this year, thus has 12 more days on which bills can pass. In between these days they are holding committee meetings to bounce out bills for action. For example, this coming week they are using only Monday and Wednesday as session days in the chambers. So the 12 remaining days could stretch out for 6 more weeks at that rate.
The only thing that kills a bill is a "Do Not Pass" vote (which SB-209 did not receive), and even then it can come back to life as an amendment to another bill. Bear in mind that Rules Chairman, Senator Don Balfour (R) is very friendly to the anti-women's rights people, and he said after the meeting that "the bill needs more work." The bill's sponsor, Sen. Barry Loudermilk (R), originally worded it to ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, which was bad enough. Then he waltzed into the Committee meeting on Thursday with a new "scud missile" version that went so much further it would effectively stop the procedure in Georgia completely. With a straight face, Loudermilk said it is intended to "improve the health and safety" of 36,000 Georgia women annually who for whatever reason must terminate a pregnancy. 'Suppose he thinks bringing back the days of a rusty coat hangar is safer?
The majority of abortions are performed in clinics, doctors' offices, and ambulatory surgical centers. Georgia's hospitals are not prepared to take on this responsibility. The legislative rep for GA Right to Life said his group did not sponsor the bill, but supports any effort that would reduce abortion. Which HE could not have if his life depended on it....
Make no mistake, in addition to all their other assaults on Georgia citizens this Session, the right-wingers are chomping at the bits to take away this Constitutional right to privacy inside their own body from every woman and girl in our state. Thinking men must protect their wives, daughters, sisters, etc. by standing with women to oppose not only SB-209 but also SB-210.
In addition to the possibility that SB-209 could be resurrected during this 2011 Session, a separate abortion bill that may still pass is SB-210. It places a laundry list of state-stipulated requirements and actions on anyone who performs an abortion, and it states anyone can be sued for wrongful death. SB-210 actually states "In every case of the homicide of a unborn child" (note the good grammar) and it does not restrict to only a doctor. So in essence any woman who has a spontaneous abortion, or miscarriage, could be guilty of wrongful death under this bill. Or perhaps her partner in an exerting tennis match....see how nebulous this lunacy is?
SB-210 was favorably reported out of Rules Committee yesterday, 3/11/11, and is presently in position to be voted on by the full Senate when it convenes Monday or any time forward. It would also be very easy to attach SB-209 to it as a floor amendment in the full Senate. The unthinkable could actually happen. Click on the following link for a list of all 56 Georgia State Senators, then click each name for their contact information: http://www.senate.ga.gov/senators/en-US/SenateMembersList.aspx
Action Request: Please email each Senator this weekend and urge that they please vote NO on SB-209 and SB-210 in any form they might come up. Then call each Senator on Monday and leave a message urging them to please vote NO on both bills. Spread the word to everyone you know who shares concern for this assault on women's rights and efforts to treat as chattel. Please send feedback on your efforts to atldems@comcast.net. Thanks in advance for continuing to be a reliable grassroots group - we won't go down without a fight on this one!
Lesson nine: If you want to know what a politician will do, check who funds his campaign.
"Lesson three: Voters should listen carefully to the candidates and ask for details about what they will do if they win. Scott Walker promised to balance the budget but he didn't reveal his intention to strip away collective bargaining rights from public sector workers. Journalists and citizens should have asked how he planned to balance the budget."
Walker ran on the Republican ticket. What more do the voters of Wisconsin need to know? Did they think he was a democrat in disguise? No, they didn't think at all. Just the fact that they turned Russ Feingold out tells me they deserve what they got.
Yes, they turned out Russ Feingold and got an Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged fan in exchange. What the hell were they thinking?
What were they thinking? A lot just weren't. Others figured that the"budget would be balanced" on the backs of others.
I live in wisconsin & walkers attempt to bully the citizens of this state will not stand! Walker provides his private & political campaign contributors with more than a hundred million dollars in tax cuts while devastating schools, unions, services, libraries & hard working middle class famlies. A portion of walkers "budget repair bill" allows him to sell off wisconsin energy company's with no bid contracts & no legislative oversight. Walkers largest campaign contributor is koch industries, the largest privately held energy company in america. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out his ultimate aim! After republican senators are recalled we will take back our government & in less than a year we will send Walker packing, perhaps he can find a job as a dictator in some far off country but he is through in wisconsin......god bless america!
