Amid the hoots, hollers and hyperbole, most of the leftie lodgers filling the carnivalesque Wisconsin state Capitol for two weeks have been cleared out. The nonstop drum-circle chant-a-thon squatting session that has briefly consumed the nation officially ended yesterday evening. Hundreds of protesters remained overnight, after police spent most of Sunday meeting with union leaders and encouraging provocateurs to leave peacefully.
As mob numbers dipped from several thousand to a few hundred, police announced those who remained could stay. No bedrolls or backpacks will be allowed if protesters come back into the Capitol when the building re-opens at 8 a.m. Permission to stay overnight in the Capitol will be re-evaluated every day. For two weeks, drum circles pounded, horns have blown, and rumor mongering has carried on into the night. The building’s limestone walls are covered with handmade posters assailing Scott Walker’s “dictatorship” and retrohippie 60s peace, free love and nonviolence mantras. And the atmosphere is thick and musty, with a stench putridly reminiscent of a high-school gym locker. Scattered among the crowd are homeless people, who have taken advantage of the free pizza and grub.
Sunday marked the 14th day of protests as thousands continued to voice opposition to Governor Scott Walker’s bid to end collective bargaining for state pensions and health insurance and increase employee contributions for both. Walker’s budget bill would eliminate most collective bargaining provisions for districts and teachers once their current bargaining agreement expires. He says the bill to close a $137 million budget shortfall this year needed to pass already to take advantage of debt refinancing.
Left-Wing Collective Conspiracy
Outside Sunday night, lefties discussed the alleged conspiracy by right-wing brothers David and Charles Koch, and Walker as Wisconsin’s very own dictator and co-conspirator. Never mind that if collective bargaining were abolished, it can be revived easily enough should Democrats control state government in four years. Come five p.m. the dwindling crowd was relegated to unemployed or parentally subsidized UW college students singing old labor ballads and some small children - in the most sophisticated form of child abuse and coercion – singing “Hey, hey. Ho-Ho. Scott Walker has got to go.” Many did not appear to understand the seriousness of the law being debated, but seemed most intent disseminating pro-Obamacare leaflets.
“Collective bargaining is an integral part of human and worker dignity,” said James Eager, 40, Madison, a self-described public sector employee. “It’s not a privilege, it’s a right. We won’t be bullied by Walker’s thuggery.”
“Some would say that politically partisan unions are in fact holding companies and governments hostage,” I said. Eager shrugged his shoulders indifferently and loudly berated Walker's proposal.
Minutes later, a teenager, briskly walking arm and arm with his girlfriend, aggressively stated, “I want a picture in front of the Fox News truck. I ******* hate Fox News with a passion. I could burn it.”
While little animosity was evident and most seemed resigned to their removal, a mean-spirited undercurrent of entitlement, sense of bitter miscomprehension, and a hard-left ideological anxiety enveloped the crowd. Yes, unions have played a valuable role in the U.S. history of the betterment of the human dignity of the worker. What's happening in Madison, however, is not an economical but patently political confrontation.
Some of the quirkier elements: a scraggly man walking a much smaller canine companion, holding a “Scott Walker Is A Sociopath,” sign, two men attired in psychedelic shirts rallying “Deadheads For Organized Labor,” a bearded Davy Crockett, hunter-trapper look-a-like, shouting anti-Bush obscenities, and a gossipy "Chicago Queers For Madison" congregation. “Oh, no, Walker didn’t!”
Marxist-Leninist Propaganda
More alarmingly, communist propaganda was being handed out, courtesy of the Chicago-based Voice of the Revolution, a self-described publication of the U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization. Some of those purveying these pamphlets were certainly old enough to know that the intransigent facts demonstrate that Communist regimes have victimized approximately 100 million people in contrast to the approximately 25 million victims of the Nazis. To collective the land, Stalin used starvation as a weapon, particularly against the Ukrainians. No list of the crimes committed in the name of Leninism and Stalinism would be complete without mentioning extermination and deportation of millions committed by the regimes of Mao Zedong, Kim II Sung, and Pol Pot. Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communists took power in 1949. In 1958 they launched the Great Leap Forward to accelerate the process of industrialization. Its chief effect, however, was an immense famine, an estimated 30 million Chinese dying of hunger. Many of the left-wing workers and protestors warmly approve of Lenin’s and Stalin’s policies.
Democrats Squander Obama Victory
Not a single one of us would dispute the assertion that Democrats and Republicans must balance the state budget of Wisconsin. Whether one voted for or against Governor Scott Walker, his election trumpeted an essential message. We must share in the inevitable pain that is required by adoption of tougher legislation necessary to achieve this attainable ambition.
The bigger issue here is how the petulant Democrats squandered Barack Obama’s victory in 2008, and how matters have worsend so quickly for their party. The Democrats botched their hand on health care reform, lost control of their message and failed to grasp how grueling economic times bode well for alternative Tea Party uprisings.
Left-Wing Anger, Dishonesty
Last week, it was the protesting public school teachers with fake doctor’s notes swarming the Capitol insisting Walker is determined to bust unions. Then it was Walker embarrassed by a prank call from a liberal blogger pretending to be a wealthy campaign donor. Sunday, a teary-eyed protestor of dubious psychological material named Damon Terrell, addressed the crowd with a barrage of troublesome comments met with raucous approval in the sea of anti-Walker, pro-union posters.
“I have felt the sting of hatred so deep that it almost ripped my soul in half,” disclosed Terrell.
Brian D'Ambrosio - Brian D'Ambrosio is the author of more than 500 published articles and seven books, including From Haikus to Hatmaking: A Year in the Life ...
