I went to the protests at the state capitol against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's so called 'budget repair' bill last night. The protesters were in the thousands, marching around the square through the halls and chanting their opposition to this bill. I got a chance to listen to toughly twenty people get in front of the committee hearings and plead against the bill.
I learned things.
First, I learned that a number of big hitters out there oppose this bill outside of Unions and those directly affected. The University of Wisconsin faculty, for instance. The Madison school board. County executives and other state politicians.
Second, I learned how well many average folks understood the implications of this bill. The loss of salary was really only an annoyance compared to what the primary concern was here – that their rights were being taken away. Testimony after testimony pleaded with officials not to strip them of their ability to fight for working conditions and benefits in the future. They were willing to pay their share and willing to discuss cutbacks but they didn't' want to be left impotent and rendered powerless against subsequent changes or apathy of government.
Third, I started to understand just how little the people listening cared. The committee Republicans were not listening. In fact in many cases they were not paying attention. My own research had already suggested that this attack on unions was not the isolated potshot taken by a freshman governor trying to prove himself, but instead was a brazen participation in a national effort to achieve this goal. In another week, Ohio will be introducing a similar measure. Since Wisconsin's fully Republican controlled house and senate will allow Scott Walker to push this through without resistance, the 'success' here will be used to justify the action there and create further political confusion about the subject.
Nationally, Republicans needed this to go through to start the snowball rolling. That would explain why a 140+ page bill showed up out of 'thin air' and was put on a beyond-aggressive passage schedule of 5 days from proposal to passage with a special session and only one day of hearings.
What this means is that the whole thing was arranged in advance. NO amount of logical argument, last minute vetting or studies about the actual economic impact of stripping away money from lower income jobs will have on the private sector will help. No begging and pleading by multiple-state employee families who could see massive cuts to their take home pay or from others just making it has a chance to reach one of their representatives hearts. The protests, however loud, however many state functions were shut down or school days missed to demonstrate solidarity by so many workers would matter.
In the end, this decision was made behind closed doors in secret and was part of a much larger national game. The representatives fell in line behind Walker with a simple instruction. “Weather the storm, vote party line, wait out the aftermath.” With the backs of public unions broken and the private sector mostly at will, the reduction of the American working standard can begin to fall in line with a world standard being set somewhere between here and China.
It breaks my heart to realize that our locally elected officials who pledged to seek our interest in Wisconsin were ignoring us for the benefit of a NATIONAL agenda. Has our political system fallen that far? It's not something I would have expected even these days, and PARTICULARLY from normally State's rights conservatives.
Never before have I used the phrase 'class warfare'. It always seemed to 1960's Marxist nostalgic. However today I think I see the start of exactly that. Instead of advocating for corporations and the wealthy, these Republicans have planted explosives at foundation of Wisconsin's labor movement, and with near dictatorial use of the system to avoid democracy, they have set us on a road to conflict.
When this bill passes, and I firmly believe it will, the idea of a middle class in this state will begin to fade away. There will be the wealthy and there will be the rest of us struggling to make it.
Without meaningful collective representation, the State will be tempted to return again and again to this defenseless group to make cuts in the budget. Why wouldn't they? Better yet, why WOULD they pass an elimination of negotiation rights unless they already intended to do something later against which unions would bitterly fight?
It's very hard to see this as anything other than war on the middle class. We can make arguments about the evils of taxation or the need to balance the budget or the State being broke – but this is greater than all of that. This is an elimination of a 50 year old right for employees to stand up for their working conditions and job quality, the largest organized labor group in the State. This is not just asking for money from a group, this is marginalizing that group and leaving them defenseless in a battle for a basic standard of living.
If you don't think this will affect you, think again. State jobs are a major portion of the Wisconsin work force. If those employees are beaten down in wages again and again - the goal which the removal of negotiation rights is designed to achieve - it will be the private sector that sees a sudden loss in business. When a third of the state can't go to Applebees because they can barely afford groceries, you better believe local businesses and retail outsets suffer. Walker's war has nothing to do with saving the state money or generating jobs. It has everything to do with ensuring the Wisconsin worker does as they're told, knows their place, gets what they get, and likes it.
I learned things.
