Often times I hope that I don’t come across as arrogant as it sometimes feels.  Yes, I find myself constantly criticizing our national leaders and, yes, I’m just a sixth grade school teacher – but, I’ve had several “real world” “careers” prior to going into education and I’m often times amazed and dismayed as I watch my government leaders making the same kind of, what appear to me as, gutless decisions OVER and OVER again.  The other day I heard the rough details of President Obama’s budget proposal and the first thing that came to my mind was “Why do Democrats always start a negotiation at a place that would aggravate the “troops” if that’s where it ended?  Did Obama negotiate out this budget in his mind before presenting it?  Honestly, what on earth is going on here?  And, final question: “What’s the next compromise going to cost progressives?”

When you really sit down and think about things, the reason you vote someone into office is to change the course of “events” and to make GAINS for your “side.”  However, just as President Obama came away from granting HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of WASTED tax cuts in his “compromise” with republicans last December as if he had “WON” something, he’s starting the budget debate from a position of defeat – yes, I said that right – he’s STARTING from that position.  God help us with what he ends up with!

We’ve just had BOTH parties agree that Americans shouldn’t have to pay higher taxes in an attempt to balance the federal budget (and, for people who think as I do, start paying down the accumulated debt).  We’re looking at the Wall Street bankers, the hedge fund managers, the corporate CEO’s who continue to THRIVE in this financially driven economy still finding ways to make MORE money and pay LESS taxes while producing products which do NOTHING for the betterment of our society.  Corporations which are willingly accepting lucrative (and sometimes “no-bid”) contracts from the GOVERNMENT moving their corporate headquarters overseas to avoid ANY taxes – yes, that’s correct, many of America’s (well, actually NOW “the world’s”) leading corporations PAY NO taxes at all – yet, they gain large portions of their incomes from government contracts!  And, what’s even more disturbing to me is that they want even MORE yet!

So, who can “we the people” depend on?  Well, I read an article in “The Nation” this morning which gives me hope and also gives me the answer to that question.  It is US that “we the people” can depend on!  In Wisconsin, the new REPUBLICAN governor is essentially pushing through legislation which would ELIMINATE collective bargaining rights (yes, you heard – OK read – that right, I’ve been telling you if you’ve been reading this blog that the republicans HATE unions, and that public employees are “next”) for all public employees with the exception of firefighters and policemen.  The Washington Post reported “The bill is expected to pass.”  Well, what would you expect the Washington Post to report?  The “Nation” (that pesky “liberal” publication which has been around since the days of the New Deal) reported that there were in excess of 10,000 protestors at the capital and their support was spreading.  This is what it’s going to come down to.  Are the workers of America going to stand together and stop this corporate siege of their rights?

Note:  I started this post last week and then left for a few days.  While I was gone, the “protests” in Wisconsin have grown in numbers – not only in Wisconsin, but presumably around the country (of course, the “liberal media” isn’t saying much about any “groundswell” – but, at least I can hope, can’t I?) and, on my return, I even read that President Obama had joined in solidarity with the protestors and FINALLY pointed out the obvious – THIS IS AN ATTACK ON UNIONS!  For those of you who tend toward the “tea party” who are evidently the major instigators of this recent PUSH to wipe the few remaining union workers in America into the ranks of the UNREPRESENTED at the bargaining table – in fact, I believe these people won’t rest until there is NO bargaining table – a little history lesson:  Thanks to unions – we have child labor laws, we have a minimum wage, we have a 40 hour work week, we have overtime pay, we have vacation pay, we have sick pay, we have (obviously, this is one of the things the opponents of unions wish to defeat) health benefits, we have maternity benefits, we have (in some instances) pension benefits, we have the RIGHT TO BARGAIN, and we have many other protections which those who represent the GREEDY corporate BEHEMOTH which is attempting to HIJACK America would love to ELIMINATE.

