Democrats love democracy until they are not in control. Then democracy is unfair.
Legislators in Wisconsin have left the state in order to stymie the process of a democratically elected government. The hate that has spewed from Democrats is breathtaking. Union members have even called for the death of Governor Scott Walker and signs showing Walker in a cross hairs are displayed. Difficult financial times have pierced the veneer of civility that unions and left wingers would have you think was normal.
It’s not normal. Under that veneer lurks the most vile of character. The hate, the threats, the bullying thuggery- this is the true personality of unions. Shared sacrifice means nothing to them. They shriek and revolt at the possibility of doing with a little less but not for one second are they hesitant to force the taxpayer to do with less. They cling to the necks of the taxpayers with vampiric tenacity, ever ready to drain the victims entirely.
No one should ever mistake unions as being civil, whether they drops bags of cement on buses or stomp on private property and terrorize teenagers.
Obama and Nancy Pelosi have made clear their support to this insurrection.
Teachers in Wisconsin are hardly impoverished. The average salary and benefit package for teachers in Wisconsin is worth more than $100,000 per year.
Teachers abandoned their jobs to participate in the protests and probably will want to be paid for their time.
The appearance of a race baiting demagogue will almost certainly see the overwhelmingly white protest crowd portrayed as racial victims.
Desertion seems to the main course at La Casa Wisconsin. Democrat legislators, facing certain defeat from Republicans hell bent on being financially responsible fled the state, preventing a vote in the Wisconsin State Senate. One of the escapees who ripped apart the democratic process, tore the state apart and shut down the government, Sen. Joe Erpenbach (D-Stupid) said this:
“That really, truly is up to the governor,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Friday at a downtown Chicago hotel. “It’s his responsibility to bring the state together. The state is not unified. It is totally torn apart.”
Governor Scott Walker would like nothing better than to bring the state together, but it was the idiot Democrats who left the state. Walker has dispatched the State Police to retrieve the truants.
Erpenbach compounded his disingenuousness.
“We all didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to do this,” he added. “The only other option we had to slow things down, was to leave.”
They have also indicated that they are prepared to stay away for weeks. As of 2009 Wisconsin legislators were paid $49,000 per year. Presumably, they are not paid to play hooky in Chicago hotels.
Why was it necessary to “slow things down”? Voters gave Republicans a 19-14 edge in the Wisconsin Senate and republican democracy was working according to the state Constitution.
The truth is that Wisconsin teachers are derelict and Wisconsin democrats have violated their oaths of office. Wisconsin teachers have thrown students over for their own avarice. Wisconsin democrats are subverting democracy. They are trampling the rights of the voters.
It is sedition.
There was a vote and democrats ignore it. The people spoke but democrats are deaf to them. They have no right to “slow things down” for weeks. It’s not part of the job description.
Governor Walker ought to channel Ronald Reagan and declare their seats vacant and hold immediate elections to replace them and if teachers abandon their students again they too should be shown the door. This sad episode proves that democrats have no use for democracy when it doesn’t serve their aspirations and further proves that unions could not give a tinker’s damn about the general good.
Enough.
Update: Teacher strikes are illegal in Wisconsin but a judge won’t enforce the law.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
Does this still apply in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin statute governing “misconduct in public office.”
946.12 Misconduct in public office. Any public officer or public employee who does any of the following is guilty of a Class I felony:
946.12(1)
(1) Intentionally fails or refuses to perform a known mandatory, nondiscretionary, ministerial duty of the officer’s or employee’s office or employment within the time or in the manner required by law; or
946.12(3)
(3) Whether by act of commission or omission, in the officer’s or employee’s capacity as such officer or employee exercises a discretionary power in a manner inconsistent with the duties of the officer’s or employee’s office or employment or the rights of others and with intent to obtain a dishonest advantage for the officer or employee or another;
I like the way this guy thinks. From a commenter at the Chicago Boyz Blog:
@John Cooper: I like it.