First, I learned that a number of big hitters out there oppose this bill outside of Unions and those directly affected. The University of Wisconsin faculty, for instance. The Madison school board. County executives and other state politicians.
Second, I learned how well many average folks understood the implications of this bill. The loss of salary was really only an annoyance compared to what the primary concern was here – that their rights were being taken away. Testimony after testimony pleaded with officials not to strip them of their ability to fight for working conditions and benefits in the future. They were willing to pay their share and willing to discuss cutbacks but they didn't' want to be left impotent and rendered powerless against subsequent changes or apathy of government.
Third, I started to understand just how little the people listening cared. The committee Republicans were not listening. In fact in many cases they were not paying attention. My own research had already suggested that this attack on unions was not the isolated potshot taken by a freshman governor trying to prove himself, but instead was a brazen participation in a national effort to achieve this goal. In another week, Ohio will be introducing a similar measure. Since Wisconsin's fully Republican controlled house and senate will allow Scott Walker to push this through without resistance, the 'success' here will be used to justify the action there and create further political confusion about the subject.
Nationally, Republicans needed this to go through to start the snowball rolling. That would explain why a 140+ page bill showed up out of 'thin air' and was put on a beyond-aggressive passage schedule of 5 days from proposal to passage with a special session and only one day of hearings.
What this means is that the whole thing was arranged in advance. NO amount of logical argument, last minute vetting or studies about the actual economic impact of stripping away money from lower income jobs will have on the private sector will help. No begging and pleading by multiple-state employee families who could see massive cuts to their take home pay or from others just making it has a chance to reach one of their representatives hearts. The protests, however loud, however many state functions were shut down or school days missed to demonstrate solidarity by so many workers would matter.
In the end, this decision was made behind closed doors in secret and was part of a much larger national game. The representatives fell in line behind Walker with a simple instruction. “Weather the storm, vote party line, wait out the aftermath.” With the backs of public unions broken and the private sector mostly at will, the reduction of the American working standard can begin to fall in line with a world standard being set somewhere between here and China.
It breaks my heart to realize that our locally elected officials who pledged to seek our interest in Wisconsin were ignoring us for the benefit of a NATIONAL agenda. Has our political system fallen that far? It's not something I would have expected even these days, and PARTICULARLY from normally State's rights conservatives.
Never before have I used the phrase 'class warfare'. It always seemed to 1960's Marxist nostalgic. However today I think I see the start of exactly that. Instead of advocating for corporations and the wealthy, these Republicans have planted explosives at foundation of Wisconsin's labor movement, and with near dictatorial use of the system to avoid democracy, they have set us on a road to conflict.
When this bill passes, and I firmly believe it will, the idea of a middle class in this state will begin to fade away. There will be the wealthy and there will be the rest of us struggling to make it.
Without meaningful collective representation, the State will be tempted to return again and again to this defenseless group to make cuts in the budget. Why wouldn't they? Better yet, why WOULD they pass an elimination of negotiation rights unless they already intended to do something later against which unions would bitterly fight?
It's very hard to see this as anything other than war on the middle class. We can make arguments about the evils of taxation or the need to balance the budget or the State being broke – but this is greater than all of that. This is an elimination of a 50 year old right for employees to stand up for their working conditions and job quality, the largest organized labor group in the State. This is not just asking for money from a group, this is marginalizing that group and leaving them defenseless in a battle for a basic standard of living.
If you don't think this will affect you, think again. State jobs are a major portion of the Wisconsin work force. If those employees are beaten down in wages again and again - the goal which the removal of negotiation rights is designed to achieve - it will be the private sector that sees a sudden loss in business. When a third of the state can't go to Applebees because they can barely afford groceries, you better believe local businesses and retail outsets suffer. Walker's war has nothing to do with saving the state money or generating jobs. It has everything to do with ensuring the Wisconsin worker does as they're told, knows their place, gets what they get, and likes it.
I am suitably cowed and humbled by your greatness and wisdom, Mr. Walker. Please forgive me of my fiscal transgressions and accept my pay cut as penence. No more shall my evil Union speak out against perceived injustices like "poor working conditions" and "unfair compensation". from now on I shall concentrate on my true purpose, which is to loyally serve the State for the sheer joy of being a good citizen, without the influence of such materialistic ideas as paying my bills and feeding my family.
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