Protests in Wisconsin are expected to continue today for the third day in a row. Yesterday - Madison, Wisconsin was nearly shut down as ten thousand protestors assembled outside the state capital to protest Governor Scott Walker's proposal to strip state workers union of their collective bargaining powers in an effort to balance his state's budget. 40% of teachers working in the Madison school district called in sick to attend the protest - forcing the Superintendent of Schools to cancel classes.
Today's classes have also been cancelled in 15 school systems around Madison - as another couple thousand teachers are planning to show up outside the state capital again this afternoon. The reality here that everyone is missing is that Governor Walker is not facing a budget crisis at all - in fact Wisconsin is doing better fiscally than most other states in the nation. And a memo by the state's Legislative Fiscal Bureau showed that Wisconsin is actually facing a budget SURPLUS at the end of the year - not a deficit that would require painful cuts.
Governor Walker is telling a lie about his state's fiscal situation in order to justify busting unions. It's a classic Republican union-busting thug strategy that's been going on for centuries, but went on steroids since Ronald Reagan. They're doing it because Unions are most often major campaign supporters for Democrats - both in cash and feet on the ground.
This is all about defunding the Democratic Party and having Republicans end up with one-party rule - and we can't let Wisconsin's governor get away with it.
-Thom
(Is he going to get away with it? Tell us here.)
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