People Rally in Madison

The first email I read this morning was an editorial from the Madison Capitol Times newspaper called Walker gins up ‘crisis’ to reward cronies. The point of the editorial was that there was no real budget crisis in Wisconsin that forced the Governor to attempt to quickly pass a bill taking away the bargaining rights of state unions and severely reducing their benefits and pay. The editorial points out that last month, the Governor’s first in office, he had given 150 billions of tax cuts and financial support to the very rich and the money he wants to take from state workers, 130 million, was to pay for this spending. That might be true, but I believe there was another reason behind this move: to weaken the power of state employee unions.

I was surprised how the quickly the national media picked up on this struggle. It was due to the 25, 000 people who gathered at the capital in Madison to protest this setback to rights of workers. One of the liberal networks, MSNBC, called this struggle between the workers and unions and the rich and radical Republicans ‘historical’.

The Governor announced the bill last Friday and would have had it passed today, five days later, without public discussion, in the Republican controlled legislation. However 14 Democratic senators left the state today so there is no way to force them to Capitol and thus make a quorum for the vote.

It was funny hearing them called the ‘Wisconsin 14’ and talking on TV from an undisclosed location out of State. I was a member of the Milwaukee 14 who in 1968 burned IA draft files in Milwaukee and stood around to be arrested, convicted and sent to prison. The escape from Wisconsin today of the “Wisconsin 14” State Senators was radically different from the criminal action of the Milwaukee 14 but they both have one thing in common: both groups were pushed into action by the need to avoid injustices, the selective service system drafting of young men “to kill or kill” or the citizens of Wisconsin having rights taken away without a say.

My own State Senator was one of the ‘14’. I had worked with him on a bill to have background checks for secondary sales of hand guns, a bill promoted by my friends at Mothers Against Gun Violence. The bill failed to pass the legislature but the effort certainly gave me a realistic sense of the power and money behind politics. Some say that is what the Wisconsin struggle is all about. One of the few major financial backers of the Democrats in this and other state are the unions, like the teacher’s union. If big money can crush the government unions they will have real control over politics where money speaks. So I say God Bless you the ‘Wisconsin 14’ wherever you are.

Comments

(:commentboxchrono:)