Wisconsin State Senate

President Obama: Why Are You MIA, When We Need You To Demonstrate Courage And Conviction For The Middle Class And The Poor?

Ronald Leave a comment

As anyone who reads this blog knows, the author is a great fan and supporter of President Barack Obama.

The author is very pleased with a lot of the reforms that President Obama has helped to bring about in his two and a half years as President, but it is disturbing that he seems to be MIA (Missing In Action) at a crucial time like now, when the stock market is going awry after the Debt Ceiling Controversy, and the decision of Standard and Poor’s to lower the credit rating of the US government from Triple A to Double A Plus.

President Obama, you are rapidly losing the faith and support of many labor union members; blacks; Hispanics and Latinos; the young; the progressive base in the media, the universities, and Hollywood; Independents; suburban voters; the unemployed; those losing their homes; and all others who were inspired and motivated to vote for this passionate, seemingly committed progressive, when he ran for President in 2008.

What has happened to this man? He is not out there fighting against the Republicans like Harry Truman would. He is not committing himself to help the Democrats in the recall elections going on this week and next in Wisconsin, where if he had intervened in the past week, we might have seen THREE Democrats or more win, instead of two, leaving the State Senate in the hands of the Republicans who are loyal to Governor Scott Walker. Obama always said he believed in labor rights, but has done nothing this whole year to step into the battles in Wisconsin or in other states, such as Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, and Maine. What is he afraid of? That he might be attacked for speaking his mind and showing his principles and beliefs regarding the middle class and the poor?

It would be far better for Barack Obama to fight tooth and nail than to seem ineffective, seem wimpy, seem scared of a challenge from the extreme Right, seem defeatist!

How can he expect us who want to support him to back him if he will not openly back us and give the opposition HELL as Truman did, or welcome the attack of his critics as Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the Great Depression!

Mr. President, respectfully, it is time to get out of the White House and show the fighting spirit we expected from you, and have not seen occur!

It is time to fight for the American people, and even if you lose the Presidency in 2012 for some reason, you would go down as a statesman who did his best, rather than go down in history as a loser in every respect!

Mr. President, IMMEDIATE ACTION for a jobs program proposal and fighting openly for the people in Wisconsin and elsewhere is REQUIRED NOW!

The Wisconsin Recall Elections: Good Sign For The Future

Ronald 1 Comment

In the past 100 years before yesterday, there were only 20 state recall elections, and only 13 officeholders were removed.

Yesterday, in Wisconsin, in reaction to Republican Governor Scott Walker’s anti labor, anti education, and anti public worker legislation forced through the legislature, we saw six Republican state legislators in the state Senate face a recall, and two were defeated, narrowing the Republican edge to one vote, 17-16.

While it was disappointing that the Democrats failed to win control of the state Senate by one vote, needing three seats, and only winning two, one must recognize the massive amounts of money brought in by corporate interests, including the Koch Brothers, and the fact that the six state Senate districts had been solidly Republican for years, in some cases more than a century.

So winning two seats was close to a miracle, and it shows that the labor and progressive movement in Wisconsin begun more than a century ago by Robert La Follette, Sr. is alive and well.

It is a sign that when people organize and fight, progress can be made, and the hope is that the recall movement can lead to an election to attempt to force Governor Scott Walker out of office next year, instead of completing his term at the beginning of 2015.

It is also a warning to John Kasich in Ohio, Rick Scott in Florida, Rick Snyder in Michigan, and Paul LePage in Maine, as well as Chris Christie in New Jersey, that the middle and working class will fight their reactionary, fascist like attack on ordinary citizens and workers!

Wisconsin And The Future Of American Politics: A Turning Point For 2012!

Ronald Leave a comment

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republicans in the State Senate may have won the struggle with public workers over collective bargaining in the state of Robert LaFollette, Sr. for the moment, by their dastardly legislative “trick”, which allowed them to take away labor rights without a quorum in their legislative body!

But it has aroused liberals, labor, the young, moderates and independents who recognize what Wisconsin represents: an attack on the basic human rights of workers to be able to have a “fair shake” at the bargaining table with their employers, whether the government or private corporations!

A recall movement is beginning against Republican State Senators, and some will be coming up for such elections within a few months. Early next year, the recall campaign will begin against Governor Walker.

The Wisconsin battle will also reverberate in the national campaign of 2012, including the Presidency and Congress, as well as the state governments. Public opinion polls already indicate heavy opposition to what happened in Wisconsin, both inside the state and throughout the nation!

It will mobilize many citizens to get actively involved in the political campaign, and to contribute financially to the Democratic Party, because it is more clear than ever before that the Republican Party continues to work against the interests of the working man and woman, whether blue collar or highly educated white collar workers!

This is a battle for the future! Will America’s future be one of billionaires, such as the Koch Brothers, dictating and mandating working conditions and promoting what is good only for the top two percent and the corporations and banks?

Or will it be one of the promotion of the interests of the rapidly dwindling middle class, and compassion for those less fortunate, who are not born to wealth and privilege and just want a “fair shake” from their government?

This is not just a political battle; it is also a moral battle for decency and social justice, and if it is lost in 2012, the long range implications are horrendous for the future of American democracy!