Chris Muir has a great cartoon up at Day-by-Day Cartoon.
Excellent post DJ.
Doc, nice summary, keep ringing their bell.
I’m shocked; Not just at Ivan the terrible commenting on docs work, but also at the recklessness of the whole endeavor. If the left wins this battle; they will lose the support of fiscally responsible democrats. However if they lose; they will lose the support of fiscally responsible democrats.
The unions always vote democrat; they really are just D-stupid.
Based on the last congresses approval rate, I imagine a lot of the democrats worried about the financial future of the US.
Allow me please to dissent. Unfortunately, I can’t agree.
I’m a lifelong conservative and well known right wing Republican, well, crank. :0) Truly, I have been a lifetime supporter of the GOP, I enthusiastically support Sarah Palin, and was delighted at the election results this past fall.
That said, may I respectfully ask how are the protests different (other than nastiness and vitriol) than the Tea Party rallies of the last two years?
Yes, the Unionoids have carried vile signs and their threats are evil. But sedition? Hardly. They haven’t taken up arms; they haven’t vandalized property; they haven’t (yet) even physically assaulted the Tea Partiers. So far the protests are noisy, obnoxious, and completely legal. … except maybe for the teachers taking off from classes (but let the school boards deal with that).
As for retreating to the next state to avoid a quorum, yes, that too is nasty politics at its worst, BUT… the day will possibly come when the Republicans in some state have to resort to the same steps to prevent some Democrat craziness. It ain’t nice, it ain’t fair.
But it ain’t sedition.
When they start shooting people, THEN we can use the s-word.
((Please don’t throw stones; I really AM on you guys’ side….))
Richard L. Kent, Esq. – michigansilverback.com
I have to agree with Mr. Kent on this one.
Sedition has a very specific set of defining parameters and I haven’t seen those in WI as of yet.
World English Dictionary
sedition (sɪˈdɪʃən) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
— n
1. speech or behaviour directed against the peace of a state
2. an offence that tends to undermine the authority of a state
3. an incitement to public disorder
4. archaic revolt
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sedition
While I understand, I still like it.
se·di·tion
/sɪˈdɪʃən/ Show Spelled[si-dish-uhn] Show IPA
–noun
1.
incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government.
2.
any action, especially in speech or writing, promoting such discontent or rebellion.
3.
Archaic . rebellious disorder.
Ibid.
@Richard L. Kent, Esq.: I appreciate your views. Thanks for participating.
I am operating under the definition I posted. I see this as blatant interference with the operation of a duly elected government – a rebellion.
Mr. Kent
The cause.
One group wants to return to the precepts of the constitution, stop government over-reach, and the spending that is obvious to anyone who can count to 10, is unsustainable…Even if those actions might not benefit them directly, or in the short term. That means the subsidies to farms and companies in Republican-held districts need to stop as well….and making their wishes known through peaceful and legal methods.
The other group want to keep the corrupt system of union/government/education/media collusion, that benefits them and only them, at the expense of everyone who is not part of that collusion. They will destroy whatever and whomever to get their way. They will commit crime, they will be violent, they will ignore judges, they will make rules up along the way, they will falsify science, bend data and to a person, views the constitution as an impediment, not the guidebook.
Your politics is showing…Ya might wanna cover that up.
This is the second time the Dems have done this sort of thing, and if you’re equating “craziness” with election results and the over-all support the Governor has for his plan, then you are sadly mistaken. When and if Repubs try this felonious stunt in the future, I can assure you, they’ll be taken to task. There is already a track-record of TPer’s removing Repubs that “don’t get it.”
(Esq.? Really? c-mon man, lighten up.)
Yes, sedition it is.
