1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the "Lee Resolution" to the Continental Congress. The motion is seconded by John Adams and leads to the United States Declaration of Independence.
1893 – Mohandas Gandhi commits his first act of civil disobedience.
COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!
"It's very simple. If the American people care about a lot of things including corruption in government, then, in fact, if you use the power to appoint in order to do political business, to clear fields, to save your party money and so on, if it's not a crime - and I believe it is - it certainly is business as usual, politics of corruption."
Car thief and part time congresscritter Darrell Issa (GOP)
From the Church of Ineffable Stupidity:
Wisconsin was a battleground, and frankly, I don't understand the glum reactions by so many here. Here's a short list about why this was actually quite the success:
a. Instead of having a strong majority in the state senate, the GOP is now in the minority, leaving Gov. John Doe adrift, without a paddle.
Sure, it took a long time, sure it was emotionally trying, sure many people gave it their all, and yes, we did not kick out Gov. John Doe. BUT, by any measure, it was a huge success. Gov. Doe's easy path to legislation that might be anti-labor, anti-union, anti-woman, anti-education, and anti-social protection is gone.
b. We forced a bunch of rich assholes to waste more than $30,000,000 of their hard stolen riches to protect a GOP majority in a relatively small state's senate, and the office of a future criminal defendant governor. That is $30,000,000 that cannot be used in November, that is not available in campaigns against Obama, and that is gone for good. Imagine if they had to repeat this GOP funding fiasco across 50 states - That's $1.5 BILLION buckeroos. At that level, even koch-suckers begin to blanch and have second thoughts.
Sure, we had to spend 1/7 of that amount, but instead of wasting it, I look at that as an educational process, a training center, and a huge lesson learned. Besides, despite spending $30,000,000 THEY STILL LOST THE SENATE!
c. Despite my frequent predictions that Tea Buggerism was dead, clearly, it is alive and well. In fact, Tea Buggerism's growing strength within the GOP is yet another thing to cheer for here. It really is a clear sign of success. Our future success.
On one level, Tea Buggerism is a fraud, a concoction, a made up, astroturfed, faux grass-stained roots movement. It was concocted, promoted, sold, and packaged by Fox and Fiends. It was underwritten by billionaires intent on destroying the Obama Presidency, taking the Democratic party along with it. Sad to say, there have been just enough idiots, morons, autolobotomized Faux Gnus viewers, who actually believe the crap that Tea Buggerism seems to stand for. A whole bunch of them even took office in state and federal elections. That has had a huge impact. Not on the US, but on the GOP.
Tea Buggerism is not destroying the Democrats or Obama. Instead, it drives the GOP so far to the ultra-conservative right, ie, off the Grover Nordquist cliff, that parachute manufacturers cannot keep up with demand.
More and more, people are waking up to the fact that Tea Buggerers are fucking insane. Their policies would doom not just our social programs, but our entire economy, throwing the world into a depression that would be devastating. If you noticed other times in history, global depressions are often accompanied by world wars, as desperate people seek to steal what they cannot produce for themselves. Rampant, unbridled, out of control, Tea Buggerism, should it succeed, would kill our democracy and cause untold global pain for billions.
On the other side, the Occupy movement slowly realizes that simply sitting in a park banging on a drum has lost its luster. But the drive, the ideas, and spirit of that movement is not dead. It is far more widespread and has a far greater impact than our MSM can imagine. What we saw in Wisconsin was partly due to the growing strength of Occupy.
Even the robber barons of the late 18th and early 19th centuries began to recognize that their greed and destructive policies could not stand for long. Huge inequality was simply too unstable. When Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, the ultrarich were already petrified. They truly feared the masses, and took great pains to protect their riches. Early "gated" communities, which kept the poor masses out (supported by a strong police presence), were one answer. Another tool a lot longer, but resulted in far more benefits.
As pressures and stresses grew on society, the ultra-rich realized that their time was short. They had to make changes. The results were unthinkable just a few years earlier:
Child Labor laws
Workers Compensation laws
Worker safety laws
Worker hour limitations
Some of these ideas came to fruition in England, others were born in the USA, notably, Wisconsin. Regardless where they came to be, their goal was identical - to prevent the masses from rising up and destroying the upper classes.
Today, we again see incredible increases in inequality. But we are not limited with hand printed papers. We have the intertubes, sexting, and far more ways of sharing ideas and communicating. As the inequality continues to rise, the people will know about it. And resent it.
What Wisconsin showed us is that people power works. As time passes, and people realize what really happened there, more and more will recognize what a victory against the greedy super-rich this actually was, and how it will motivate others across the nation. The further that Tea Buggerism goes to the Right, the stronger Occupy and people power will grow. If you need anything to convince you, refer to one interesting fact - Even in Wisconsin, which kept Gov. John Doe in office by only a few percentage points, Obama holds a 10% lead over Governor Bain Capital. That is saying a lot.