I've been a member here for years and have never really written a diary. I never felt compelled to do so, since most of the diaries already here are well-written and comprehensive. Thought I'd write one today, though. Sorry if it's dull, lacks art work or illustrative links or is less than eloquent. It's more of a stream of consciousness or a catharsis, as opposed to being the master's theses we usually see in these parts.
I live in Milwaukee, and today I drove to Madison to take a look at the ongoing demonstrations. My 27 year old daughter lives very near the State Capitol, and since it was sunny and not that far below freezing I thought it'd make for a fun daddy-daughter Saturday afternoon.
I had some trepidation before going. On Friday night, it appeared that Republicans were trying to create a narrative in the media that these demonstrations were dangerous, or at least potentially so. Paul Ryan, a pompous ass who represents the southern edge of my state in Congress, apparently called them a riot. Republican members of the state legislature also called the situation a "tinder box". And of course we all knew that the Tea Party people were to show up today, and we remember how they like to bring guns to political events and how they like to scream and rant at public meetings. They proved in congressional town hall meetings during the summer of 2009 that they can be unstable, and we all also remember the "Second Amendment remedies" that their US Senate candidate in Nevada discussed. So there was some worry, but I also knew they're be alot of cops and that I'd be surrounded in large part by my union brothers and sisters. So on balance, I figured it'd be safe enough, even for my daughter.
So off we went, walking up East Wash from my daughter's street to the Capitol. We saw a wingnut almost immediately with a sign that said "God rules; not mob rule". I don't think God is a registered voter in Wisconsin, and our system is based on popular sovereignty rather than theocracy, so obviously I immediately wrote him off as a hopeless crank.
Then we got to the first street that makes up Capitol Square. And every fear I had about violence, or wingnuts with guns, and over the top anger, immediately disappeared. It was, in short, a street party. Subtract the political signs and add beer and bratwurst and it was basically a classic Wisconsin tailgate party. People were casually strolling counter-clockwise around the Capitol. You just kind of drift into the march or parade or whatever, then you drift over to the sidewalk when you felt obliged to do so. Picture a New Orleans-style second line without the brass band, in which people are holding hand-made signs that say everything from "Dread Scott" to "I Blame Favre" to "If You Can Read This, Thank A Teacher". There were speakers set up near the State Street side of Capitol which were playing music. I heard "Jump Around", which is a Madison favorite, as well as "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond, during which people sang just like they were Red Sox fans at Fenway Park. None of this seemed even slightly ominous.
Here's another illustration of how scary it wasn't. At various points along the perimeter of the Capitol grounds, people were holding signs reminding people that this is a peaceful rally. They sort of had the look of, and appeared to perform the function of, parade marshals. I walked up to one of these folks and said that the Republicans attempted to make this thing seem like it was a ticking time bomb, but it didn't look that way to me. She agreed and said there hadn't been any problems. I observed that it was so orderly that people weren't even treading on the lawn of the Capitol. Maybe sometime Paul Ryan, the weenie congressman who called it a riot, can explain how a riot can be so orderly that no one even stepped on Governor Walker's lawn.
Another thing I noticed is that the signs were of every color, shape and variety of message one can possibly imagine. In my view, this proves that the Republicans were lying when they said the whole thing was carefully organized. There were very few mass produced signs, other than those being carried by specific labor unions who carried their own signs. It was obvious that people were saying whatever they wanted to say, and made their own signs without any direction from the Head Office. Of course, Democratic groups and labor groups were there, but it sort of felt like they just turned up, as though they invited themselves to an open house as opposed to having pre-organized the whole shebang. And of course, they were welcome to just turn up, as we all were, as it is at any good block party. Even the socialists were there. REAL socialists, hawking copies of "The Militant". They advocate revolution, of course, but they seemed cheerful, friendly and not at all menacing either.
After we'd walked almost all the way around the perimeter of the Capitol grounds, from eastern entrance to the square, so to speak, around the north, west, and south edges of the square, we finally saw what was nearly a Tea Party rally. I heard they were there in slightly larger numbers earlier in the day, but by the time I saw them at around 3:30 their numbers were down to maybe a hundred. Thousands of us; dozens of them. It was kind of analogous to Bears fans at Lambeau Field for a Bears-Packers game. You see them, you know they're there, but they don't really have enough support to form a critical mass.
Then the most compelling moment of the afternoon happened for me. I read a Tea Party idiot's sign which said, and I paraphrase: "My insurance costs $860 a month. How much does yours cost?" The meaning was that teachers and other union members have it too good, that they're whining when their benefits were far better than the sign holder's benefits.
That sort of crystalized it all for me. This is the Tea Party mindset. They're miserable, sorry people who think everyone should be as oppressed, depressed, and repressed as they are. $860 a month for medical insurance is an outrage, and the guy carrying the sign knows it. But rather than make an effort to join our side and make everyone's life better, rather than opposing Walker's attempts to turn us all into serfs, rather than supporting "Obamacare", he thinks everyone else should be dragged down to his level of unhappiness. The point of the labor movement in the United States has always been to give workers a larger slice of the pie, but it's also always been to make the pie bigger. We want the employer to make a profit and thrive, but we also want to reap some of the benefits of that success. We want the state to have a balanced budget, but we also want the state to provide necessary services and we want the state employees who provide those services to receive good pay and good benefits, so as to attract the very best people to public service. The wingnuts, or at least the ones of moderate means, the non-plutocrats among them, have been sold on the idea that they only deserve to make seven bucks an hour, that they don't deserve medical benefits, and that they don't deserve paid vacations. Basically, they've willfully chosen to be hostages of The Man. They've chosen Stockholm Syndrome rather than freedom, a servile version of political and economic cowardice rather than the courage to stand up and fight and organize. It was the first time I've felt sorry for one of their crowd. I don't feel sorry for the aristocrats, for the puppetmasters, of course. But I feel sorry for the working men and women who agree with corporate fatcats that workers deserve to be treated like livestock.
Anyway, it was an extraordinary day in Madison. Fun chatting and hanging out with my daughter, who just developed her sense of political awareness during the age of Obama. Inspirational watching my fellow cheeseheads fight against that smarmy little weasel governor we shouldn't have elected. And it was remarkable to have a revelation about the poor miserable bastards who have chosen to be useful idiots for the oligarchy.
Yes, it was a very good day indeed. And hopefully an even better day is coming, the day when Scott Walker realizes that he overreached and that this bill and any future anti-union bills are politically toxic for him. It'll also be a good day when the dude with the $860 a month insurance costs realizes he should be on our team rather than providing aid and comfort to his own economic enemies.
