Democracy in action

[PG_Gabriel]

Anyone in Wisconsin and some around the country will know whats going on in our state right now. Basically our new Governor is trying to get all state workers to pay a higher percent of their health insurance, pay higher pension rate, get rid bargaining rights of all state employees, basically destroying all unions. Simply put he is ticked a Lot of people off in his first month in office. I know a family that will go from $100,000 year to around 80,000...

Protesters are gathering in the masses at the capitol (yes I know its nothing like whats going on in Egypt Bahrain and so on) But still over 10,000 people gathered on Capitol Square today, I included.

Madison school district was shut down today, for over 60% of teachers didn't show. Many more distracts are likely to follow. Schools that did run had multiple walk outs. In some cases hundreds of kids just stood up and walked out.

As i said Its no were near as intense as what going on on the other side of the world but still very interesting. These are a few photos of mine, and a Video form CNN.







http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2011/02/16/tsr.wisconsin.protests.cnn?iref=allsearch

[cosworth151]

We've got the same thing here in OHio with our new Gov. Like yours, he threw away thousands of jobs on a new high speed rail system, is out to break unions and is a crazed privatizer. He even wants to do away with overtime pay for all workers, public and private, in the state.

We're having a big demonstation at the Statehouse today. I'll be there.

[John S]

Silly question maybe guys, but didn't the Governors get elected in a democratic process? 

[cosworth151]

Just barely. Nw he's doing exactly what he promised he wouldn't do during his campain.

[Ian]

Our politicians are all liars too Cos, they promise all sorts until they get elected then they do a u-turn on most of it.

[Dare]

some of our latest gov's have had to work as hard at fighting criminal
charges as getting elected gov.We have the only gov in US history
assassinated in office

[cosworth151]

Also, we have the Diebold Fraud-O-Matic voting machines here in Ohio. It's a black box system with no paper record. Basically, it's "Trust us." The owner of Diebold is a major Republican acivitist who promised to "deliver Ohio for the party."

[Jericoke]

I know that many US States have a 'recall' mechanism to remove governers who outstay their welcome.  I guess Wisconsin and Ohio aren't among those?

When I was younger (and thinner) Ontario elected a Conservative government, twice.  They were very unpopular (except when it came to election time), pullling many of the same tricks you're getting in WI and OH.  They basically pushed the idea that the pain was necessary, and no one could prove otherwise.

[Scott]

Canada is a Democratic Dictatorship...every 4-5 years they elect another dictator and then have them do whatever they like no matter what they said in the election campaign. 

[Ian]

Ditto in the UK too Scott.

[Scott]

Switzerland is democracy in action though.  Every quarter there is a vote for half a dozen issues that the people don't feel the government is in a position to decide, so the people decide on their own, often with the government campaigning against one side or the other.

The latest one was a couple of weeks ago.  One issue was whether a bunch of local townships should join the bigger town of Visp and make a sort of metropolis.  All the councils wanted it, but about 60% of the people said no.  Another was should Swiss males under 50yrs be allowed to still keep their military machine guns at home in their closets.  Urban population and government wanted them out of the homes, the rest of Switzerland (about 70%) said forget it - they like to be armed (little known fact is that Switzerland can mobilize a 1.5million army (armed obviously) in less than 24hrs - I don't think even Iran can do that).  A few more issues, but those are just examples.

[lkjohnson1950]

Arizona's Gov thinks it's OK to let poor people die rather than provide health care. She's petitioned the Fed to be exempt from medicaid. At least 2 people have died because the state did not provide funds for transplants. She is suing the Feds to allow the enforcement of SB1070 which essentially says if you appear Hispanic, you better be carrying proof of citizenship, or you're headed for Mexico. She's suing the Feds for failure to enforce the border, failure to pay for services to illegals. She's suing the Feds over the new health care laws. Though we have the largest budget deficit in history and one of the largest in the US, she's pushing for tax cuts for large corporations. Republicans have been getting elected for 30+ years by cutting taxes, and now they are using the inevitable deficits as an excuse to cut services they don't like, namely anything for the poor. Unfortunately liberals don't have a clear, popular leader to balance the far right.

Lonny

[cosworth151]

Wasn't she appointed when the previous governor went to Washington?

[lkjohnson1950]

Yes, but she was elected on her own last November. Arizona is ruled by corporate interests and NRA money. In our state anyone can carry a concealed weapon without any permit. They are working on a bill to allow students and faculty to carry weapons on campus at the state's universities. The fact that all these federal lawsuits are being funded by private interests says something interesting and to me troubling about status quo here.

Lonny

[Scott]

Are you serious?  No permits, and now they want students and teachers to be allowed to carry guns as well?  Sounds like the Wild West.  Absolute nutso!