Hello and thank you all for being here today.
What we have seen in Wisconsin these past few weeks has been nothing short of incredible. In response to a piece of legislation, poorly crafted and filled with debatable items, state Senate Democrats, as the loyal opposition, took the only measure left to them. By crossing state lines, these 14 senators hoped to delay the bill long enough for people to see it for what it truly was, a naked attempt to strip away the rights of the workers of the state of Wisconsin and centralize power in the hands of the governor. Across the state, ordinary citizens flocked to the capitol by the tens of thousands to voice their support for these 14 Democratic lawmakers and to oppose provisions in the bill stripping away the hard won rights of collective bargaining, rights that Wisconsin, in its true progressive tradition, was the first to sign into law over 50 years ago.
Last night we as a nation saw once again what happens when a group of people, any group, puts an ideology ahead of the welfare of its citizens. In what can only be described as an underhanded legislative procedure, Wisconsin Senate Republicans stripped collective bargaining language from the main bill and passed it in the dead of night, without notifying their colleagues of their intent, in a move timed to take advantage of a brief lull in the protests that have gone on non-stop for the past 3 weeks.
Let there be no mistake: this act is an affront to the people of Wisconsin, to our democracy, and to the nation. Democracy is messy. It is a slow, grinding process where no one, ever, gets 100% of what they want. When you are impacting people’s lives, it should take time. It should be a careful, deliberative process. It should take into account not just the wants of the majority, but the needs and protected rights of the minority. That this bill was crafted, proposed, and meant to be passed in less than a week’s time speaks volumes about its true intent. And when the Republicans stripped the collective bargaining language from the bill, they sent a clear signal to the rest of Wisconsin. This bill was not about balancing the budget; it was about silencing the voice of the workers, the middle class; nurses, teachers.
While saying all the right things, such as “shared sacrifice” and “we’re all in this together,” Republicans have proven by their actions, by including tax breaks for corporations, subsidies for the wealthy, and refusing to even consider asking those who gain the most from the blessings of our liberty, to pay just a little bit more, they believe “shared sacrifice” is only for those who can not buy their way into the halls of power.
Democracy does not end at an election, and though, as I have said myself, elections have consequences, no elected representative is given a mandate to ignore the voices of those that disagree. Compromise is not a four letter word. By their words, and now, certainly, by their deeds, the Governor and his Republican allies have shown their true colors.
The people of Wisconsin continue to lead the way. By exercising their right to peaceably assemble, they have shown the world that the people of this country will not stand idly by while corporate interests bend politicians to their will; while our resources are sold to the highest bidder; while our children, our future, languish in overcrowded classrooms designed not to educate, but rather to provide more profit, more money to those firms that even now are lining up at the gates for their handout.
Stand fast, Wisconsin. Your President is with you. There is no greater power than a people united for a cause they believe in. And you have made believers out of us.
