Posted by Scout
There was a very special moment today in the WI Capitol Rotunda when Assembly Democrats passed through on their way to do the people's business. You have to watch the video below because I doubt you've ever seen anything like this before. I know I hadn't. At least not in politics. And I, like one of the Reps you'll see, had misty eyes and brushed away a tear. It was just that moving.
The crowd erupted in applause as the united Dems wearing their now signature orange T-Shirts stopped to greet the throng. When the People chanted "Thank You" to the Dems, the Dems chanted the same back to the People.
When they returned with cameras to take pics and video of the crowd, that was taking pics and video of them, the crowd erupted once again.
These are our representatives going in to fight for us. We know it, they know it. We all know we fight this one together, as one. We are all the same, united and not backing down.
And as I witnessed this I thought...we love these guys.
Democrats everywhere should see this and know that if you fight for the people, we will love you. You'll feel it. We'll feel it. We will be One.
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I'm so proud of Scout and even Jude. They rock and rule.
Posted by: adrastos | February 18, 2011 at 14:23
Adrastos I'm so lucky to be here and see this.
Now we have to all get together because you and Jude together would be a Heluva Hoot
Posted by: scout | February 18, 2011 at 14:35
wow. Just wow. I have genuinely never seen anything like it....
Thank you scout!
Posted by: lb0313 | February 18, 2011 at 15:26
"Elections have consequences." Wasn't that the Dem slogan in 2009. Walker ran on this and the people voted him in to do this. I realize it is painful but in a democracy sometimes the other guy wins, no matter how many demonstrators the Dems bus in. At some point this will pass. The people want him to do this.
Posted by: C-h | February 18, 2011 at 15:37
C-H: That argument is tired. Very tired. "The people" wanted blacks to remain segregated. Hell, stay slaves. "The people" wanted women not to vote. Sometimes social justice comes from a vocal group making it loud and clear that something is not right and has to change.
Posted by: Mr. A. | February 18, 2011 at 15:54
I've been in one of those rotundas, that must be some LOUUUUUUUDDDDD stuff *earplugs*
Posted by: Rexisnotmydog | February 18, 2011 at 15:59
Mr. A - you are absolutely correct about the history rights in America, but little In this situation comports with those examples. This is not an infringement on rights or even a constitutional question. These are beurocratic and financial issues. Don't like the compensation offered by the WI as an employer? Then you can avail yourself to other remidies, including finding another employer or starting your own business. Otherwise you are an employee of the the people of WI. And they have made thief intentions clear. It may be a tired argument, but no less true.
Posted by: C-h | February 18, 2011 at 16:18
and a big THANK YOU to Wisconsin and everyone there. Your friends in Vermont stand with you and support you 100%.
Posted by: ergVT | February 18, 2011 at 16:19
This is not an infringement on rights
Yes, in fact, it is.
And democracy doesn't stop with an election. Dissent is a part of the process, even in non-Egyptian democracies.
Posted by: NTodd | February 18, 2011 at 16:31
Just amazing. So glad Scout and Jude and all of First Draft is weighing in on this.
Posted by: liprap | February 18, 2011 at 17:25
These are beurocratic and financial issues.
No. Actually, this is about tyranny. Brutal, sociopathic, destructuive tyranny.
It may 'pass' and the other guy may 'win' and the consequences may be all on the backs of the vanquished but I am so proud that they are at least going to scream bloody hell about it.
"finding another employer"...like who? like where? walmart?
"or starting your own business'....what? mowing your lawn? FUCK YOU
Posted by: escariot | February 18, 2011 at 18:06
Hey, C-H, funny how contracts are sacrosanct until employers decide they don't feel like keeping their part of the deal, isn't it? And the workers ARE availing themselves of other remedies-it's call the right to free speech and peaceful assembly.
Posted by: Karin | February 18, 2011 at 20:08
It's not a "financial issue" exactly when the governor of a state decides to trash the state budget by giving tax breaks to his corporate friends and then decides to balance the budget not by rescinding those tax breaks but by union-busting and displacing the burden on middle-class public employees. It's a governance issue, and in this particular case, it's spectacularly bad governance, which does deserve to get yelled about. Winning an election doesn't (or shouldn't) give you carte blanche to drive your jurisdiction into the ground; that's sort of like getting a pilot's license just so you can crash planes onto suburban neighbourhoods.
Posted by: Interrobang | February 19, 2011 at 02:41
Devastating facts on the results of GOP policies on America. Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal.
Their ranking on ACT/SAT scores:
South Carolina - 50th
North Carolina - 49th
Georgia - 48th
Texas - 47th
Virginia - 44th
Wisconsin is currently ranked #2.
Is it really a mystery why people are fighting this?
Posted by: GuyInMilwaukee | February 20, 2011 at 07:15
Yeah, I love how the Teabaggies are always screaming about how Obama and the Dems are shredding the constitution, but damned if they can come up with a coherent example of it. Someone else exercises their ACTUAL constitutional rights, like the right to peacable assembly and redress of grievances, and they get all pompous about "the people have spoken" etc. Somehow that didn't apply to them when they were disrupting (and sometimes, not peacefully) the townhall meetings. They were mum about the obstruction of the Senate process by the secret holds and requiring everything to get a supermajority. Where was the tut-tutting of the corporate media? I don't remember any. But now we get the Villagers, the know-nothings that follow Beck, Limbaugh, Fox News and the Astroturfed mythology of the teabag cult weighing in with their fictional talking points, saying the unions don't even have a right to assemble. Assholes.
The hypcrisy of it all serves to underscore its real purpose: the corporate take over of government, aka fascism.
Posted by: Howlin Wolfe | February 20, 2011 at 11:11
Also, the teatards are jeolous that they can't muster more than a couple thousand without having Fux news do it for them. They're pathetic, but blinded by the Dunning-Kruger, so they don't realize their own idiocy.
Posted by: Howlin Wolfe | February 20, 2011 at 11:13
So this is what happens when Democrats stand up for their values???
WHO WOOD A THUNK IT, eh Barack? Harry? Chris, Chuck, all you gutless yellow dogs, etc?
It's about goddamned time, I hope it never stops until that POS Governor quits because he can't take it, just like the useless palin thing.
Posted by: Duckman GR | February 21, 2011 at 02:03
Thanks to all the First Draft crew for your fine work on this. Power to the people!
Posted by: Susie Madrak | February 22, 2011 at 08:40
Seriously, this just reminded me and inspired me to go vote today and take my husband with me. Wow.
Posted by: Katie | February 22, 2011 at 09:36
Walker campaigned on cutting wages and benefits. He did not campaign on destroying collective bargaining rights forever. He also did not -- in a so-called budget crisis -- campaign on no-bid contracts for his supporters, but it's in this bill. So is the authority to cut health care for the poor, the elderly and the disabled.
The first amendment, that the Tea Partiers claim to be so fond of, guarantees the "right of the people peaceably to assemble" and to "petition the government for redress of grievances." This is what we're seeing, not a bunch of people merely unhappy with Walker's election.
Posted by: Regina Driscoll | February 22, 2011 at 11:56