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!