Close to where I live, in Oregon, the previous gubernatorial election was probably swung to the democratic candidate because the republican candidate (a former pro basketball player who was paid in the tens of millions when he was playing in the NBA) accidently spoke the TRUTH about his intentions to repeal the minimum wage in the vacinity of a microphone.  Kind of like the MaCaca mistake of George Allen in the 2006 Senate Campaign in Viginia.  Of course, he tried to double talk his way out of the statement, but the truth is that he (Chris Dudley) and the rest of the republican party are trying to push the workforce of this nation down as far as they can get them.  This has been going on for the past 30+ years, but with the “tea party’s” enthusiasm – plus leaders such as Sarah Palin and Scott Walker (the governor of Wisconsin who’s trying to essentially decertify the public employee unions in his state legislatively) who are willing to say ANYTHING the corporate MASTERS command, it’s definitely time for a counterattack.

I was encouraged that Obama got involved on the side of the protestors, but given his previous two years of pandering to the “right,” I refuse to get any more than cautiously optimistic that he’ll be an encouragement to these workers and the others around the country who are under assault.  Honestly, you’d think he’d intervene more directly.  These union benefits were won by our fathers and their fathers during the Great Depression and the Great War that followed it.  The union movement in America brought the middle class of this nation together into one of the greatest forces of WORKERS the world has ever seen.  Of course, that hasn’t affected these “right wing” corporatists who lost this battle in the 30’s and 40’s and have been trying to REPLAY it ever since.  When you look at the scenario that has unfolded, creating the mass unemployment in America today with the resulting HUGE number of Americans who are underemployed – you have to wonder what are the people who voted these “tea partiers” into office thinking?  They are republicans, and it has been republicans who have created this economy that is now based on Wall Street financiers making money with money.  They produce NOTHING of value to this country.  Meanwhile the middle class continues to dwindle in size to the point where there is an acute crisis going on in America and we have to wonder whether our “leaders” have noticed.  To them, Wall Street is healthy again!

Well, Main Street is falling apart – the people are losing their homes by the MILLIONS, the hiways are crumbling, the bridges are threatening to collapse every day during rush hour, and our government wants to CUT spending on things like the working poor, women (Oh my gosh – I’ll write something soon on the cuts that affect women – but, as a school teacher, I see directly the affect of cuts to womens’ health for the working poor, benefits like Head Start, benefits to homeless shelters, health benefits for children, etc. – this is unbelievable – and, I’m talking about Obama’s proposals – the republicans are FAR WORSE – hence my comment above on the absurdity of Obama starting the negotiation from a defeated position from the standpoint of the people who need the help the most – the result is the BIG LOSERS are – our low income children), Medicare and Medicaid, and education – we’re not even talking about spending on infrastructure any more.

It has been the republicans who have led the assault on what’s good in America.  They’ve been enabling those who would pilfer the wealth of this nation (I call them the greedy corporatists) at the expense of those at the “bottom.”  It’s as if they’re saying to those at the bottom, “You got yourself into that situation, YOU figure out how to get out of it!  It’s not the government’s job to help.”  That attitude wouldn’t be so absurd if they weren’t, at the same time, providing CORPORATE WELFARE in the TRILLIONS to the sugar daddies who continue to fund their campaigns.  What’s really bothering me is that the American people in sufficient numbers haven’t seemed to notice this.  However, what’s happening in Wisconsin may be the BIRTH of the kind of response these republican thieves deserve – and that’s the collective RATH of the middle class Americans who’ve been the victims of their PILFERING!  No one needs to get shot, there needn’t be any violent riots – the American middle class simply needs to let their leaders know that they have HAD ENOUGH!  In large enough numbers to get the “liberal media” to notice.

