Senator Dick Durbin: "Let me tell you what's happening in Wisconsin"

[kpete]

Posted at 9:04 AM ET, 02/21/2011
Monday Roundup
By Greg Sargent

* Good for Senator Dick Durbin for stating clearly exactly what the historical stakes are in Wisconsin. His appearance on Meet the Press yesterday is worth quoting at length:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41669778/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/

Let me tell you why what's happening in Wisconsin, just north of Illinois, goes way beyond the discussion of the Wisconsin budget. If you think this is just about money and the budget, then you might believe Cesar Chavez was just working to get a couple pennies more per pound for grapes or that Martin Luther King was really working for access to hotels and restaurants.

There's a much bigger issue at stake here. For over 80 years in America, we have recognized the rights of our workers to freely gather together, collectively bargain, so that they could have fairness in the workplace and fairness in compensation. And that is what's at stake here. It goes way beyond this budget issue. This governor of Wisconsin is not setting out just to fix a budget, he's setting out to break a union. That is a major move in terms of American history. I believe the president should have weighed in. I think we should all weigh in and say, "Do the right thing for Wisconsin 's budget, but do not destroy decades of work to establish the rights of workers to speak for themselves."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/02/monday_roundup_1.html

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[TJPHILLY2]

2. The moment is Now!

I am hoping that events happening in Wisconsin will become the "shot heard around the world" for working Americans and prompt people to protest and effectively organize against the radical right.

It's time for the truth to come into focus: ...The radical right wing is mounting an assault on ordinary people all over this country.
Destroying what little is left of organized labor is the radical right wing's post midterm election opening salvo and it echoes loud and clear from Wisconsin.

If Walker and his Koch brother sponsored minions succeed in taking away workers' fundamental right to collective bargaining then our rallying cry for the 2012 elections should be "Remember Wisconsin!"

It's time to wake up - the moment is now!

[surrealAmerican]

4. I share your hope ...

... and welcome to DU.

I'd also like to hear more of our representatives make statements like this one.

[ProSense]

3. Great statement. n/t

[nilram]

5. "I believe the president should have weighed in." Ditto me on that, big time! -nt

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

6. K&R