The Taking Of America

In the 2010 elections, the Republicans won the House of Representatives, made gains in the Senate (but are still not in control) and elected a number of state governors.  This was in part fueled by people's dissatisfaction with the economy and jobless statistics, and also in large part, by the lies and distortions spread by the Tea Party.  However, history is what it is and those people came into office.

The Republicans saw this as their chance to change the political landscape and direction of our country with sweeping neo-conservative changes.  They set about to do this with a coordinated effort by the House of Representatives and Republican controlled states.  The current poster boy of these efforts is Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin. 

Through Walker's efforts and possibly illegal actions (yet to be determined in court) by that State's Republicans, the state workers (300,000 of them) were stripped of their collective bargaining rights.  Fifty years of progress was wiped away in thirty minutes.  That there will be a long lasting backlash to Wisconsin Republicans for their actions is not in question, as that is assured, and while I support the state workers in Wisconsin in their fight to win back their collective bargaining rights, there is far more at stake here for all of us, regardless of the state in which we live.  If you are a union worker, state or private, if you are on Social Security and/or Medicare (or soon will be), if you want clean air and a safe environment now, and in the future, if you are not a union worker, but enjoy certain safeguards guaranteed by the federal or state governments, if you want a country that puts the well being of it's citizens ahead of all else, you should be gravely concerned.  The reason for this concern is that the neo-conservatives now in power want to change all this.  They care about the rights of big business, not the worker's rights.  To this end, they want to do away with, or severely cripple all unions, public and private.  They are willing to sacrifice our environment in the name of business profits.  They want to dilute and, if possible, eliminate Social Security and Medicare.  Most of all, they want to cripple the people who support the Democratic Party, so as to insure Republican domination for decades to come.  They want to reshape our country in a way that serves, the wealthy, and big business  (particularly, oil, insurance, and banks).  They want to strip away many of the governmental restrictions that protect people like you and your family, and they want to take us back in time to when the average citizen was thrown a few crumbs, but had little say in how our country was run.

They want to cut needed programs in education, the arts, help for the disadvantaged, and in many other social areas in our nation.  They abhor the thought of new taxes, even though there are obvious areas where they are needed.

Consider this:  The Republicans will continue the protected tax structure of the wealthy, while not raising the Social Security payments to it's recipients.  They will not consider collecting the Social Security and Medicare tax on any incomes above $106,800 per year, again giving the wealthy a free ride.  They will not consider reducing the subsidies that oil companies and other selected businesses receive.  Yet, by taking these actions, our national debt would all but disappear in less than a decade.  Our citizens expect certain safeguards which have been in place for many years to continue, but instead of raising the above mentioned revenue, the Republicans prefer to try and balance the budget on the backs of the working class and retired citizens in this country.  What's wrong with this picture?  I say again, we have three weapons to fight their taking of America,  We have our voices, our votes, and our contributions to just causes.  It will take all three to put these charlatans out of office and return our country the fair and just nation it was and should be again.

We'll talk later....................

The Republican's End Run.

The labor and union problems, caused by Scott Walker, the new governor of  Wisconsin continue to be at the forefront of the nightly news broadcasts, as that topic, and the strife in Libya, seem to dominate these programs.

The struggles in Libya and the Middle East are important and I will have more to say about them at a later date, but today, I want to concentrate on problems a bit closer to home.

Some tend to consider the assault on collective bargaining in Wisconsin, while important, a problem restricted to the people of Wisconsin, alone.  This is not true.  The Republicans, across the nation, are trying to do an end run, not only around labor unions, but also around campaign financing, or more properly campaign financing for the Democratic party.

The chef contributor to Republican campaigns, other than individual contributions is big business.  And why not, as the Republicans bend over backwards to accommodate the wishes of big business, over the wishes of the average citizen.  Democrats on the other hand, get the bulk of their campaign contributions, other than those from individuals, from organized labor.  So, if the Republicans can dilute the effectiveness of organized labor, they can in turn reduce the amount which labor contributes to Democratic campaigns, and as we all know, it takes massive amounts of money to effectively manage today's political campaigns.  Many of us think that's not the way it should be, but all of us acknowledge that's the way it is.

Scott Walker is the point person for other states in their attempts to do exactly what he is doing to the people of Wisconsin.  There is an old joke that now can be applied to Wisconsin.  Why is it impossible to remain a virgin if you live in Wisconsin?  Answer: Because Scott Walker will screw you, one way or another. 

