We The People of the USA Need To Thank The Wisconsin 14

We The People of the USA Need To Thank
The Wisconsin 14

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE WISCONSIN BUDGET!

IT ABOUT WAR ON DEMOCRACY!

Jay Bookman

In Wisconsin battle, it’s not about the budget

9:29 am February 21, 2011, by Jay

You still can’t find a single Democratic state senator in
the entire state of Wisconsin. All 14 of them remain in
self-imposed exile in Illinois, and as long as they stay there,
they can continue to prevent passage of a highly controversial
bill that would sharply reduce benefits for teachers and other
government employees and, more importantly, gut public labor unions.

It’s that second aspect of the bill that has drawn national
and even international attention. As the Milwaukee
Journal-Sentinel reports:

The bill would require most public workers to pay half their
pension costs – typically 5.8% of pay for state workers
– and in many cases at least 12% of their health care costs.
Union leaders have said they are willing to accept those
concessions, which total nearly $330 million through June 2013.

Under the bill, the unions could not bargain over anything but
wages, would have to hold annual elections to keep their
organizations intact and would lose the ability to have union
dues deducted from state paychecks. Employees would no longer
have to automatically pay union dues, but could choose whether
they want to do so.

In other words, the unions are willing to swallow the economic
demands. If givebacks are necessary to help balance the state
budget in a time of crisis, the employees say they’re
willing to do their part.

However, Gov. Scott Walker has refused to accept that offer and
also refuses to negotiate with labor or Democrats. He
doesn’t see this merely as a chance to win an important
battle against organized labor; he sees it as an opportunity to
win the entire war, forever, by stripping state unions of most of
their power and influence. And if he succeeds, the implications
for the labor movement nationwide would be profound.

At the moment, only five states prohibit collective bargaining by
teachers and other public employees, as the map below
demonstrates. Georgia is one of the five. (Note: The right to
bargain collectively does not imply the legal right to strike in many states.)

As I've written in my last blog, What we are seeing here today is WAR. Not the blood and guts war that the Republicans would prefer but a war never-the-less on Democracy. And if We-The-People lose this war our America will never be the same.

Since SCOTUS (5/4) ruled blatantly in favor of Corporations (in the
Citizen United ruling on corporate campaign spending), by 5
conservative judges who followed their Republican political
ideologies in lockstep, against the people and for the
corporations, a plutocracy has taken shape. This ruling has
emboldened the GOP to openly oppose any democratic rules in which
we live under. If they succeed in destroying our Democracy
altogether we will find that life ruled by the wealthiest amongst
us to be much oppressed and not worth living. Think Slavery,
it’s not farfetched it’s REAL!

This is real (although it seems like it should be just a bad dream)
We-The-People are about to lose that status and become
We-The-Slaves to Corporate/Wealthy Interests. It is so obvious
but so many will deliberately refuse to see it just to prove a
point. It won't be the rich and powerful that takes us down it
will be the foolish. tb


"A fool contributes nothing worth hearing and takes offense at everything." Aristotle

On Facebook this comment:

What do people do when they know they are wrong? Run and Hide.....

thinkingblue comment back" The Wisconsin 14 DEMS are not running, they
are not hiding (not in the sense that the conservatives would
like to believe). They are doing what anyone who fights for
freedom will do when they are outnumbered ... They went
underground and are working even harder for the rights of the
people! I am so proud to see democrats act like Democrats...
right now they are all We-The-People have to fight for us.

A bit of history about fighting for the rights of others:

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes
and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United
States to escape to Free States and Canada with the aid of
abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The
term is also applied to the abolitionists, black and white, free
and enslaved, who aided the slaves that sought freedom...

ABOLITIONIST: a person who favors the abolition of any law or
practice deemed harmful to society: MORE HERE

Thank Wisconsin's courageous state senators who have joined with
protesters to block the Republican attack on public employees. CLICK HERE

Subject: Wisconsin's courageous state senators deserve our thanks.

Dear Friend, Democratic state senators in Wisconsin have been forced to flee
the state in order to stop Governor Walker's radical attack on
worker's rights.

Now, Gov. Walker has ordered state police to hunt them down, and
force their return to Madison for a vote on his bill.

The fight in Wisconsin affects all of us. And this is a crucial
moment to show solidarity with the state senators as they
continue their courageous stand to protect workers.

I just signed a petition telling Wisconsin's Democratic state
senators they have my support. You should sign it to. Click below
to say thanks.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/we_support_wisconsin/?r_by=-2120708-96Ci0nx&rc=paste1

Please sign the petition, CREDO action, has reached 61% of our NEW goal of 50,000 signers! (30,726)

PS: I just came across a video that SAYS IT ALL! (humor but also very real,
too real!)

NOW VIEW: Rachel Maddow - BAKE SALES VS. BILLIONAIRES

If the Democrats Don't Start Being Democrats America Will Become A Plutocracy!