Oh Madison!

Nothing in the New Year has made me quite as happy as the news from Wisconsin.  For those of you unfamiliar with the situation, allow me to elucidate.  The Republican Governor Scott Walker and his legislature have tried to pass a budget which would abolish the right of public employees to bargain collectively.  The mob has taken to the streets over these new union busting regulations, and, to the relief of many, those Democrats left in Wisconsin responded.  The Democrats in the State Senate walked out, leaving the chamber with one less than the required number of representatives, thus halting any progress on the budget.  After the Governor called for there arrest, the Senators left the state.  Win.

Now, on a  more serious note - finally, people are starting to get smart to the eventual plan of the conservatives.  Only a very small portion of the Republican party was ever actually concerned with a balanced budget.  This is still, after all, the party that gave us the most expensive project of the newest century in the Iraq War, and the largest deficits the country has ever seen in peacetime under Reagan (who spent a whopping 28.7% of the National Income of the United States in the last years of his presidency).  The goal of the Republican Party, and the conservatives that support them, has never been, and will never be, a balanced budget, nor 'small government'.  The goal of the Republican Party, and all conservatives, as writ passed down from Taft and ever onwards, is a militantly pro-business policy, in economics, foreign affairs, and social issues.

So this most recent issue becomes much more clear, along with a host of other issues that the Republicans have pursued with religious zeal in the name of budget balancing.  How we can balance the budget by letting the FBI continue to illegally tap wires, or by further alienating and discriminating against Gays, Lesbians, et. al., or by revoking the rights of employees to organize is beyond me, but the Republicans seem to have found a way to sell it to the nation.  And the sad fact of the matter is, until Wisconsin, no one said a word.

With this most recent budget, Wisconsin Republicans have declared open class warfare.  There are no ways in which we can couch this truth, or make it seem better than it is.  Let the protests in Madison, then be just the beginning.  To those who still fight in Madison, and throughout the nation, know that we are with you in solidarity, as you fight for the universal proletariat, and workers throughout the world.  To those who wait in Illinois, avoiding the reach of Governor Walker's tyranny - know that you have our unyielding support, and undying gratitude.  And to those throughout the world who fight in the name of equality, brotherhood, and freedom, know this - our spirits will always be with those who labor and love.