What hath Walker wrought?

[Jackpine Radical]

Madison is getting a lot of news coverage right now, but the rest of the state is also in the streets expressing their outrage as well. There is a demonstration at the courthouse in Eau Claire as I write, for example. I get the distinct feeling that Walker is seeing nothing beyond Madison & MIlwaukee (where his house has been picketed). I bet he truly has no idea of his unpopularity right now. In fact, I am making great efforts as I write my posts to avoid words like "explosive," "powder keg," and the like--partly in acknowledgement that the demonstrations have been universally peaceful, and partly not to suggest anything to anyone. (Although I suppose I just did.)

By coincidence, I re-read Gladwell's Tipping Point last weekend just before everything took off, and I can't help but believe that we crossed that point in Wisconsin this week, and I think the movement is now unstoppable, not just here, but in the nation.

We CAN have a bloodless revolution using the new social media and our love, compassion and empathy for our fellow citizens as our tools and guides. We already know what to build, because this nation invented modern democracy and the state of Wisconsin invented progressivism. The models are already there. What we need to do is to restore what we lost, and build 21st-century safeguards around it so that the plutocrats can never again take it from us.

The forces of evil--those epitomized by the Koch family--have always relied on hatred and ignorance as tools to control the masses. They captured all the conventional media and converted them into a propaganda machine their relatives in 1930's Germany could not even have imagined. They produced a self-destructive delusional system in the American public, in the furtherance of their vile dreams of empire.

But something new was spawned along the way. The social media: smart phones, email, the Internet, even fax machines allow people to communicate with each other worldwide without their perceptions being distorted by the crazy-glasses of the traditional media. I think of htis new interconnectedness as functioning like a worldwide brain--it is precisely what Tielhard de Chardin was imagining when he coined the term "noosphere."

Yeah. Maybe those old Mayans WERE right after all. Maybe 2012 is the year when we enter a new world, what they called the 5th World.

And maybe that classic Kochsucker psychopath Scott Walker set off something much bigger than he (or his handlers) could ever have imagined.

[Newest Reality]

1. Excellent Thoughts!

I like the reference to Tielehard de Chardin. Having read The Omega Point, I can see the correlation.

We must end the Corporate Occupation of America.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Yes!!!!!!!

Yes!!!!! Yes!!!!! Yes!!!!!

:applause:

I am sooooo with you, Jackpine Radical!!!

K&R!

[Waiting For Everyman]

3. K&R I agree, this begins something & the jobs issue is a unifier.

We've needed this for a long time

On twitter, the hashtag #1u stands for "One Union". That's what we need - a network of all of the unions under one "umbrella", including people who are not in one.

That can create a big pool of connected people, to go after other issues too.

Solidarity with all of you Cheeseheads, from Maryland!

[jwirr]

7. Including people who are not in one. That is very important. I have

never worked in a job that allowed me to be in a union but that has never stopped me from supporting the union. Power is in numbers and many of us will walk with union if we are allowed. I think the AFL-CIO has a membership fee for persons who are supporters but not members.

[HereSince1628]

4. Walker brought unwanted attention on what was planned as a silent strangulation

of state workers full rights to negotiate salary and compensation.

It is impossible to know at this time if Wisconsin was chosen for a public fight. But because of Walker's unwarranted and stooge-like reference to bringing in the national guard, a worker's emergency was indeed flashed around the state using the new technology.

Scott? Can you hear us, now?

[rbixby]

14. When he said the thing about the national guard

I knew this was going to blow up huge. I would like to see a general strike of public works workers in Wisconsin and see what the National Guard would do about it. Probably nothing. Walker seems to forget that he serves the public and the people, and it should be pretty apparent to him now that he's not doing a very good job of it.

[Raksha]

5. K & R - I see we're thinking along the same lines,

and have been for a while now. Great post!

[Blue_Tires]

6. He certainly opened up a can of worms...

Guess he never figured the backlash...

I've never been to WI, but looking at the size and scope of the protests against his first few weeks, I'm wondering how he even got voted in to begin with...

[Jackpine Radical]

10. It was a combination of things.

His Democratic predecessor, Jim Doyle, was a lackluster, rather visionless placeholder who sort of did OK but didn't excite anyone. Doyle retired leaving the Governorship open. Tom Barrett, a really great guy, was unfortunately not known outside Milwaukee. All the people who voted for Obama in a landslide 2 years earlier were unenthused by what they saw (rightly or wrongly) as paltry and slow changes. They wanted FDR and got Clinton II. And most importantly, outside Citizens United money came pouring in to take out Feingold & install a Republican regime to turn WI into a Capitalist Paradise.

Walker had been County Exec in Milw County for 6 years & nobody outside that area had any idea of what & who he was. He campaigned on Jobs, Jobs, Jobs and too many unemployed and desperate people believed him.

[Blue_Tires]

12. Yeah, we have our own "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" nutbar here in VA

[Habibi]

13. I'd like to know that, too.

Bet he didn't campaign on union-busting.