Wisconsin is the test case for this grand scheme of things, which the Republicans want to put into play. They want to break the unions as much as possible, and not just those which represent public employees.  Make no mistake about it!  If the Republicans are successful in their public employee union busting attempts, in Wisconsin and other states, they will then focus their attention on the private unions in our country, as they want to break them all.  Why?  Republicans hate labor unions for two reasons.  First, they are bad for big business, as they demand fair wages and treatment for their members, and two, unions are a fund raising arm for the Democratic party.  In essence, Republicans feel they can kill two birds with one stone.

If we don't stop this assault on union membership and collective bargaining in Wisconsin, this same battle will be fought over and over again in other states.  More Republican governors are watching intently to see how the situation in Wisconsin plays out.

It's interesting to note that while Republican leaders in Washington DC keep proclaiming that creating jobs is one of their chief goals, their shill governor in Wisconsin threatens to eliminate thousands of jobs if he doesn't get his way.  I guess, in Wisconsin at least, the truth is finally out of the bag.

Whether or not you live in Wisconsin, and now more than ever....Let Your Voices Be heard!

Talk with you again, soon.........

Power To The People

In my younger days, I lived in San Francisco.  The Vietnam war was at it's height, and small and large (some massive) protests and rallies against the war were happening daily.  Hippies from the Haight-Ashbury, moms pushing strollers, truck drivers, store clerks, and more marched in protest parades down San Francisco's downtown main drag, Market Street.  Because of the war protests, free speech protests (which started at the University of California in Berkley, across the bay), and other causes, a single phrase begin to make the rounds, until it was universally used in almost any and all protest efforts. That phrase was "Power To The People."

Like most topical phrases or rallying cries, it was heard less and less as the years went by.  Today, although seldom heard, the sentiment and intent of that phrase is echoing around the world, as people from such diverse places as Egypt and Wisconsin are realizing the best way to fight oppression is with an outpouring of the masses to demand what is right and just.  Hosni Mubarak is gone, driven from his autocratic power by thousands and thousands of Egyptians demanding freedom, democracy, and a say in their own destiny.  First came Tunisia, then Egypt, and now, as I write this, demonstrations are taking place in Four or five other Middle Eastern countries, with Libya now being the center of these protests.

As we all know, democracy cannot be achieved overnight, with the mere flip of a switch.  Tunisia, Egypt, and any other country that has overthrown it's rulers (or soon will), face years of adjustments and some hard decisions before full democracy is attained.  The United States is a democracy, and yet we are still making adjustments to own on form of government.  Still, the process has clearly started in two countries and the seeds of change burn brightly in still other Middle Eastern countries.

Protests occur in all kinds of situations.  While the dufas of a governor, Scott Walker, in Wisconsin is not having the state police fire rubber bullets, tear gas or live ammunition at the mass of protesters in and around the capitol building in Madison, he is, never the less, assaulting the rights of a large segment of  Wisconsin's populace.  He is trying to destroy the union bargaining power of public employees, a right they have fought for and held for fifty years.  He says it's to combat a shortfall in the state budget.  Don't you believe that for a second.  Yes, like many states, Wisconsin must take steps to shore up their state coffers, but there are many other cuts or taxes that could accomplish this without a broadside attack on unions.  Walker's actions should be called what they are....union busting.  Strangely, Walker will not stop the police and firemen in the state from further collective bargaining efforts.  It seems the Police and Firemen associations in the state were the only union organizations to endorse Walker.  Gee, what a coincidence.

Governor Walker of Wisconsin is a Republican, and that pretty much says it all.  The Republicans are first and foremost a legislative force for big business, and not the average citizen.  They hate labor unions, universal health care, environmental protection, Social Security, Medicare and any other form of citizen protection that might reduce the profits of big business, or regulations that might make these companies tow the line and act responsibly.  Before long we will see other Republican governors try this same slime ball tactic to get rid of or reduce the bargaining power of unions in their states.  As I said, the Republican Party does not represent the average man or woman in this country.

We can stand silently by and let this happen, or with our dollars, voices, and votes we can fight the Republicans at every turn.  Their wish seems to be to take us back to the turn of the century, where if you were poor, too bad and tough luck.  If you became ill from the toxic pollution from industry, too bad.  If you didn't receive a fair wage for a day's work, too bad.  If your child needed medical care that you couldn't afford, too bad.  The list of what they want to undo goes on and on.  They want to remove most of the citizen safeguards that have painstakingly been put in place over decades.  They want to redefine the meaning of a free society.  Whether or not they succeed, is really up to us, as only one thing stands in their way....and that is the will of the people.  Once again, it's time for the people of this nation to stand up and be counted.  Let us not forget that the first three words of our constitution are We, The People!