President Obama still has the oppportunity to be the LEADER who those of us who proudly call ourselves LIBERALS (I was a conservative in the early 70’s – that’s how far the “pendulum” has swung) worked to get elected in 2008.  However, this isn’t going to be a battle that is won or lost in the Wisconsin state legislature.  IT IS, HOWEVER,  a great starting point.  So, I hope Obama joins the BATTLE, but even if he chooses to continue on his frustratingly timid pandering of the same republicans who are attacking the very fabric of America’s middle class – the rest of us have HUGE power in numbers.  Hopefully, the “SEEDS” have been planted in Wisconsin.  I have a few suggestions – for whatever they’re worth.  Win or lose in the Wisconsin legislature – it would be great to see a RECALL movement of the governor and the state legislators behind this push to decertify the state workers’ union.  EVERY working person in America has a stake in that battle.  I would certainly donate what few dollars I have to their cause.  That would be a good start.  it would send the PROPPER message to the “tea party” who apparently hate unions more than the “classic” republicans (if that’s possible).

Then, let’s take this BATTLE to the other states who are part of the same conspiracy.  Somehow Ohio (that’s where my family originally came from before they moved west) voted John Kasich in as governor.  The guy is a true “right wing” whacko.  Ohio is a blue collar state which has been devastated by the jobs being sent to China and elsewhere outside the U.S.  For some reason they’re taking out their frustrations on democrats by electing people like Kasich and John Boehner as their main leaders.  A true, massive, revolt by the working folk of Ohio to Kasich’s attempt to do the same thing governor Walker of Wisconsin is doing would be truly inspirational to the rest of blue collar America!  Hopefully, our national democratic leaders will have the courage to join the BATTLE and take these people (the “tea party” and the republicans) on.  We will see whether democrats are cowering in the “face” of all the money which will undoubtedly be spent in 2012 as a direct result of “Citizens United,” or whether they will join those of us who are CRAVING for leaders who will take on this corporate TAKEOVER straight up.

To me, Wisconsin probably is “Ground Zero” in the fight to save the labor unions of America.  It’s definitely “you know what or get off the pot” time for the working class of America.  It had begun to feel hopeless as we watched Obama extend the Bush Tax Cuts, refuse to end the two disastrous occupations – thus, continuing the BRUTAL treatment of our troops by sending them into Iraq and Afganistan OVER AND OVER again, and cave in TIME AND AGAIN to what should have been an impotent republican minority during his first two years as president.  Despite the “mess” Obama inherited, no one was confused as to who caused it when he took office.  His pandering to republicans and his lack of will to hold them accountable for ANYTHING they did during the Bush administration created a lot of confusion in the mind’s of many Americans who simply pay attention to the sound bites and the headlines.  Plus, this timidness reenergized the republican party into what is now something far more dangerous than when Bush was president.  As far as I’m concerned, Obama allowed the republicans to get out of control, and it’s up to him to lead the fight to put them back where they belong (in the minority) 

If President Obama doesn’t “step up” during this next few months, he will have a minority of democrats in both the house and the senate in 2012 – if he’s reelected.  I think the question is becoming, does President Obama simply want to be president, or does he want to be a great and courageous president.  Well, he won’t have a better opportunity than the impending battle for worker’s rights (and, I can guarantee you, Social Security is on these “tea partiers'” horizon).  And, it’s very apparent that “we the people” have to push him in the “right” direction.  The protestors in Wisconsin have made a good start.  The rest of us need to support them financially and spiritually.  And, then, when it’s our turn to fight the republican onslaught against the workers of America – we need to do the same thing (I live in Washington, and anticipate something similar happening here).  Shut the schools down, close the government offices down, and gather in numbers at the state houses to not only protest these draconian attacks on worker’s rights, but to protect those rights for those Americans who will come after us.  The protestors in Wisconsin are walking in solidarity not only for their own cause, but for the cause that was first fought for in the 1930’s.  Ironically, it’s the SAME greedy corporate thugs who are on the other side of the picket line today as who were there at the height of the Great Depression.  What’s the saying?  “The more things change, the more they stay the same!”