They've pushed us too damn far

[LiberalEsto]

The union uprisings we see in Wisconsin and Ohio, and the strikes and protests by college students that the media is NOT covering, are just the beginning. People are inspired by what they witnessed in Egypt, and too many people feel that they have little left to lose. You can only push people so far.

Americans' wages have stagnated for 30 years or more (except for the rich), our buying power has diminished, our health care costs have skyrocketed, and our livelihoods have been threatened or taken away by the Republican-Corporate Conspiracy (as I call it). And now the Pukes are making a coordinated push to eradicate government employee unions from coast to coast. They mean to take away pensions, health and other benefits, and ultimately the right to collective bargaining. But they can only push people so far.

The middle class is eroding rapidly. Vast numbers of American jobs have been outsourced to other countries where workers do not have union protection or decent wages. Corporations have also imported multitudes of low-paid foreign tech workers to replace American IT workers under the scandalous H1-B visa program. But they can screw America workers only so far.

Our kids can no longer afford college educations. In many cases getting that educations means a lifetime burden of student loan debt. Colleges and universities have priced themselves far out of reach for the middle class, and tuition keeps increasing yearly. It's no wonder students in Puerto Rico, North Carolina, Minnesota, Iowa, New York and Arizona have been holding mass protests to fight tuition hikes. Similar protests are taking place in Canada and the United Kingdom. But they can only push Americans desperate for education so far.

And let's not forget the poor, the homeless, the returning veterans and those losing medical and housing assistance and (potentially) heating assistance. Some are being routed out of homeless camps into -- where? Heaven knows. I guess the powers-that-be are hoping the poor will just curl up and die. But you can only push the poor so far.

The Republican-Corporate anti-American, anti-worker, anti-student strategy will only get so far before people start realizing how royally they're getting screwed. People are staring to push back, because they can only be pushed so far.

[Denninmi]

1. It seems that some people can't learn from history.

It would be nice, IMO, is someone in the power structure would figure out that grinding the majority of the populace into the dirt and openly flaunting it only results in violence in the long run. Like in the French Revolution. Somewhere, Madame DeFarge is knitting as we speak. It would be nice if some of the corporo-fascist yutzes would wake up and allow reform to the system before it reaches a point of violence. It would be to their own best interest. I know I for one want a revolution of the ballot, not of the sword.

[LiberalEsto]

2. I agree, I don't want to see violence

but I'm convinced that any violence that takes place is going to come from the other side, not our people.

The corpo-fascists seem to believe that THEY are bringing about reform by getting rid of unions, education, etc. I don't think their mind-set lets them see themselves as they are seen by others.

Many of us read about the recent study http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/fashion/02studied.html that showed that the rich are far less empathetic than people lower on the economic scale. The puzzle to me is whether this lack of empathy develops as a person gets wealthier, or whether lacking empathy for others is a factor in gaining wealth to begin with.

I know that one reason I'll never be rich (or even close to it) is that I can't bring myself to scam people, push other people aside, gyp people out of their money or even be mildly deceptive, because I put myself in the other person's place. But some people have no problem with ruthlessly clawing their way to the top and grabbing everything they can, because they don't give a shit about the people they step on along the way.

[damntexdem]

3. How can you say the media isn't reporting it? Why the NYT reported Wisconsin ...

right back there on page A14. ;-)

[LiberalEsto]

4. I meant the student protests, actually

Yes, the media's taking just a wee bit of notice of the little fuss in Wisconsin.

But with the higher education protests, there's only a little local coverage here and there. The corporate media won't report the big picture, which is that college students are holding huge protests against tuition hikes in many parts of the nation. I think they're afraid that if students at other colleges find out, they'll protest too.

I found all those college protests I listed just through one Google effort. If I spent more time on it, I'd probably find many more. What this says to me is that there is a coordinated effort to make tuition unaffordable in much, if not all, of the country. Just as there is a coordinated effort to shaft public employees in state after state after state.

[jwirr]

5. One thing we need to remember is that in Egypt they were fighting

a dictator who was visible. We are fighting multinational corporations who are for the most part not visible. We are going to have to pick our battles and our targets for fit our fight. In WI they are targeting the right enemy because he belongs to the corporations. This is not a budget bill this is a union breaking bill.

[LiberalEsto]

6. Very true

I think, however, that we need to develop a long-range plan to rebuild this country, and restore the rights that have been slowly eroded over the past 30 years. We can't just keep plugging leaks -- we need to present a vision of what we want and be prepared to push for it.

[jwirr]

8. I absolutely agree with you. But I think this must come from the ground

up as it did the first time. We need to take a look at our local situations and start building there. I had not been in the poorest section of our community for a long time and was surprised to see that in the midst of the old hotel that houses the street people there are some very new local businesses starting up. We were there because one of those businesses spay or neuter pets for the poor. They were doing a good business because they are a needed service. Their client were both paying and the poor. There was also a used appliance store and several other down to earth businesses. We still have some manufacturing left here revolving around wood products and we have rail. And our unions are still strong. Or as strong as they can be in today's world.

[blindpig]

11. That dictator was just a bag man for the corporations too.

That's why labor actions are multiplying there like rabbits. If they don't keep pushing it will return to business as usual.

In the end it's all about Capitalism, us against them.

[HereSince1628]

7. True, and they may be pushing more tomorrow.

Rumor is the counter-protests will be present tomorrow.

It will be a test of wills to maintain what to this time has been a remarkably peaceful event.

[LiberalEsto]

10. I wonder how much they're getting paid

I'll bet a lot of the counter-protesters turn out to be hired shills.

[OneGrassRoot]

9. We can do this peacefully, yet passionately!

K&R

:hug: LiberalEsto!

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. K&R