The Wisconsin Solution

Protesters demonstrating against the Budget Repair Bill in Madison, Wisconsin, February 17 2011. (Photo: Richard Hurd)

The Wisconsin Solution
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

Monday 08 August 2011

It was, simply, one of the worst weeks in recent memory.

They passed the debt-limit "deal" in Congress and sent it out for signature by Mr. Obama, and the pen he used might as well have been a tiny little white flag of surrender. The financial markets here and abroad reacted to the unqualified mayhem of the debt-limit fight by going south like a duck in winter, and newspapers all across the country carried dire stories of a looming double-dip recession.

Adding insult to injury, Standard & Poors decided to screw us with our pants on by announcing a downgrade of America's credit rating. The fact that they blamed their decision on the GOP did little to soften the blow, especially since most of the "mainstream" media chose to ignore this particular aspect of what Senator John Kerry (D-MA) came to call the "Tea Party Downgrade."

And then, like a punch in the heart, came news that a helicopter carrying dozens of special forces troops had been shot down in Afghanistan, killing all aboard, including twenty-two Navy SEALs. It was the most lethal single incident in that decade-long conflict, and summoned memories of the daily carnage endured for so long in Iraq. The fact that the death toll in that particular portion of Afghanistan promises to remain high for the foreseeable future was yet another twist of an already bloody knife.

That's enough bad news to fill up a month, and it all occurred in less than seven days. The elements of these serial calamities hold up a very large mirror to everything that has gone so completely wrong in the United States. Our financial system is a fragile house of cards that is being further eroded by right-wing ideologues bent on deliberately trashing the economy in order to gain an electoral advantage in 2012. Mr. Obama has proven to be no match for their tactics, and in fact seems to share more than a few acres of common ground with the very bandits who are bent on his destruction.

Because of this, the silver-bullet solution to the problems wracking our economy - a robust jobs program, an increase in tax revenues, and the end of the Bush tax cuts for rich people - are impossible dreams that will not be fulfilled any time soon. The President has not the stomach to fight for these necessities, and with the House firmly in the hands of the Tea Party, an already sickly situation will be dragged ever downward as the days and weeks go by.

And, of course, the wars go on, and on, and on.

There is no easy fix for any of this, and the temptation to give up and walk away is incredibly strong for a great many people. Congress and the President are entirely divorced from the grinding reality facing so many Americans. The Citizens United decision handed down by the Supreme Court has actively begun to show its teeth, further consolidating power into the hands of a few. The whole thing puts one in mind of the cutting old Emma Goldman quote: "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal."

Tempting as it may be to believe this, I refuse to do so, and I have as my working example the great state of Wisconsin.

This is shaping up to be the decisive week in the Wisconsin recall effort, which was spawned by a right-wing power grab that attacked public sector workers, unions, teachers, and a whole host of others that have been on the GOP's hit list for years. What the GOP did not expect was the incredible, voter-driven backlash against those who initiated this frontal assault on working-class Americans. Eric Kleefeld of TalkingPointsMemo explains it this way:



This is not some kind of magic trick, or a bolt from a clear blue sky. This movement was begun, and carried forth, by very average Americans burning a lot of shoe leather to have a strong say in the direction of their state government. If it shakes out the way they hope, these people will have laid their hands on the levers of power and changed their future by the sweat of their brow.

It is not impossible to recreate this all across the country. It will just be very, very hard, but there are plenty of targets to choose from. Those House members who perpetuated the debt-limit disaster on us, who flatly refuse to do anything that might help the economy for no other reason than to thwart Mr. Obama's re-election effort and be damned to the suffering of the people, must be removed from the political equation.

Look to Wisconsin. It can be done, and it must be done. Mr. Obama is not going to wake up tomorrow and change the way he works, and the Tea Partiers in the House will continue to run wild. They are not going to help us.

We have to help ourselves.

Get to work.

http://www.truth-out.org/wisconsin-solution/1312815074

rather than the Tea Party.....On Wisconsin! Wish they had more publicity and received more recognition.

It's scary and huge.

I will help, but I need someone to show me what to do...

:kick: and recommend.

...if you know who to ask.

:hug:

People who know him seem to like him though I can't say I've ever seen so many democratic yard signs in Ripon "the birth place of the Republican party" where Democratic signs have always been sparse. On the other hand Olsen signs were everywhere, especially in affluent neighborhoods.

People who would never talk politics in the past are motivated and will vote dem.


But For Olsen to go down... we need the youth vote.


This will be a squeaker. I'm all ready gnawing on my fingernails

...may.

I can tell you this. From the feedback I get, the Walker recall will be easier.

it is hard to believe it is this close. All we did was stand on a street corner with a sign and people pulled up in wintry weather like a drive-thru to sign. I'm astonished he has this kind of support. I hope we are pleasantly surprised on Weds, but I too, am nervous.

who says we need to take it to the streets.

Where ya been, Tweety?

So much for offering solutions...even vague ones.

:(

:toast:

Not to hijack your thread, but I agree. What we're doing is what the country needs.

We're working our collective tail off to win these seats. Reports today of a negative flake rate at recall offices - in other words, we had more people coming in to help than had signed up.

Everyone here knows how important this is. It's moving to see, but I agree - it all will come down to turnout.

On edit: If we pull it off, I think we'll start to see this kind of thing spread.

:hug:

:toast: