As many of you are aware I have been at virtually every protest march around the Wisconsin Fitzwalkerstan State Capitol. I have taken thousands upon thousands of photos of the marches…many like this one.
Come with me below the fold.
So why am I not attending today’s rally on the State Street side of the Capitol today? Well, three reasons. One, I am recovering from a horrible cold and I am just getting my voice back. Now that may seem like a lame excuse to many of you who know that I was up on the Capitol Square just weeks after having had cervical spine surgery. So reason number two, it is a cold, wet miserable day; again, not much of an excuse considering the weather for the majority of these rallies has been horrendous. Reason three – I have no desire to mingle with people whose sole purpose is to destroy our representative democracy as we know it.
See, the reason I am not attending today’s rally on State Street is because it is a counter-rally to the Tea Party on King Street being put on by “Americans for Prosperity.” Nancy Mistle…who has run for just about anything in Dane County (and has not been elected to anything except school board) is the leading organizer…I should mention that Ms. Mistle has quite a bit in common with the featured speaker, Caribou Barbie Sarah Palin. They both quit an elected office prior to the term ending. In Mistle’s case it was the Madison School Board…I think you all know the job Ms. Palin quit.
I have no desire to share a street with hostile individuals who do not want to pay their fair share. With individuals who claim to have a higher moral code than I, yet would rip away any semblance of a safety net away from those who are in desperate need. People who whine about having to pay taxes that provide many of the government services we all rely on. Hey, I am not thrilled with where all of my tax dollars go either, I would like to see a little less defense and a little more single payer healthcare, but that is just me. I still pay my taxes and I do not whine about it. That is what these people are doing - whining about having to pay taxes. Boo-hoo...pay them, shut up and move on.
I see no reason to provide a setting for Fox News to prey on, where “Real Americans” are pitted against, well, I guess, “Not Real Americans.” As one of those “Not Real Americans, “ who coincidentally served America, I will not give Fox News the satisfaction.
Let the little tea partiers have their little protest (and I do mean little, it will come nowhere near the size of what our protests have been.) about paying their fair share. Let them listen to Palin…and then let them leave. They are a distraction to the real work that needs to be done, and that work is recall petitions and organizing for the big recall, Scott Walker.