WISCONSIN: WHERE ARE THE DEMS?

WISCONSIN: WHERE ARE THE DEMS?
A friend once told me that one thing he disliked about the Democratic Party was that they never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity. It was at the peak of the turbulent health reform fiasco which the Republican and the Tea party movement clearly dominated. My friend was livid that the DNC could not articulate a single talking-point, précised enough as to capture the position of the party in a clearer cohesive way. With that void came the reign of lies and misinformation, and talks of pulling the plug from grandma, death panels, and word like waterloo, were loosely used to depict the health reform as proposed by the Obama administration.
My friend’s well-placed anger is reverberating once again in the face of the unfolding drama in Madison, Wisconsin, as Governor Scott Walker and his Republican state senate embark on a union cleansing expedition. Where is vice president Biden, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry and other credible Democratic senators and party big wigs? These people should by now be camping in the site of action, and addressing the working men and women at every opportunity as a sign of solidarity. It is the ultimate bamboozle for anybody to believe that the Madison madness has anything to do with balancing a budget deficit. Rather, it has everything to do with the balance of political power.
If you don’t believe me, ask Karl Rove, one of Republican’s greatest political minds. “This is about union busting pure and simple, get rid of the unions and the Dems lose their campaign contribution,” Rove said a few days ago. Mr. Rove should know the efficacy of campaign contributions. His subterranean organizations raised millions of millions of dollars in campaign contributions, with which the Democratic Party was handed its greatest electoral defeat yet last November. So why are the Dems not outraged, and fight like hell to secure its biggest support-base?
Once again, the DNC is missing the opportunity to miss the opportunity of telling the American people the hidden agenda of the GOP as confessed by Karl Rove. In the spirits of the Citizen United Supreme Court ruling, corporations and labor unions can use their funds to pursue political interests, in furtherance of their 1st amendment rights. It is ironic that even though the workers have agreed to make concessions regarding all that the governor asked of them but their collective bargaining rights, the governor has not moved an inch from his rigid position. The Republican is determined to get rid of the unions, and in the words of Mr. Rove, deny the Democrats their campaign contributions.
We all saw the opposition the GOP amounted to frustrate the attempt by the White House to meaningfully reform Wall Street – Republican’s major campaign contributors. Rather than suffer any consequences for their roles in bringing the economy to its knees, the bankers were rewarded with unprecedented bonuses. President Obama was called all sorts of names; least of which was that he was anti-business. Why do we believe, in one breath that some banks are too big to fail, when it comes to Wall Street, and in another, show Main Street such disdain that suggests they have no reason to exist?
The time is now for the Democratic Party to throw its weight behind its own, just as the Republican Party has vigorously, and on numerous instances protected Wall Street; from whence cometh her campaign contributions. According to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, Americans strongly oppose laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employee unions. The poll found 61% would oppose a law in their state similar to such a proposal in Wisconsin, compared with 33% who would favor such a law. The poll result is an indication that the workers are on solid grounds, and the DNC should jump in front of the procession and claim the protest.