A Government Shutdown Could Lead To The Biggest Protests This Country Has Ever Seen. You agree?

[Snoutport]

Think about it.... the Union Workers are already marching in the streets. The teachers are viscously under attack and ready to stand their ground. Supporters of Special Olympics are pretty damned mad at the attempted GOP cuts against the disabled. The liberals are coming out in numbers far surpassing anything the Tea Party has thrown together. And now add in the government workers and the people most affected by a shutdown.

I believe, ladies and gentleman, that a government shutdown will lead to the largest left-wing protests we've ever seen.

If the Republicans shut down the Government, I believe they will see a backlash unlike anything seen in 95 or ever in our history. I believe a shut down could be the catalyst for a middle class revolution.

What do you all think?

[donheld]

1. A Government Shutdown SHOULD Lead To The Biggest Protests This Country Has Ever Seen.

If American's don't wake up soon, really soon. it's gonna be too late.

[Snoutport]

2. I'm in a blue state but I know we are next.

Once they are done with the red states I know they are coming after us. One nasty ad campaign, one school board member at a time. I'm ready to stand up!

[Brigid]

13. Beat me to it.

If the dumbasses who, in some way or other, begged, borrowed, or conned their way to Washington don't get their acts together real quick, it will be too late for this country.

[Rex]

3. Yes, yes I do.

ESPECIALLY since everyone and their dogs knows that the DC elites are STILL going to be getting their daily pay and benefits...all the while admitting they are failures at their jobs and shutdown the govt. I think we are about to see 'change we can believe in', happen on a national scale.

It is either that or the corporatists win and capitalism goes bye-bye permanently.

That is 'change that I won't believe in'.

And will be protesting.

[Snoutport]

5. THEY GET PAID??!! oh..that isn't right!!

[Rex]

8. AND they get benefits...man you don't even want to know.

I wish I could shutdown my job and get paid. Actually I don't, because the idea sounds immoral.

[freshwest]

10. Oh, yeah, check the thead about Issa!

[LiberalAndProud]

16. link please?

[freshwest]

31. It was on the main page at the time I typed, but was moved. Here's the link.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x832559

You're welcome...

[lonestarnot]

4. Tee hee!

Delicious.

[dkf]

6. It could but I doubt it.

Iraq was more of an outrage than this and it hardly garnered protests.

[Snoutport]

7. yeah, but half the govt. wasn't off work for that....

lots of annoyed people waiting around this time. might make the difference. BUT...we should have been in the streets for bush/gore. that is even more frightening!

[dkf]

9. You really think it will be a big deal?

I barely remember the one 15 years ago. What impact was that on you?

[Snoutport]

26. The impact might be the number of people willing to protest without missing work

I think there is great potential... just the post office unions could be tons of people!

[Hangingon]

32. Post Office won't close.

USPS is a government corporation.

[jtown1123]

29. It is a big deal. My friends working in government won't get paid (no backpay either)

Government workers aren't just in D.C. They work all over the U.S. and in Iraq and Afghanistan. People's Tax Refunds won't be processed (if they filed paper returns), all the museums and national parks will lose revenue, the list goes on and on. The ripple effect will not be pretty.

[Hangingon]

33. I went through several government shutdowns and we

always got paid after the budget was settled.

[freshwest]

11. Same Issa thread says they won't pay the military, but of course they have to stay on duty.

And in their case, they still get room and board, like slaves. But their families and dependents... well, maybe not so much, huh? It's not like some of them haven't had to be on food stamps, at least some of them were in the Bush years.

[freshwest]

12. People were... but the media mocked them. Remember Tom Brokaw? The GOP brownshirts were out though,

Sending church buses full of profanity spewing people to scream at Gore's house in the night while the case was in the courts. Before January 2001, even and freaking his kids out.

[ddeclue]

14. I dunno.. is Dancing with the Stars on that night?

:hide:

[murielm99]

17. If it isn't, there's always American Idol. n/t

[Davis_X_Machina]

15. You know...

...if you think about it, the Civil War was the biggest protest this country has ever seen.

It was a protest over the outcome of the 1860 presidential election, after all.

[lonestarnot]

18. 800,000 idle at least 1/2 of which will be pissed off!

:evilgrin: (haven't used that in a long time)

[Snoutport]

34. Yeah...us DUers are already pissed off...but this might show us how pissed off the

the general public is. I'm guessing they are getting pretty pissed off!

[Adsos Letter]

19. Depends on how the various media cover it and spin it. n/t

[Golden Raisin]

20. Nah. Maybe if they

take away TV, football, beer and 'Dancing With The Stars'. Then you might see some action.

[cali]

21. I doubt it.

[deacon]

22. The protest would be in the form of a GOP disaster in 2012. In that sense, yes. n/t

[quaker bill]

23. If it lasts a while

if it is over in a week, I doubt you will see very much.

