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Conservatives Push Back Against 'Infectuous' Wisconsin Public Unions
Posted By_Jack Dunphy_On March 8, 2011 @ 11:41 pm In_Culture,Culture
Bytes,Education,Health Care,Judiciary,Legal,Money,TV,US
News,economy_|_25 Comments
<http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/conservatives-push-back-against-infectuous-wisconsin-public-unions/?print=1#comments_controls>_
Oh, how sunny and bright and positively limitless the future must have
seemed.
For American liberals, Barack Obama's inauguration signaled far, far
more than a new administration. In their new president they had a man
who not only shared their disdain for America's history but who traveled
the world apologizing for it, a man who knew how to stiff America's
allies and kowtow to her enemies. And what was wrong with that? Any
country that had remained on friendly terms with America through the
wretchedness of the Bush-Cheney years was surely just as worthy of
contempt as America itself. But all of that was about to change:
Guantanamo would be closed, perhaps to be offered to Fidel Castro in a
show of contrition for all the trouble we've caused him. Iraq (the Bad
War) and Afghanistan (the Good War that somehow became another Bad War)
would be abandoned to the care of their rightful masters, again with our
apologies. The whole strategic map of the Good Guys and the Bad Guys was
about to be inverted, and how the former Bad Guys would love us now.
And here at home, free health care for all! Never mind that a majority
of Americans said they didn't want it. What did/they/know? We, the
coastal elites, the graduates of the finest schools, the guests on/Meet
the Press/, the anointed ones, we had to pass the bill so they could see
what was in it, and then the ignorant proles would all dutifully fall
into line. And who cares that not a single Republican voted for it in
the Senate or the House. Soon there wouldn't even/be/any Republicans, so
discredited, so retrograde, so completely unhip and unworthy of their
New Leader were they. Barack Obama was president, Nancy Pelosi was
speaker of the House, and Harry Reid was Senate majority leader. The
country, as they warned, was about to be fundamentally transformed, and
your choice was between allowing yourself to be transformed along with
it or else be trampled and forgotten.
So who could blame liberals if in the early days of 2009 they pranced
giddily about strewing roses out of their hats?
How different things look today, how short-lived was the liberal
hegemony. The proles, as it turned out, were not so eager to see their
country or themselves transformed, and they registered that reluctance
with blistering clarity in the midterm elections, prying the gavel from
Mrs. Pelosi's fingers and demoting her to the post of minority leader.
Guantanamo remains open for business, American troops remain in a
relatively stable Iraq and are succeeding in Afghanistan.
And now, insult upon insults, the foot soldiers of the once almighty
liberal dynamo, public sector labor unions, who only months ago were fat
and happy and looking forward to a long, comfortable ride with all their
friends firmly in position to help them, now they find themselves
battling on the ramparts and trying to fend off a sneak attack in, of
all places, Madison, Wisconsin. Yes, the very Eden of progressive
politics is in the control of budget-cutting Republicans. It couldn't
have been more surprising if it had happened in Berkeley.
But they would not go quietly. The spirit of old Madison, the one in
place before all those nasty Republicans showed up, that spirit was
revived, and soon the capitol building was the site of a 24-hour
carnival, complete with rousing speeches, lively chants, and a variety
of what we might charitably call music, produced mostly on an assortment
of improvised percussion instruments. And of course there is no
carnival so vulgar that it cannot be made more so by the presence
ofJesse Jackson
<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/reverend-jesse-jackson-attends-wisconsin-protests-12950907>^[1]
, who found the spirit of the assembled protesters "infectuous."
Indeed. And with all those people, some of whom appeared to be
hygienically challenged to begin with, parading around cheek by jowl and
occupying the place all day and night with little access to the normal
daily amenities, the spirit probably wasn't the only thing that was
"infectuous."