There is also the illegality of the teachers engaging in the open fraud of doctor excuses for non medical absences
Richard L. Kent,Esq, hi, WHAT more do you want, the GOVERNER is thought full to protect his people,
and what he decide is right , he did not decide for you, but for his STATE he swore to protect,
he has choose his timing to be now because he was there to see the dangers of an escalation
highly probable, therefore he need to show his power point, as they have shown their own menacing power, and he has shown the courage to do what is necessary for the security of his STATE and people
from which he has the full support, IT’s for us to be behind his decisions, he need the courage of other AMERICANS to stand behind a man of one word like him
@drjohn, #11:
Obviously Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck meet definitions #1 and #2. They’re both in the discontent business.
Sedition is obviously something more serious than voicing and promoting dissenting views, or peacefully demonstrating your support for them. Unless, of course, you live in a police state.
@Greg: Greg
They talk it up. They do not obstruct the process.
GREG , you call that peacefull. and they did force their way in and broke glass and terroryse the people,
you are a real mentaly disturb individual, sorry for you
@ilovebeeswarzone, #18:
Wisconsin firefighters, police, and school teachers are terrorizing people? Hmm… Maybe it was the firefighters’ bagpipes that did it.
GREG how come they where not on duty to prevent those to force their way inside the government and terroryze people who had to hide in lock offices, you think they where peacefull because they play the bagpipe, you think they where peacefull to bring the chidren there without the parent’s approval, what about those broken glass scathering the floor, and you think it was a joyfull place to assemble, and
bring the chidren to hear the menacing words of the croud,
sickening
The “, Esq.” is to distinguish me from all the Richard Kents out there, of which I know at least six here in the town where I live.
@Patvann:
Oh, so if I don’t agree in unison with every Republican I must be a Democrat?
Frak that.
Go to my website and read for five minutes. A Democrat I’m not. Thank you very much.
@ilovebeeswarzone:
All I’m saying is that if loud, raucus dissent is ‘sedition’ it’s ‘sedition’ when we do it too.
And if it isn’t ‘sedition’ when we do it it isn’t ‘sedition’ when they do it neither.
Until they take up arms and resisting through violence, or through vandalism, or through some other illegal means, seditionists they are not.
Remember, what we use against them, they use against us. Self-restraint in means and ends is necessary to maintain democracy. We forget that at the peril of civil war.
I would expect you all to consider this some kind of horrible. Actually, the unions have been under attack for several years and this is the final straw. We will not be stopped.
Whatever needs doing needs to be done in order to stop the union busting activities of the minority fringe. You think you are the majority and are sadly mistaken. We will take you all down.
Why not take a look at the fat cats who pay no taxes and vacation in exotic lands each month. Who sit on the poor by paying less than a living wage. Who walk away from the hungry and spit on the homeless. The teachers are not among those who need to be stripped of their rights in order to balance these budgets.
Richard L. Kent, Esq, hi, yes It make sense, but what about them terroryzing and
forcing their way in, and bring children to witness bullying in a mob assembly,
the GOVERNER has the right to provide security for himself and the people in there,
if it takes that to not loose but save DEMOCRACY, to show the unions they are not in command
in a STATE affair even if the president is unlawfully on their side, the real power must be guarded to protect AMERICA from within
@ilovebeeswarzone:
I have heard nothing of what you are describing. All I’ve heard about–both through the MSM and through citizen journalists and bloggers–is that there’s been a large loud mob. No destruction of property, no ‘forcing their way in.’
Of course I support the Governor, but I see nothing illegal in what the union guys are doing. The runaway legislators? Yes, arrest them if necessary, and force their attendance. (“The rights of the minority are to collect a paycheck, and their only duty is to form a quorum.” – Nicholas Longworth, Speaker of the House, 1930.) But let’s restrain our speech a bit, eh? “If little faults arising from distemper /Shall not be winked at, how shall we stretch our eye / When capital crimes, chew’d, swallow’d and digested, / Appear before us?”