[onenote]

24. I suppose, but history suggests otherwise.

In 1995, there actually were two government shutdowns - one lasting around 5 days, followed a couple of weeks later by one that lasted from mid-December until the first week of January. No one marched in the streets. And while maybe that could be attributed to it being the dead of winter, the fact is that the political impact of the shutdown is almost always vastly overstated, imo. While the shutdown ended up contributing to the downfall of Gingrich and was a net positive for Clinton, I've never seen any evidence that suggests that Clinton wouldn't have won reelection in 1996 but for the shutdown. As for its impact on Congress -- the republicans added two seats to their Senate majority in 1996 and gave back only 9 house seats after picking up 54 in 1994 -- a pretty positive result for a party that was
on the losing end of the presidential race.

[JCMach1]

25. +1 history doesn't promise much in that regard...

[Snoutport]

27. 1995 wasn't a full-out attach on labor and the unions....

this is a new situation.

There is an awakening in this country but people are busy working hard to scrape by. When everything govt. stops...I just don't think people are going to be far from the breaking point.

[Greybnk48]

28. You forgot one important thing that was relevant

in the 60's and is relevant now. The weather's getting nice and TONS more people will come out that won't in the winter. Look back at the protests of the 60's and you won't see much happening in the winter. But come spring and summer...Kaboom!! Especially now when many can't afford a vacation any more. Of course, in the 60's it didn't take two jobs and a 50-60 hour workweek to survive, so we'll lose some people because they're just too damn tired to fight.

So those of us who are better off need to get our butts out there and raise hell!

[Snoutport]

45. I WAS SO IMPRESSED by the protests in WI in all that snow!!!!

I'm ready to do a little standing around with a sign myself. And some yelling, I'm ready to do some yelling!

[ThomWV]

30. Nope, won't happen

If three unjustifiable wars won't get people out a couple of days, or even weeks, of shut down Government sure won't.

[Initech]

35. Part of me wants them to go through with it just for this very reason.

I'd love to see the non-liberal media squirm. :popcorn:

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

36. I'm a federal employee and won't have anything else to do BUT protest.

We have a union at my federal agency, and the Capitol is only blocks away from my job.

Tomorrow and this weekend will be gorgeous weather, too!

[Snoutport]

46. Set something up! tell your friends to meet with signs, tweet it! use the social network!

i'm ready to do it here!

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

49. Already working hard on this end. Thanks so much for your support. n/t

[walldude]

37. I think eventually half the country will be in the streets

protesting. And the other half will be shooting at them, probably on orders from our own government.

[Waiting For Everyman]

38. I think it's very likely, yes.

People who are furloughed in D.C. will be right there to gather en masse. Plus, the District of Columbia itself is being screwed over - not allowed to spend their own money, from their own balanced budget.

Lots of government workers could repeat WI. They are there. They are being scapegoated and targeted, and they know how government works. They also know how to tie up that city's traffic, which is mess anyway on a good day.

[Raine]

39. No, people here have low expectations

that they continually lower. Anymore they expect to be kicked in the teeth, they lost their fight long ago except for a very few.

[robcon]

40. Most people don't care, IMO.

n/t

[Dj13Francis]

41. eh, I donno...

Somehow I think it's gonna take more than not being able to go to the national park to get the great un-engaged off their couches and into the streets. While all of us (DU'ers) will be engaged in the fight to get the government running again, we'll hardly have the numbers we need to really show beyond all rational apologetics that our side is protesting in greater numbers than our opposition. It won't be until the dollar collapses that the great unengaged will get off their couches. And at that point, they won't know what to do, or which side to support.

[Imajika]

42. No chance at all...

There is no way your going to get people out protesting in large numbers that the government shut down for awhile.

This will probably hurt the Republicans though, so in the end it will probably be a good thing.

To be honest, part of me is kind of hoping for a shut down. It exposes the Tea Baggers and Republicans for the ideological fanatics that they are. Right now the Tea Baggers are getting away with murder in the media and we need something defining like this to show the public what a bunch of crazies they truly are.

The reason that I kind of want this to happen is precisely because I do not think the union workers and teachers are having the kind of political impact many hoped for. Hell, even with all that Walker and his toad brigade have done in Wisconsin, fully half the voting Wisconsin public supported the Tea Bagger/Republican union busting efforts via their vote for Prosser.

Yes, I understand a shut down will hurt a lot of people and that is terrible. Thing is, allowing the Republicans to continue operating as they are will hurt even MORE people in the long run. A shut down might turn the public decisively against them - finally.

[TheKentuckian]

43. Sadly, doubtful if the past is any indicator at all.

[Glimmer of Hope]

44. It will interesting if the shutdown lasts awhile. There won't trash pick up in DC...

[BlueIris]

47. Sorry, no. We have like eighteen million different things to hit the street over,

and only the most severe merit actual protests (ie; assault on unions, sometimes the war.) Petty little thing like the government shutdown? Mass poverty? Mass oppression? Ptthhh. This is not enough to get most lazy ass sheeple Americans off their couches.

[Stevenmarc]

48. Government shutdown... NO ...but if you shutdown Walmart all hell would break lose

Take away an American's ability to buy useless crap in great quantities and you'll see an uproar