Do you want to prove it's possible for an enormous grassroots movement, backed up by fearless Democrats, to part a sea of unlimited corporate dollars and win elections with the message that we should stop taking stuff from working people and giving it to the rich?
We have a chance to prove that right now. Please, click here to contribute $5 to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin for the recall of Governor Scott Walker.
One year ago this week, tens of thousands of people were physically occupying the Wisconsin state capitol building and the grounds surrounding it. They were protesting an immoral Republican budget bill that stripped collective bargaining rights for public employees and slashed funding for health care and education in order to hand out huge tax breaks to corporations and the ultra-rich.
With this budget just hours from passage, all 14 Democratic senators left the state, thus denying Republicans the quorum they needed to pass the bill. If even one Democrat had either stayed behind or been captured by the state police which Republicans sent to arrest them, then the bill would have passed that day. Instead, the Democrats held out and the ranks of the protesters swelled. Fed by pizza orders called in from around the world, they kept the capitol building occupied for weeks.
Republicans eventually passed their budget bill by illegally circumventing Wisconsin's open meetings law, but the protesters and the Democrats were undeterred.
Backed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, the protesters began organizing recalls of Republican state senators. With an all-volunteer effort, they collected hundreds of thousands of signatures in less than two months. Over the summer, they successfully removed two Republicans from office by scoring electoral victories in districts Democrats could not even win in the landslide of 2008.
Even after that, the protesters and the Democrats kept going. They continued holding daily protests at the capitol building and dogging Scott Walker at all of his public appearances. Then, on Nov. 15, they filed the papers to recall Scott Walker. Through snow and winter weather, more than 30,000 volunteers collected over one million recall signatures. In so doing, they forced recall elections against not only Scott Walker, but also against the Republican Lt. Governor and at least three more Republican state senators.
The whole time they did it with a simple message: Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans are cutting education, health care and salaries for working people in order to make big corporations and the ultra-rich even richer. Despite the unlimited donations which have given Republicans a massive financial advantage in this fight, the Democrats and the protesters have used this populism to continually gain ground.
Wisconsin is not the only state where these battles are being fought, but it is a special case because it shows us a path to victory. How do we put an end to the gut-wrenching trend of conservative politicians taking from working people and giving to the rich? We do it by having heroes on the ground who keep protesting, gathering signatures, and knocking on doors no matter what, and by having Democrats who are willing to back those heroes up by going to the mat to defend the middle-class.
The decisive recall election against Scott Walker is coming soon. If Walker is recalled, then the whole country will know Democrats and the middle class can defeat the forces of greed with fearless populism. Republicans and the ultra-rich know such an outcome could change the political dynamic in our nation, which is why they have given more than $12 million dollars to Scott Walker to defeat the recall.
Much of that money came from only a few dozen members of the one percent of the one percent, all of whom gave $10,000 or more.
What happens in Wisconsin will impact the entire country. We must prove it's possible for a tenacious grassroots movement, backed up by a fearless Democratic Party, to breach a red sea of corporate cash and win elections with a populist economic message. If we lose, the masters of the universe will continue looting what remains of the middle class with no apparent electoral consequences for politicians who facilitate their destructive actions.
On the one year anniversary of the beginning of the Wisconsin protests, please give $5 to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to recall Scott Walker. This is an election none of us can afford to lose.