Twenty Faces of an American Uprising

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/166229/twenty-faces-american-uprising

When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced on February 11, 2011, that he would use a bureaucratic "budget repair bill" as a vehicle to attack collective-bargaining rights, civil-service protections and local democracy, he expected a reaction. The governor went so far as threaten to call out the National Guard to prevent protests from getting out of hand. But Walker and his aides were certain that they would be done with the fight in a week. Now, a year later, Walker faces ongoing demonstrations, increasing legislative opposition, multiple legal challenges and a recall election threat that arose when one million Wisconsinites signed petitions seeking his removal from office.

Walker should have known he was in trouble when the first protests began and a young woman who worked at the State Historical Society showed up with a white t-shirt pulled over her winter coat. With a place pen, she had written: "I Am Not Afraid of the National Guard!"

The governor's attempt to intimidate Wisconsinites into accepting an austerity agenda that assaulted not just labor rights but the state's open government and small "d" democratic traditions was a failure from the start. Instead of scaring citizens into submission, Walker provoked an uprising that continues to this day.

The courage, optimism and steady determination of Wisconsinites, many of whom had never engaged in public protest or political action before, is what undid Walker's best-laid plans. Even as he succeeded in enacting elements of his program, the push-back was so intense that two of his key legislative allies were defeated in the state Senate recall elections of last summer. And, now, he and his lieutenant governor face a similar fate.

[BlueToTheBone]

1. If there is justice,

Walker's fate will be rough polyester, bad food and 10 thread count sheets with a roommate who has bad breath.