Blackiris, who do you think you are, not the power and not excluded from the cuts,
when a brave and right fully GOVERNER decide to give you cuts just find yourself lucky
to keep your job, and keep in mind that it’s not forever, when their is no more money
don’t depend on the union they wont share with you, you cannot continiue your way of trying to
use hate and violence to intimidate others, you are not more special than the other,
so check your anger problem, and try to find happiness in your life instead
Richard L. Kent, Esq, yes I see, as long as they keep their manners so to be able to enjoy their life longer,
and the life of other people who are not in the union. and those who don’t have a job to go to, they all must obey the honest demand of a GOVERNER who is trying to save their jobs by asking them to accept the cut as to restore a just balance in his STATE, that is his responsability and he has no other choice. so the unionyse worker must share the burden of the others, too to be fair
This does not rise to the level of sedition. Sedition needs the element of attempting to overthrow the government, and they are not trying to do that in Wisconsin.
They are engaging in many illegal activities, but trying to thwart the rule of law without replacing the government falls far below seditious activities.
@Richard L. Kent, Esq.
Thanks for your defense of moderation and leaving the vitriol to the dnc and NEA union goons. My Pastor’s words today said it all: “Only you/we can choose to be angry.” All other FA patriotic, conservative bloggers – please do not let the Greg’s of this life distract you. As a retired Marine recalled to active duty in Iraq, I accepted my solemn duty to give Greg his say. However, it is also my right to work untiringly to ensure that Greg never has his day.
Sedition: not quite there yet. For those pushing that rhetoric, there are so many better ways to channel that intensity. We must show our support through actions and not be drawn into the animosity engendered by the anonymity of a blog. We must use this FA blog to lift up the fight for for the Constitution and the future of our republic and our children and grandchildren (as big as this debt is – our great and great, great grandchildren). It is our duty to follow the time honored tradition to “Lead, follow or get the H@ll out of the way. We will save our republic through our actions.
See you on the battle lines as we support Wisconsin & Gov. Walker and the many other states to follow.
Semper FIdelis 72
Semper Fidelis 72, yes SR, we’ll do what we can, and we can do quite a lot
thank you
@ Semper Fidelis 72, Amen!
This wound will not heal itself. This is just a battle, not the end of the War to Preserve the Republic, regardless of the debt. We owe our Grands, the next several Generations, the Founding Fathers Legacy, not the one that the Current Regime wants for them. Liberties surrendered never return.
Recalled from Retirement twice Myself. Reminds me of a comment…”In Case of War, Break Glass” like the signs on Fire Extinguishers.
You really need to do some research Mr. Kent.
1) Bused in protesters-even those from out of state
2) Organizing and planning from the DNC itself
3) People calling in sick to protest
4) Paying people to protest
5) The Tea Party people weren’t protesting at the expense of those they claim to help.
6) Tea Party people didn’t break the law. Some of the protesters have.
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/02/19/union-picketers/
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/02/19/badger-state-battle-unions-vs-tea-party-in-wisconsin-runaway-dems-could-be-awol-for-weeks/
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/02/18/apocalypse-now-wisconsin-vs-big-labor/
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/02/17/watch-wisconsin-part-iv-the-salary-info-big-labor-doesnt-want-you-to-see/
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6438313&id=54163243498
Semper FIdelis 72: Thank you for your service and your wisdom. I think you have found a home if you should decide to hang your cover here. We have many former service men who help us form our opinions. We are Conservative to the core with a few resident Liberals; however, we slap them around like red haired step children, but tolerate them for the sake of target practice; we can often be faulted for our enthusiasm, but not for our love of country and freedom.
Semper Fi from an old 0311, May G-d Bless and watch over our service men and women overseas and Chesty Puller.
@Hard Right:
Personally, I have no problem with the Leftists holding their little foot stomping protest rallies there in WI. They don’t have enough votes to defeat the legislation. All they can do is flee the state in order to thwart the process. Remember…this is not the first time that we’ve seen Dims do this. It happened in Texas too which hacked off the Electorate.
