This Alternet article by Robert Reich says it all in plain English....
The Republican strategy is to split the vast middle and working class - pitting unionized workers against non-unionized, public-sector workers against non-public, older workers within sight of
This is a three part strategy by the rethuglicans. It's starting in Wisconsin and will be country wide before you can blink....
Part one..The Battle over the Federal Budget,
The President has already fallen into the trap by calling for budget cuts in programs the poor and working class depend on - assistance with home heating, community services,
Part two..The Assault on Public Employees,
Wisconsin's Republican governor Scott Walker and his GOP legislature are seeking to end almost all union rights for teachers. Ohio's Republican governor John Kasich is pushing a similar plan in Ohio through a Republican-dominated legislature. New Jersey's Republican governor Chris Christie is attempting the same, telling a conservative conference Wednesday, "I'm attacking the leadership of the union because they're greedy, and they're selfish and they're self-interested."
Part three...The Distortion of the Constitution,
The third part of the Republican strategy is being played out in the Supreme Court. It has politicized the Court more than at any time in recent memory.
This assault doesn't have to happen. It's not written in stone. Will patriotic Americans cower to the evilness coming from the conservative right or will we fight? The good people of Wisconsin are fighting and that should give us hope. You better get prepared to take a stand when it comes to your state, if you have a Rethuglican governor like I do you can bet it's coming! Look what the country did in '08, we have the numbers, we can win this battle! Please read the article by Reich...
19 comments:
They were talking on the News last night about how Walker was talking to his good friend Chris Christie daily...this will not stop in Wisconsin!
UGH!! What a buffoon!!
Do you hear of any side giving up? The dems have to fight til the end, I hope they do!!
We are seeing the legacy of Reagan and his philosophy of "The government is the problem" being played to its conclusion.
In reality it is the government that built the middle class, rescued seniors from an end-life of poverty, and protected the environment from the rape of corporations whose only interest is profit, all else be damned.
Scott Walker will not give up. He always had the County Board running along behind him here in Milwaukee cleaning up his mess, but now that the Senate and Assembly are both with him in Madison I think we are screwed!
I feel sorry for his wife though, even though she knows she is married to an asshole, they are protesting at his home here in Wauwatosa. It must be scary for her and the boys.
Reagan, what a disaster! We are a HUGE country, I don't know where these righties get their thinking we don't need government. Yea, except when it is their SS check involved, or their house blown away by a flood or hurricane. Asswipe morons!
Mary are you saying he's gonna get away with this union busting scheme??
Pro-Walker Troopers Union Repudiates Endorsement In Wisconsin
So the Troopers have come to their senses.
When will the Koch brothers' dupes, The Tea Partiers, wake up and see how they've been had?
*ok* protesting at his house is just plain wrong. This is business... Keep it biz 'm burnt need some blAandLike tater tot & burger casserole with ketchup.
What's the worst that can happen in Wisconsin? - the bill passes and unions lose on collective bargaining. They'll still be able to bargain over wages and, correct me if I'm wrong here, there WILL be another election in 2012. If the electorate thinks that the Republicans have overstepped, out with 'em. In the mean time, though, yeah, it does kind of suck to be a union bloke in Wisconsin.
awww isn't that a shame that someone is pushing legislation that people don't want. Sounds somewhat familiar.
Only difference is this legislation makes fiscal sense.
Sorry Sue, but that is exactly what I am saying. Scott Walker doesn't back down, he has people go behind him like the people behind the elephants at the circus, sweeping up his shit. Now there is no one to clean up and that shit will just pile up!
The big deal Will is that they are hoping with Citizen's United and the Koch brothers if they can bust the Unions and prevent their (the Union) political contributions, there won't be a 2012. Unions are the only large contributors to the Democratic Party, the rest are just people like me. The Republicans have ALL the oil money and other filthy rich groups paying for them. If you believe that a country with only ONE political party is a good thing, well we have nothing to talk about. I want a strong Republican and Democratic Party...and a Libertarian (yucky, yuck, yuck...lol) and Green Party too...but the Teabaggers can go to hell because I feel that they are a Corporate Sponsored bastions of Racism.
I waved and gave a thumbs up to the Milwaukee County Plow driver tonight while I was out shoveling! Bless the Unions!
How does Walker bust the unions? The bill does away with collective bargaining but it doesn't prevent them from organizing or making political contributions. At least I wasn't aware of that. And if a Democratic legislature gets elected, they'd be more effectively able to stand up to the Governor. There are consequences to ALL elections......You do know, don't you, that Governor Cuomo plans to get tough on the unions, too?
Hubby and I were there yesterday protesting and it was an amazing sight!
Hubby and his sister, both teachers and me.
An estimated 70,000 protesters and only about 1000 or less were tea partiers.
They were vastly outnumbered!
We will fight this to the end and recalls are already in the works!
Received via email today...
"To Wisconsin's 14 Democratic state senators:
Thank you for taking a courageous stand. I support you in your fight to block a vote on Gov. Walker's outrageous attack on nurses, teachers and public employees".
Sign the petition here.
Will.....//w does Walker bust the unions? The bill does away with collective bargaining//
THAT is the essence of a UNION...!!
... strip that away and you have nothing but a social club.
Your statement was rather shallow and belied little understanding of Unions, why they exist and why, on changing levels they need to exist.
try, for openers,
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1678.html
.. but collective bargaining is what the Unions are...
How does Walker bust the unions? The bill does away with collective bargaining but it doesn't prevent them from organizing or making political contributions.
Collective bargaining is the most critical part of a union's power to defend its members' interests. I belong to a union and I've seen that power in action. The impact of political contributions is negligible by comparison.
Most of the rights and dignity of workers that distinguish us from a Third World society were won by unions. What Walker is doing is on a par with offshoring -- pushing America backward, into a downward spiral of falling wages, falling worker security, falling standards of living, ever-greater inequality -- backward toward the nineteenth century, toward a Third World economy.
We don't need less union power in the public sector. We need to restore it in the private sector.
Thanks jimm for answering Will. I was going to last night, but Will is no dummy and he knows what will happen if they get rid of collective bargaining, I was just too tired last night to play along.
Here is a link to what the results are for the Tax Payers of Milwaukee County of Scott Walkers Union Busting while he was County Exec.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/113212479.html
He shits and we the taxpayers have to pay to clean it up!
You folks talk as if collective bargaining only accomplishes good things. I was a state employee in CT in the early '90s and the union totally sold me and every other worker with less than 5 years experience down the river. They wouldn't make concessions and a lot of people were let go. The state lost some of its very best workers and were left with some of the most wretched deadwood possible; one of who abused a resident and they couldn't get rid of them because of union protections arrived at via, yeah, you got it, collective bargaining.......Oh, and, yeah, try getting rid of a crappy teacher, too......So, was that "rather shallow", too?.....What did that guy from South Park say, "I hate conservatives....but I REALLY fucking hate liberals."
You folks talk as if collective bargaining only accomplishes good things.
I didn't see anyone claiming that. Again, I am in a union and I'm well aware of their shortcomings. But they, and the right of collective bargaining in particular, do much more good than harm. If they also cause problems, they need to be fixed, not destroyed.
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