This entire article comes off as rather naive and as if it were written for school children...
The first lesson: Citizens should not be hoodwinked by rhetoric. - True but they usually are, and I don't think they learned their lesson...
Lesson two: It is really important to vote. - Perhaps, if we actually had a party that wasn't corporately owned to vote for...
Lesson three: Voters should listen carefully to the candidates and ask for details about what they will do if they win. -Why? Politicians lie all of the time, Walker didn't run on a platform of union busting, but that's exactly what he did. Ditto for Obama, not sure there's an actual lesson to be learned here....
Lesson four: Politics in a democracy is different from politics in an authoritarian state. -True, but not here in AmeriKKKa....
Lesson five: Leaders in a democracy do not crush their opposition. -Nope, they just crush the poor and working classes for greater and greater profit...
Lesson six: Citizens should not believe politicians who talk "school reform" yet plan to cut $1 billion from the state's education budget, while privatizing public schools. -People shouldn't listen to politicians about school reform period. Finland has the best school system in the world, because the system was designed by educators, instead of politicians...
Lesson seven: Governor Walker's attack on teachers has galvanized millions of demoralized teachers across the nation. - Well that's nice, too bad the rest of them are still sitting on their arsses...
Lesson eight: In his effort to destroy public sector unions, Governor Walker joins in common cause with other Republican governors - umm yes, because they're all funded and take orders from the same fascist oligarchs that have been looting the treasury for decades...
It would be nice if there were any actual civics lessons to be learned in an article that purports to be about lessons in civics...
Well stated, BProgress.
Not that I'm trying to put words in Ravitch's mouth (or mind), but this article is a good illustration of the fatal flaw of well-intentioned, shrewd applied pragmatism-- or "practicality".
It's as if the author-- again, not literally-- silently prefaces her analysis by saying, "OK, let's leave all of the windy intellectual and philosophical dithering aside, and all of the skeptical, cynical, hopeless, circular navel-gazing that goes with it, and lay out some common-sense criticisms and workable remedies!"
To a kindred audience, this kind of no-nonsense, didactic, "get a grip" approach is like rain in the desert; it's cool, even a little acerbic, but refreshingly invigorating because it proposes solutions, and encourages conscientious incremental action to bring them about.
In a word, it's "positive".
There's an abiding bloc of distressed citizens here who would prefer a lot more of THIS kind of adult/child stance, and a lot less adult/adult screeds (e.g., Chris Hedges).
But, as your perceptive rebuttal reveals, if one takes a step back this article is like a brave and valiant schoolmistress aboard the "Titanic" taking charge and crisply announcing, "Now then! We must certainly organize those bucket brigades and regroup those scattered deck chairs if we expect to set this ship to rights!"
Lesson Ten: Learn with all you have to become a good judge of character and to spot the lies and confront them when you first hear them.
So what if only 51.7% of eligible voters in Wisconsin cast a ballot last November? What matters is the percentage of the voters who really know what's going on. Seems to me most don't, so we reap what we sow. What the public should learn, that is the working class public, is just one lesson, never, never, never, ever vote for a republican. Why? Because they're scorpions. HUH? Read the fable about The Frog and the Scorpion. Republicans are scorpions!
Lesson nine: Remember Mussolini.
http://home.comcast.net/~lowe9101/mussolini/d7.htm
An idea...Geez, pick a battle here. Number three. Instead of just listening, we should have a way to run down questions and get real answers. They should be made to sign a contract stating that they will do, listed, the things they say they'll do. NO NOT just "ya school reform" but specifics. If you were an engineer and were going in to redesign a problem, you would have plenty worked out details, who it affects, and what it costs. Can't the politicians be accountable this way.
We don't hold them accountable so of course they b s us. duh...children They are runaway hoodlum teenagers.
Seriously, we need to stop slinging mudd at one party or another. They are controlled by lobbyists and the money behind them. FOLLOW THE MONEY...how many times??? And stop blaming voters, or dems, or unions, or whatever. It is a big fracking mess and needs to be cleaned up in a just manner. Criminals and thieves go to jail. Workers get what is right. And stockholders get what's left. Simple. and sure I'll say it before some dumber does...naive
Why has no recall movement begun???????????????????
Plenty of extra time/energy for building democracy when Usans get off das kapitalist konsumption treadmill.