Wednesday, March 9, 2011

I'm Sorry, Rachel Maddow was Right--It's Not About The Budget

Thousands of Wisconsin citizens are moving to the Capitol at this hour after the Senate passed by a 18 to 1 vote a bill stripping public workers of the rights to collective bargaining. The crowds in the Capitol building itself chanted,"Shame, Shame, Shame." at the lawmakers. The AFL-CIO has called for a meeting to discuss calling a general strike in Wisconsin.

Earlier in the day Governor Scott Walker had leaked e-mails to Democrats suggesting he was moderating on his position. But Democratic Senators by late in the day put out the words that this was all a ruse. They were right.

The last two days saw Republican legislators being overrun at townhall meetings by angry citizens. One meeting ,which was Rep. Sensenbrenner's congressional townhall meeting, had to be closed down by the Congressman because of the anger over Walker's moves.

A couple of things to note about tonight's bill. First, for the last two weeks, Governor Walker said that the collective bargaining section could not be separated from the budget repair bill. In fact,that is what happened tonight. Which exposes that fraud. Second, the Senate violated its own rules. The bill went to the floor only 14 minutes after passing out of committee and then was passed with no debate. This is where the legal challenge will come. It was never debated.

So for weeks the Beltway pundits have framed this issue as one concerning a budget shortfall in the state and a debate how to resolve it. That should be all gone tomorrow. This was a raw power grab by a Christianist Governor in obedience to his prime funders--the Koch Brothers, who managed to funnel over $1 million to his campaign. Protests are already growing around the new lobby shop set up by the Koch Brothers in Madison to benefit from the goodies being handed out by Walker.

For the full details about Walker's own beliefs how he is divinely inspired ,Progressive Magazine has an account of his full talk to the Christian Businessmen's group. It's a scary read.

Last night Rachel Maddow proclaimed that Wisconsin had won. After all it looked like four Republicans were going to defect from Walker's Budget Repair Bill. In many ways, they did win. A persistant ability to mount demonstrations even in snow storms coupled with the discipline of the Democrats staying away from the state brought forth the real issues at stake. Now with tonight's actions,it will be very tough to view the fake budget battles around the country in the same light. And then we have not had the results of various litigation being brought against both Walker for his statements on the fake Koch phonecall and tonight's travesty.

The Wisconsin struggle highlights the new fascist techniques being used--yes, fascist as a descriptive adjective, not an epithet. Throughout these events, we have seen raw corporate power brought to bear against the average citizens of Wisconsin for no legitimate reason other than ideology. The Budget Repair bill itself manufactured a crisis that had not existed. Unions had already agreed to give-backs and had already surrendered over $1 million the previous year to produce a surplus. Instead, first we had the threat of using force via the National Guard, itself rebellling against the order, then we had the absolute refusal of the Governor even to talk--via the phone, let alone directly--on the budget issues. Then we had the police being called in to disband the demonstrators, which it refused to do. Instead, the police sent a letter congratulating the demonstrators. Then we had police from as far away as 150 miles shipped in to clear the State Capitol. We saw the Assembly pull a late night vote with only a perfunctory announcement. Most Democrats only heard about it by an ad by Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity on the local radio station. Most Democrats didn't have the time to show up and vote. The complete vote of the first part of the Budget Repair Bill lasted only a few minutes. This prompted the first bout of "Shame On You!".

The local press was universally in favor of the demonstrators, even those which had supported Walker. A few local traditions had been violated. The Governor never had mentioned union busting during the campaign or when he announced the bill. He first tried to close the State Capitol, which has been open 24/7 to everyone. Thereby offending the entire state. Then his announcement about the National Guard, followed by his refusal to even talk about the bill. For the first few days, the Governor himself was in hiding,trying to escape press attention. Then for the last two weeks, polling outfits from liberal, moderate to conservative revealed that the vast majority opposed what Walker was doing and affirmed by almost a 2/3rds margin the right to collective bargaining. Still there was no budge. Rep. Obey, a long-time Wisconsin congressman, was prevented from entering the Capitol building, and a Democratic legislator was tackled by temporary police.

