Teetering those Totters

Posted on by HumboldtDems

Years from now, we will think of February 2011 as the tipping point in America’s great awakening. After all the warnings and wake-up calls, this will be remembered as the time when the American people decided to come together, confront the plutocracy that plagues our republic, and do something to change the economic inequality / instability that has grown from it. There is a tide, and it’s turning.

In the last few weeks, that tipping point rapidly turning into a boiling point. Everywhere, there are organized and spontaneous acts of peaceful resistance. Lethargy, complacency and cynicism are transforming into indignation and determination.

Wisconsin has stripped public unions of bargaining rights.  Ohio is preparing to do the same.  But, in Michigan, they’ve upped the ante by giving the Governor the right to dissolve whole towns, nullify any and all contracts that town may have entered into and then place whomever or whatever corporation he wants to put in charge.  I’m sure the folks who were misled into voting for the folks who are doing all the pillaging are ruing the day they voted Republican.

There is however, a bit of good coming from the over-reach of Republican legislatures:

  • People are actually getting off their butts, are beginning to pay attention, and they’re showing their disdain in the streets.
  • People are beginning to see parallels between Rep. Peter King (Muslims) and Rep. Joseph McCarthy (Communists), and between the GOP (villifying Union workers) and the Nazis (villifying Jews).  The hearing held yesterday and the series of additional ones Rep. King has indicated he will hold won’t make America any safer, but they will leave us ever more divided. Congress has no business singling out the religious beliefs of one group of Americans.  Actions being taken in a number of northern central states are not budgetary in nature. Their aim is to take money out of Union coffers in an attempt to take away a potential Democratic Presidential victory in those states (since unions are major contributors to Democratic candidates).
  • People are beginning to realize “THEY” are NOT the Republican’s constituency … the Republican’s constituency is the rich, the powerful, and the corporations who funded their campaigns, or in other words, whoever it was that bought them their seats.
  • People are becoming actively involved in efforts to recall members of their legislatures who cast their votes on onerous bills that are clearly against the public’s interest.
  • What people haven’t yet realized is, that 2011 is a ‘redistricting’ year … and the GOP-dominated legislatures across this nation will reapportion the districts in state after state to favor the continued election of GOP candidates over the next decade.  Going forward, it’s not going to be easy to elect middle-class friendly congressional leaders as the GOP will be working diligently to tilt the balance of affairs in their favor.

Most interesting, however, is that people are finally beginning to wake up and take action against those donors who funded the campaigns of the like of Governor Walker. Opponents of Scott Walker’s budget balancing bill are urging consumers to boycott companies whose executives or political action committees made big contributions to the Republican governor’s campaign. Today, M & I Bank of Wisconsin learned first had what public outrage is capable of.  You see, M&I Bank of Wisconsin as a ‘contributo’r to Governor Walker, found itself on the Governor Walker Watch List.  Seeing the name of their bank on that list, some 600 disgruntled fire fighters and ordinary citizens descended upon M&I Bank of Wisconsin and began withdrawing their deposits, closing their accounts, and demanding cashier’s checks, on the spot.

According to Daily Kos, two of those firefighters, who pride themselves in saving significant sums of their earnings withdrew over $600,000 just between the two of them.  And, at the M&I bank across from the Capital, firemen there withdrew $192,000.  Needless to say, the bank closed the doors of all their banks, fearing a major run on their banks.

Apparently M&I Bank has forgotten this is the age of interconnectivity.  They can physically close the doors to their bank buildings, but it can’t and won’t stop them from bleeding funds.  All the people need to do is go to the bank next door, or better yet a local credit union, open an account and give that bank or credit union permission to request those funds via electronic transfer.

If we learn anything from the actions in Wisconsin and Michigan this week, it’s that like gardens that need tending, close scrutiny needs to be paid to political goings-on.  While many felt their job was done once they left the ballot box, they’re now finding that’s not case.  And in going forward, we need to invest our efforts in terms of saving and spending our money with companies and firms who believe in American Democracy, not with those who are pursuing a Corporate Plutocracy.  If we truly value the America we grew up in, then we need to stand up and fight to keep it.

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