What has happened as a direct result of the Dim obstructionism in Texas? Well, the Dims have experienced a steady downward spiral since then and, now, the Reps hold commanding control of that state’s legislative body as well as the governor’s mansion. The unlearned lesson of Texas is about to strike the Dims in WI too.
Walker ran his campaign based on pledges to do precisely what he is doing. He won. According to the polling I have seen, the vast majority of WI residents approve of what is being done.
While the events in Madison may indeed be “different” in some aspects, the overall idea of freedom of assembly applies to WI just like it did for the Tea Parties. As you know freedom to assemble and freedom to petition are two of the great rights that we enjoy as Americans…all of us enjoy them. If we go wanting to clamp down on them on this occasion then one day, when the political pendulum has swung the opposite way, we may be the ones who are being clamped down upon.
Furthermore, there’s a priceless benefit to letting them have their say in an unfettered fashion and that is that all of America gets to see them for what they are. We all get to see their nasty little signs, and slogans, their uncivil behavior, their hateful rhetoric, and their hypocrisy.
For the last two years or so, the collective Left has been wetting itself over the Tea Parties. Remember how they were whining and complaining and griping and whinging and growling and pointing their fingers?
Remember how the LaRouche crowd (hardly Tea Partiers) showed up with placards adorned with a mustache wearing Obie and the Left nearly soiled itself?
Remember how they went on and on and on about this, that, and the other thing and all about the “new tone” and the “new civility” that was going to be ushered in by the events in Tucson? Heck, they even trotted out the Obie and MeChelle carnival barker show complete with souvenir t-shirts so that he could lecture all of us on how we should behave toward one another.
Of course, we all knew that was just a sham. We knew that Obie’s words and his speechifying, like his promises, all come with an expiration date.
So, let the Left have their moment. Let them bus people in from wherever…the Tea Party people came in by the busloads too. Nothing at all wrong with busing.
Let the left have the limelight. They’ve proven over the course of the last six days or so what they’re all about. Let the American People get a good gander at the kind of people they are.
No problem or objection here whatsoever.
What’s the old saying about givin’ ’em rope?
AYE CHIHUAHUA, I think you are very smart to give us that wise advice, thank you
Aye: as always you are a voice of reason and judgement. Well stated, indeed. Somewhere in the labirynth of these posts, I think I said something of the same nature in reference to Obama and his political commitment to illegal moves against the sovereign government of Wisconsin.
They are digging their own grave ever faster
While they listen to the clueless master
Without direction they march to oblivion
Is our responsibility to direct their decision
No we have no loyalty to those who seek the end
The freedom we love and choose not to suspend
Their loyalty is borne in hatred and envy
We choose not to believe lies so heavy
No we stand arm in arm to hear freedom ring
And lift our voices in praise of freedom we sing
I appreciate your voice, in this chorus of freedom against oppression.
@ Skookum, You may want to get Your copyright on that verse or You are liable to see it on T-Shirts for the next Election!
@ Mr. Kent
Ummm. Strawman much? I expect more out of an “Esquire”. After all, I’m only an engineer. I’m sorry I might have answered your question in a manner you might had been unprepared for.
Yes I’m sure you’re a Republican. Big deal.
Assume more out of us. We’re not Charles or his lamprey’s. Prepare well.
Ummm. We’re not IN your town. We’re on a Website…One with some actual traffic, and a community of regulars who tend to have some semblance of humility, and aren’t too enamored with attorneys, let alone immigration attorneys. (Wasn’t it 5?)
I’m more impressed with your Guard service in the Balkan’s, and would love to hear if you still think the Moslems were all so innocent in all that ruckus…but that will come later, I’m sure.
Приветствовать
OT, if they can make use of it so much the better.
I care not to chase down each solitary letter
Ours has been to judge not by the measure
we only want to glorify freedom our treasure
While others dream of earthly raw pleasure
We ask to preserve freedom’s true measure
That is our one and only selfless devotion
We dedicate ourselves to selfless emotion
Yes may our grandchildren know
The freedom others regard so low
@Ivan: Ivan
Holding the fairly elected government hostage is seditious.