The Senate Major Leader, Scott Fitzgerald, said on Fox News today that it wasn't about the budget as all the major media has been saying but about hurting the unions and trying to hinder Barack Obama's chances to win Wisconsin in 2012. Fitzgerald today also wondered aloud how legal the recall statutes were.

It's clear by tonight that the recall campaigns against the eight Republican senators have picked up. At least two Senators will be subject to recall because the number of signatures has been satisfied. The recall of Scott Walker can happen November 3rd of this year.

I never liked Naomi Klein's theory of Shock Therapy for what she terms Crisis Capitalism. It's a nice construct but I'm not satisfied with it--even though I think she's probably right. The full-scale war at the state and national level against average Americans by economic and corporate elites is something that I have never seen as raw as today. You would have to go back to the late 19th century and early 20th to see such raw exercise of financial power by coporations and their ideological companions.

This is not the time or space to go into the long list of these actions throughout the various states. But if you consult blogs about specific states, you will see this is a national epidemic. Buried in these budget bills is a host of social legislation that is neanderthal at best. Ohio's union busting legislation contains prohibitions against same-sex marriage, which is already outlawed in the state. Several states contain provisions to privatize and sell off their prisons. None of these items have anything to do with creating jobs or even the budget shortfalls states are facing.

Now in D.C., the Senate rejected the House budget along straight party lines. With the events in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Florida and New Jersey, the Democratic Party is missing an ample oportunity to tie the Republicans to all these cuts and to all these policies. Every Republican in the House and Senate voted to weaken national security by eliminating funds for monitoring nuclear proliferation,guarding the border, providing adequate foreign assistance; voted to gut the education system by eliminating Pell grants,aid to community colleges, and to critical programs like Head Start; voted to eliminate critical medical care to young women and seniors through cuts to Planned Parenthood and Medicare. And that's just at the national level. At a state level, Republican Governors in Texas, Arizona and Mississippi have taken the lead in cutting Medicaid to the poor and disabled.

All the national polls show the public is against these cuts. Instead, polls show consistently a desire to cut defense spending and to shore up Social Security and Medicare. Also over two-thirds of Americans support the right to collective bargaining for union and public employees.

A few months ago, Mike Malloy half facetiously suggested Barack Obama annouce he was not running again and instead declare open warfare against all the economic forces trying to destroy the country. A leftwing blogger plaintively asked,"Why is Barack Obama allowing this to happen?" At some point, his gloves will have to come off as the essence of America is being attacked virtually everyday by an assortment of thugs,ideologues and corporate toadies.

Personally, I can't not help but viewing this as ending in bloodshed. All the gains in labor in this country came through vicious struggles. A site in West Virginia was declared a national park. There mineworkers from around the country travelled to help out coalminers who were striking. The mine owners fired over a million rounds at the striking miners. The miners lost but eventually they won years later. I see the same happening again today but in more diffuse ways.

The rallies against Florida's Rick Scott and Ohio's John Kasich dwarf any tea party phenomenon. Yet,there is no budge, not step down by the governors. In Montana , a state dominated by conservatives, even there over 71% of the public says that the legsilature is doing a "horrible" job. Extreme right-wing legislators are debatibng nullification laws and outlawing the phenomenon of homosexuality. Yet there is nothing about creating any job.

If the Democrats can't make effective ads against all this, then God help us all. Eemember Karl Rove's Crossroads America ads against all the Democrats in 2010, where he accused them of cutting Medicare. Turnabout is fair.

What is hopeful is that our progressives have finally accepted trade unions. The alienation of the New Left from unions that started in the 1960s seems to be about over. There is more an attempt to form broader coalitions to push for change or simply to preserve what remains.

We lost a decade with the last Administration. With the world economy the way it is America can not afford another lost decade. If the events in the states continue, we will lose more than a decade. Basically,we will have become the underdeveloped country some ideologues have always wanted.

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