Thursday, February 24, 2011

Public workers are not the enemy

I am simultaneously proud and ashamed to be a Wisconsinite lately. The situation as I understand it is this, last November, riding a wave of anger, a bunch of new people were elected. A little over 1.2 million people, out of frustration, anger, malice, pure nihilism, or the sports team mentality "elected" a slack-jawed incompetent county executive named scott walker as governor. That represents about 25% of the population of this state, and his "victory" was by a 2% margin. But even winning by 1 vote is taken as a mandate for today's corporate masters. I may have some of the particulars wrong but walker immediately moved to cut taxes for the super rich and business, no suprize there, but then claimed it created a giant deficit which could only be repaired by crushing state worker unions. Their contracts are no longer worth the paper they were written on, except of course the firefighters and police who backed walker but they can't negotiate wages in this proposal. This is a quick poll on what Wisconsinites feel about this.

http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/BSW_POLL_PRESS_RELEASE_FEB_17___2011.pdf

This is why I am an historian and not a political pundit, I cannot suppress my contempt for walker and his ilk. This governor is a disgrace to the office, as are all the republican legislators who serve corporate power. It is impossible not to be disgusted at the character of this radical power grab by the extreme right and their paymasters, I cannot separate anger at these people from their policies as they are one and the same.

The whole affair reeks of partisanship and class warfare, reflecting a longstanding hatred of democracy and liberty. "Right to work" is how some genius first put the wedge of pitting workers against each other, this noxious phase first renders the employer neutral if not benevolent and the union as a barrier to individual liberty. Now this scheme is being adapted to destroy the public sector. Thomas Frank sketched out the strategy of "defunding the left," sabotaging good government and simultaneously putting it to work "fund, fund, funding the right" in The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation I could not put it any better, but the idea in short is a conscious effort to crush the spirit of the opposition and destroy liberalism as a viable option. It's working pretty well to the detriment of all of us non-millionaires.

This latest attempt to strip working people of rights that were hard won is especially obnoxious. Public workers like teachers especially are NOT in this field for the money but they have fought long and hard for recognition of their professionalism. Cynicism is not exactly a suprize in some teachers when the enemies of an enlightened and rational society (republicans) are constantly attacking that professionalism from all directions. Kids are programmed by TV not to value education, encouraged to be selfish brats, and view the authority of people trying to help them as suspect. Consequently, after years and years of commercialism young people have a subconscious imprint of selfish materialism that teachers try to counteract just as the teenage rebellion sets in. Making teachers' motivation suspect on the part of students and imparting the view that any public-piritedness must also be a con to take advantage of young minds. The right carefully cultivates this view as well, especially in college. You've heard it right? Liberal professors brainwash kids in the indoctrination centers called "higher education." From the other end, republicans in government constantly find or manufacture excuses to cut money for education.

Let's try a little thought experiment. Do you want the people entrusted to teach your children to be paid poorly? How about the people that fix roads and bridges? Or the police, firefighters, and corrections officers that we trust to keep us safe? If you buy the standard "conservative" line that money=effort, then somehow attacking public workers seems like a rather counterproductive road to a better society. Orrrr, you can recognize the malicious intent of walker and his gang of thieves in their attempt to divide and conquer the American people yet again.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

My response to a good man.

"Bring back the Eisenhower and Rockefeller Republicans, and for that matter the Lincoln Republicans and LaFollette Republicans too! They could actually govern without demogaugery, and believed in democracy over oligarchy. Actual conservatives understood the need for preserving the good in society and for the whole society, not divide and conquer for the sake of special interests as these psuedo-cons believe. Right on man! You and other decent Republicans need to demand better from your party, as I need to demand better from mine as well."

Thursday, February 17, 2011

blah

"The simplistic attitude of teabaggers seems to be that public services work like magic, and they can cut taxes, bash public workers and somehow schools, roads, etc. will continue to work. It shows that our schools need a lot more investment and teachers need a lot more support if the 1.2 million morons that elected walker is what comes out of them."