But let us for the moment put aside concerns for aesthetics and
concentrate on that spirit Jesse Jackson found so appealing. "It was
wonderful!"said <http://www.sandyrios.com/blog/?p=23>^[2] one Wisconsin
school teacher to another. "You should have been there! It's just like
the Sixties!" Yes, how they long for Woodstock.
As one who recalls the Sixties, I'm afraid I don't share this fond
nostalgia for that particular era. Oh, I suppose if you overlook the
riots, the assassinations, and the political upheaval, not to mention
theugly clothes
<http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_style/60s/60s_fashion.html>^[3] and
thebad music <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ8k6fVe25k>^[4] , you
might be able to conjure up a pleasant memory or two, but I think most
people, that is most people not gathered in the capitol building in
Madison, would prefer not to relive those days, and they look with
profound curiosity on those who do.
Which brings me, finally, to the point I raised in myprevious column
<http://pajamasmedia.com../blog/l-a-police-union-urges-members-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-seiu-and-moveon-org/>^[5]
, to wit, theappeal
<http://lapd.com/blog/the_attack_on_wisconsin_workers_is_an_attack_on_union_members_across_the_nation/>^[6]
made by my union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, for its
members to join in pro-union marches organized and sponsored by
MoveOn.org, Media Matters, the Daily Kos, and a number of other leftist
organizations whose members the typical police officer would most often
choose to avoid.
An analogy that's often made about such unlikely partnerships is the
alliance between the Western democracies and the Soviet Union during the
Second World War. The West was willing to overlook Stalin's crimes in
the name of combating what was seen as the greater evil of Hitler's
Third Reich (though as it turned out, when it came to mass murder Uncle
Joe made Hitler look like a piker). But in the case of World War II, the
outcome of the conflict was still very much in doubt when Franklin
Roosevelt and Winston Churchill held their noses while shaking hands
with Stalin.
In Wisconsin, however, the unions are fighting a battle that has already
been lost, so much so that the only way for them to continue the
pretense of a fight is for the state Senate's Democrats, the Fleeing
Fourteen, to continue their holiday in Illinois for as long as they can.
The state is out of money, yet its citizens --- the ones who haven't
lost their jobs --- are paying substantially more for their own pensions
and health benefits than are the workers they are being asked to subsidize.
And yet we witness the spectacle of police officers, firefighters,
nurses, and teachers marching alongside avowedsocialists
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M3DLGP4UKQ>^[7] whose interest in these
public servants is limited to co-opting them as useful idiots in their
campaign to bring down capitalism and usher in the Workers' Paradise so
long dreamed of on college campuses but almost nowhere else. Returning
to the Soviet theme for a moment, it appears that a good number of the
people protesting in Madison would tell you that the wrong side won the
Cold War. I'm as concerned as anyone about the future of my pay and
benefits, but the enemy of my enemy is not always my friend.
All those cops, firefighters, nurses, and teachers aren't doing
themselves any favors by marching with this bunch. They may be having a
jolly old time singing and banging their drums and reliving the Sixties
there in the capitol, but outside the doors it's 2011. They'd better get
their clocks fixed.
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Article printed from Pajamas Media:*http://pajamasmedia.com*
URL to
article:*http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/conservatives-push-back-against-infectuous-wisconsin-public-unions/*
URLs in this post:
[1] Jesse
Jackson:*http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/reverend-jesse-jackson-attends-wisconsin-protests-12950907*
[2] said:*http://www.sandyrios.com/blog/?p=23*
[3] ugly
clothes:*http://www.retrowow.co.uk/retro_style/60s/60s_fashion.html*
[4] bad music:*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ8k6fVe25k*
[5] previous
column:*http://pajamasmedia.com../../../../../blog/l-a-police-union-urges-members-to-stand-in-solidarity-with-seiu-and-moveon-org/*
[6]
appeal:*http://lapd.com/blog/the_attack_on_wisconsin_workers_is_an_attack_on_union_members_across_the_nation/*
[7] socialists:*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M3DLGP4UKQ*
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