[kentuck]

8. Scott Walker, 1st Governor in 64 yrs not to graduate from college

The guy is a right-wing nut!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Walker_%28politician%29

<snip>
Walker explained his reasons for leaving college: "In the end, I figured I was in school to get a good job,” he said. “So once I had one, family became more important than getting a degree.”<5> He worked for IBM in sales from 1988 to 1990, and in marketing and development at the Red Cross from 1990 to 1994, according to his LinkedIn profile.<9> He is the first governor of Wisconsin in 64 years to not have a college degree.<8>

<snip>
Walker made his first try for political office in 1990, running as a Republican for Milwaukee's 7th District seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly, but losing to incumbent Gwen Moore.<5> In 1993, he won a special election to fill a vacant seat for the 14th District, representing Wauwatosa, an edge city west of Milwaukee.<10> Walker received the endorsement of Wisconsin Right to Life and The Milwaukee Sentinel in that election, with the Sentinel calling him a fiscal conservative and noting his anti-abortion, tough-on-crime, and pro welfare reform positions.<2> He was re-elected four times, serving until 2002 when he became a county executive.<10>

During his time in the State Assembly, Walker took a special interest in criminal justice matters,<10> and chaired the Committees on Correctional Facilities, and Corrections and the Courts.<4> In 1999 he took the lead in passing a truth-in-sentencing bill that ended the practice of taking time off prisoners' sentences for good behavior.<10> Over the years, he served on a number of other the committees, including Health, Census and Redistricting, Financial Institutions, and Housing.<4>

<snip>
As part of his campaign platform, Walker proposed cutting state employee wages and benefits and rolling back 2009 state tax increases on small businesses, capital gains, and income for top earners. Critics said that Walker's proposals would only help the wealthy and that cutting the salaries of public employees would adversely affect state services.<20><21><22> Supporters said that tax cuts for businesses would reduce the cost of labor, which would ultimately promote consumer demand and more job growth.<23> As a candidate, Walker indicated he would refuse an $800 million dollar award from the federal Department of Transportation to build a high speed railroad line from Madison to Milwaukee because he believed it would cost the state $7.5 million per year to operate and would not be profitable.<24> The award was later rescinded and split among other states.<25>

.....more

[Jackpine Radical]

11. Actually, he was not a Marquette dropout. As my wife put it,

he was a "spit-out," expelled for cheating.

[Poiuyt]

30. I've heard stories that he left after getting trounce for student body president

When Walker was a student at Marquette Univ., he ran for student body president. The student paper ran a story critical of him, so he and his thugs went around collecting all the papers they could fund so they could be destroyed. After this behavior was revealed, he lost by an 80-20% margin. He left shortly thereafter. Student records are private and he won't say anything about this or talk about his grades while he was there. Reports are that he was booted for ethical violations.

[upi402]

9. "Kochsucker psychopath Scott Walker"

Instant classic!
k/r

[snacker]

23. good idea for a sign... n/t

[Blue Owl]

15. That's what I'm thinkin'

Never again, Kochsuckers!

[TBF]

16. I've been watching facebook entries of my family/friends back in Wisconsin -

some of whom vote Repub (and voted for him), but had no idea he'd go so far. Progressives weren't fooled, they knew he was not giving complete answers during the campaign of just what he would cut, but moderates are clearly shocked by his actions.

I hope this is unleashing something that will spread to other states. People have been on egg shells the past few years anyway with loss of jobs, 401Ks, etc... maybe this is the tipping point we've been waiting for.

[OneGrassRoot]

17. When I posted my first FB entry yesterday morning about Walker...

a conservative Republican (Palin fan) from Ohio chimed in, "My husband and I are terrified he's going to lose his job. He's a corrections officer and Kasich hates all public employees and is getting rid of them."

I wonder who they voted for?

:sarcasm:

Until policies affect people personally, they easily turn the other way. The working class Republican voters are seeing it up close and personal now.

:eyes:

[Jackpine Radical]

18. Permit me a minor editing suggestion:

Until policies affect people Republicans personally, they easily turn the other way.

There is plenty of scientific evidence showing that conservatives are far less able to see things from the perspective of others than are progressives.

[OneGrassRoot]

19. Good point. I'll let your reply stand for itself.

:hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

22. Yo, OGR.

:loveya:

You do so much good work around here! Let me take this chance to slip you a small acknowledgement.

[OneGrassRoot]

25. Wow, I'm honored....

And grateful.

Thank YOU! :hi:

:hug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Hey Jack, I will be at the LOCAL support action in San Diego

and will have photos. We are at the tipping point my friend, we are.

[H2O Man]

21. Great OP !!!

Definitely recommended.

The dark force cannot handle the power of peaceful people united. The harder they try to stifle people power, the greater the positive response.

[Jackpine Radical]

24. I could not ask for more than praise from you.

Thanks, Patrick.

[OneGrassRoot]

26. Perfect spot to share my favorite Zinn quote again:

:hi:

"TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.

What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand Utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

— Howard Zinn

[Jackpine Radical]

27. …and that is precisely the message of mindful psychotherapy.

Attend to your successes. Focus and remember when you did it right.

Sometimes I think there are only a few basic, simple truths and we are condemned to keep relearning them because we keep forgetting.

[socialist_n_TN]

And both of those ............

the Zinn quote of successive present moments and anything "mindful" are central tenets of Zen.

[notadmblnd]

28. I hope so.

[SoCalDem]

29. "...Kochsucker psychopath Scott Walker ..." you know how to turn a phrase

:rofl:

[scarletwoman]

31. There is definitely a "people fighting back" thing in the air.

It seems like maybe we could be due for a big collective consciousness shift -- like the Renaissance, like the Enlightenment. Why not? We've seen it happen at other times in human history.

Ideas catch on, sometimes they catch fire. It certainly seems as though there's plenty of dry tinder about...

:hug:
sw

[DU GrovelBot]

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[myrna minx]

33. Excellent post. K&R n/t

[JimWis]

34. K&R

[alterfurz]

35. Marx said that revolution will only take place once the middle classes realize...

...they will never, ever join the upper classes.

King Scott is doing all he can to hasten the realization.

[Carolina]

36. K&R