@Aye:
A coupe minor quibles with your post. Just to be clear I’m not interested in denying them their right to protest. I do agree letting them throw their tantrum is tremendously beneficial to us.
If you mean the Tea Party rally at the capital, of course they were bused in. For state rallies, I doubt significant numbers came in from out of state. Not to mention those that did likely did so of their own volition and not the urging of an organization trying to inflate numbers.
Ummm. We’re not IN your town. We’re on a Website…One with some actual traffic, and a community of regulars who tend to have some semblance of humility, and aren’t too enamored with attorneys, let alone immigration attorneys. (Wasn’t it 5?)>>
((rolling eyes)) The fact that we’re on a website makes the need greater not less. Instead of five Richard Kents, there are literally hundreds, maybe thousands, out there on the net.
The main point, however, is what comes BEFORE the word “, Esq.” — my real name. You know (or can easily find) my real address. What’s yours? Are you Pat Vann? If so, fine. Good. But if not: are you so unwilling to take responsibility for your own words that you won’t say who and where you really are? And if not, why should I take you seriously?
As for my profession: you don’t have to be enamoured of attorneys, even immigration attorneys. My job is to take people who either have green cards or who can obtain them if they fill out the proper paperwork and keep them, if possible, from being deported for PETTY BULL$HIT. Did you know that you can be deported for (a) Bouncing a $10 check? (b) Shoplifting a candybar? (c) Having your wife call the police during a domestic argument and claiming you slapped her? (d) Selling ‘khat’ (a $100 ticket)? (e) Failure to pay child support? The point is that we leave children fatherless over misdemeanors. You wouldn’t tolerate that for YOU. Why then do you tolerate it for them?
IOW, that means I “DEFEND CRIMMIGRANTS!” Fact is, I am really defending the US citizens who are dependent on the immigrants in question. (If they have no USCs dependent on them I can’t help them anyway, and home they go.)
Don’t like that? Too bad. Remember, if YOU have a right to an attorney, so do people you don’t like.
And I know that in many conservative circles the answer to the “eeelegul alien” problem involves boxcars to the borders. That is NOT “conservative” solution to a systemic disease that afflicts us, but a radical one. Leave the radical to the radicals.
I’ll get to who was ‘at fault’ in the breakup of Yugoslavia on another occasion. Hint: It wasn’t necessarily the fault of 8% of the population, even if they were Muslim.
Why do Republicans hate America so much? Why do they want to destroy the middle class and all they have worked for decades to achieve? It’s madness.
@Eva: Eva, Ever read the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution?
Just askin…
Eva, poor EVA, who’s telling you those lies? and why should you believe it?
because A poor soul is learning the lies of the DEMOCRATS and is spreading it
to people like you,who don’t even try to learn more from the other side of the coin,
because If you try, you can change your mind as an TRUE AMERICAN you obviously would wish to become, take care
@Old Trooper2: Ever read the 14th? Rendered teh Tenth null & void.
Nope ESQ. It’s still on the Books and even Quacks like You know that. The Constitution is Not a Buffet. You get the whole thing or None of it.
Richard L. Kent, Esq. hi, nice to know that you are working hard to rid this BEAUTIFULL AMERICA of the ones not fitting in to become HONORABLE CITIZENS this COUNTRY is deserving to have,
please keep your activitys where it belong and don’t pick on my friends here which have prooven to be the top of what the word HONORABLE mean to anyone,
aren’t you on our side of the fence? then you would know better than counter these conservatives, and keep your fine rhetoric to deal with the attackers who come here only to disrupt, insult, and attack the truth that the CONSERVATIVES are giving free of fees and salary
please stay with us, we like you
@Richard L. Kent, Esq.: Folks get Deported because they are in VIOLATION of Federal Law. Due Process, ESQ.