Alright, I know there have been a few posts already today, but what the fuck is going on in Wisconsin? I mean, god-damn, Wisconsin, you just won the Superbowl! You should be on cloud nine right now!
But no, instead the entire place has gone batshit nuts. The Republicans, obviously emboldened by mid-term gains, were attempting to force through legislation which would essentially destroy the Trade Union movement. Now, I know they've never been big fans of the trade union movement in the States, but the latest bout of hostility actually boils down to jealousy - during the recession, trade union members are relatively protected, and are doing a little better than all the non-unionised workers. So instead of thinking - hey, that's great, let's form our own union! - everyone else has gone, why do they get these perks when we don't? Let's bring the 'privileged elite' down a peg or two!
That's a cracking attitude, isn't it? If you see someone doing better than you, don't attempt to rise to their level, drag them down to yours. Is that the America that Jefferson and Washington envisaged? Christ, the "privileged elite"...these are the teachers, the prison guards, the binmen - they're not the enemy! They're not fat cats lording it over everyone with their precious money, they're the very people working for the good of society! But I guess they've never been big on Unions over in the States - smacks altogether too much of Socialism, I suppose. This is all about balancing the books, incidentally, something altogether too familiar to us in the UK...let the great god Money be exalted above all mere human concerns.
This is where it gets a bit nuts, by the way. The Democratic state senators realised that the only way they could stop the Republicans from forcing through the new legislation - which strips public sector unions of their collective bargaining rights - was to get out of the state, so the vote couldn't be held. The lack of 14 Democratic senators meant that there wasn't the necessary majority, or quorum, required to hold the vote. A nice check in the political process, that; make sure that one party can't just hold all their votes on days when the other lot are on holiday. But as soon as they realised what was up, the Republican forces went after the rogue Democrats to a starting degree. They cut off their credit cards and bank accounts, held them in contempt, and dispatched the police to bring them back. In the meantime, thousands of protesters - led, admittedly, by tiresome left-wing jumbo-windbag Michael Moore - gathered outside the State Capitol, protesting in support of the public sector workers. This went on for several weeks.
And then last night, the Republicans decided, somehow, that they could just have the vote anyway, even without the missing Democrats. Surprise surprise, they won! They used a "procedural move", apparently, to hold the vote in committee -which frankly, is just cheating. They cheated. They smuggled the deal through without any reference to the democratic process or indeed due representation of the people, who continue to protest outside the Capitol - but at least they can balance the books now, right? The schoolteachers, binmen and perhaps more significantly the political opposition be damned.
This isn't just the death knell for the trade union movement in Wisconsin - it tolls for the frail spirit of democracy, too. Sheer corruption, on every level.
There's an interesting parallel to the current situation over here, though - the Westminster government are trying to essentially do away with public sector pensions, and a huge number of public sector workers have threatened to go on strike. Maybe the Labour Party will decamp to France...
