10 Responses to “Public Unions and Wall Street”

1. gerryf Says:
   March 10th, 2011 at 12:09 pm

   What happened in Wisconsin yesterday is horrific.

2. mw Says:
   March 10th, 2011 at 12:49 pm

   I’ve got no problem with it. The Dems got outmaneuvered. Ezra Klein nails it:

   “Assuming Scott Walker’s procedural maneuvering last night was legal — and, as I’ll explain in a moment, there are some questions about that — then it was also legitimate. Certainly as legitimate as the Democrats fleeing the state to deny the Republicans quorum. They did something procedurally extraordinary to stop the bill from being passed, and he did something procedurally extraordinary to get the bill passed.

   It seems to me that the system worked. Democrats were able to slow the process down and convince both voters in Wisconsin and the national media that there was something beyond business as usual happening in Madison. National and state polls show they were successful in that effort. Walker and the Senate Republicans ignored the Democrats’ attempts at compromise and ignored the public turning against them and decided to pass the legislation anyway.

   That was their prerogative, and now it’s up to the voters to decide whether to recall the eight Senate Republicans who are eligible for judgment this year, and to defeat Walker and the other Republicans in a year or two, when they become vulnerable to a recall election. That’s how representative democracy, for better or worse works.

3. Tillyosu Says:
   March 10th, 2011 at 2:09 pm

   I agree with MW. And it’s hilarious to hear the left screeching about the integrity of democracy with the Wisconsin dems still in hiding…

4. michael mcEachran Says:
   March 10th, 2011 at 3:39 pm

   I agree with mw / Ezra, too. Assuming that everyone is acting within the law – protestors, Dems, Repubs – it’s our democracy in action. I’m proud of it as an American. Its messy, but it’s public, and all will be held to account by the voters, when it’s time, as they should.

5. gerryf Says:
   March 10th, 2011 at 3:44 pm

   I expect nothing less from you two.

   Yep. It’s OK to violate the law (opens meeting act). It’s OK to pass legislation that 70 percent of the electorate opposes. It’s OK to use the power of your office for personal and political gain rather than acting in good faith representing the people.

6. gerryf Says:
   March 10th, 2011 at 3:46 pm

   Sorry mike, but this is democracy perverted by all involved….well, legislators, anyway.

7. michael mcEachran Says:
   March 10th, 2011 at 7:36 pm

   I don’t know, gerryf, Dems’ outrage on this sounds an aweful lot like Repub outrage over th use of cloture to pass healthcare reform. Again, that’s equivalent assuming no one actually broke the law in Minnesota Obviously if Republicans did as you assert, then that’s a different story altogether. And there are legal remedies for it which should be pursued.

   BTW – I think it is OK to pass legislation that 70% of the electorate opposes. The signers of such a law may not have a job for long, but its perfectly OK to do it. It hardly seems likely they will gain politically if its as unpopular as you claim.

8. kranky kritter Says:
   March 10th, 2011 at 10:57 pm

   Let’s face it, any whining sanctimony about procedural methodology from either side is preposterous. Both sides have been using every gaming tool in the toolbox of arcane maneuvers. Once the gloves come off, they’re off. You don’t get to take off your gloves, land a few hard blows, then whine that we all need to put the gloves back on. That don’t play.

   This stands as an entirely separate point from any debate over the alleged merits of what Walker has managed to wreak, for now. As I said before, the GOP is likely to reap what it has sown, and more.

   It’ll be very hard for the GOP to spin away a well-woven tale of preserving tax cuts for the rich while seeking to cut a variety of benefits for regular folks. The commercials are going to write themselves, and they’ll be ruthless:

   After GOP congressman Joe X’s buddies on wall st destroyed our economy, he led the fight to preserve tax cuts for the wealthiest, which cost regular hard-working taxpayers over $800 billion. Joe calls your social security check an entitlement. He says that entitlements are killing our country. Maybe he’s forgotten how you earned your social security by paying into SS for 40 years. Maybe he doesn’t care that you’re going to be depending on it. Well I’m Kind liberal Jolene Y, and I understand. Blah, blah, blah.

   RUFKM? Wisconsin has been a bloodbath. Expect to see the bloody flags waved until November 2012. BTW, as Mike suggests, this is not a bug, it’s a feature. Our government is a representative democracy. That means that after X is elected, X is supposed to do what X thinks is right for his constituents, even if they may not agree. And if they don’t agree, they get to fire X.

   It’s OK to pass legislation that 70 percent of the electorate opposes.

   So, what’s the magic number? By the time HCR passed, it no longer had majority support either. These are trying times. No legislation that represents a difficult choice between having our cake or eating it is going to have really broad enthusiastic support. It’s only the unrealistic, kick the can stuff, to pain necessary stuff that will attract broad swaths of fools and deniers.

9. michael mcEachran Says:
   March 11th, 2011 at 11:57 am

   Interesting quote today from a Dem lawmaker in Wisconsin that more or less summarizes this conversation:

   ““From a policy perspective, this is terrible,” said Mike Tate, the leader of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

   “But from a political perspective, he could not have handed us a bigger gift,” Mr. Tate said of the governor.

10. Chris Says:
    March 11th, 2011 at 8:40 pm

    The problem most of us sconnies have with it, beyond the fact that it’s going to put a dent in the economy, is the lies that they told to sell it – and the big money coming from the koch brothers that bought off walker.

    But didn’t you guys hear? Walker is just on the path that god set for him. You see it’s god who wants the unions to be destroyed and power plants to be sold in no-bid contracts. Whew, well I’m glad god is on top of that.

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