Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Dread Scott

Hosni Mubarak & Gov. Scott WalkerI write a lot about the American dream, and how we expend our time and energy in pursuit of it. The "dream," itself, isn't good or bad, it's just a dream. What makes it either good or bad, is what we give up to attain it. If we give up integrity in the pursuit, it's bad. If we give up what's good and decent in our being, it's very bad.

Sometimes, the price that's paid to realize the dream becomes bigger and more expensive than the dream itself.

In walks Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin. Assuming the office on January 3, 2011 Walker has already made a splash with his party, and has grabbed a large portion of the national mega-media spotlight. Palin did it by becoming John McCain's running mate. Walker is doing it by becoming the first Republican governor to challenge his state's time-honored reverence for employee unions. Other Republican governors are expected to follow his lead.

A recipient of Koch brothers money during his run for the governorship, Scott Walker came to the position bought, if not bossed. Barack Obama is often described as a Manchurian candidate. We could say, with a measure of accuracy, that most elected officials, those who have taken vast sums of money from a cadre of donors knowing full well that pay-back is expected, or, once in office, taken large sums of money from lobbyists with similar goals, are effectively Manchurian candidates. The difference: these public officials knowingly do the wishes of their benefactors; a Manchurian candidate, unknowingly.

I put Governor Scott Walker in the "knowing" category.

Thank you, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, for waking a sleeping giant.
Thank you for the awesomely uplifted spirits of Wisconsinites from Superior to Kenosha and Eagle River to Platteville, who trekked to the state capital to defy your union-busting grab.

Thank you for the caravans from North Carolina and New Jersey and Utah who came to a small city in the Snowbelt to join the cause. They know this is not Wisconsin's fight alone. They know that in fifty states, we all are targets of a nasty national conspiracy to destroy unions and the middle-class society unions have built.
Thank you for those whose signs proclaim, "Former Republican."

Gov. Walker, when you concocted a fake budget crisis to have an excuse to rush a union-busting bill through the Legislature, you showed yourself to be as deaf as the Hosni Mubarak so many signs have compared you to.

I've never felt so rejuvenated as when marching with thousands on cold evenings in Wauwatosa and Menomonee Falls shouting, "This is what democracy looks like." It evoked my memories of long-ago marches for civil rights at home and peace in Vietnam.
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This much I know: Were it not for unions, the American dream which undergirds American exceptionalism, a term we hear thrown about now with the ease of a baseball, would not be something in which this country takes pride. Unions gave us 40-hour work weeks, weekends, pensions, and other concessions from Big Business, hard-won worker benefits too innumerable to recount.

I don't happen to believe, as some Republicans do, that unions are bad--bad for businesses, and bad for America. Without unions, compensation for a days' work would have been at the pleasure and munificence of employers. The rise of the middle class would have looked more like a molehill, than a rolling hill, and American exceptionalism and the American dream wouldn't have entered our national, political lexicon.

George Carlin, now deceased, says it best in the following video clip. "A high school dropout, Carlin enlisted in the army, [where he] got his high school equivalency....[O]n June 22, 2008, Carlin died of heart failure," most likely the result of a broken heart, given the deep disappointment he carried for his beloved country.

Although a comedian, Carlin had a Solomon's wisdom grasp of the American condition and an amazing insight into what makes our country tick, and what is needed to seize the American dream.



The audience laughed, clapped wildly, and cheered. It would have been better had they resolved to be M.A.D. as hell, but they weren't. Under the heading of TrUSt?, I warned that government shouldn't receive our unquestioning trust.

On another blog, I posted this observation on the current political scene unfolding before us:

Unfortunately, politics is a game. It’s a game that’s played for the players and not for the spectators, who can find their fortunes reversed and sacrificed so that the players can assure a win.

The difference between Repubs and Dems is that the Dems don’t play as ruthlessly as the opposing team: they usually follow the rules of the game, don’t foul as often, and believe that the spectators should have some stake in the outcome of the game. But make no mistake about it, Dems are as eager to play for the sake of the team, as Repubs, but Repubs are out to play for themselves and themselves only, and the spectators be damned, if they get in their way.


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10 comments:

Ernesto said...

BD...you probably have seen by now but in a stroke of sheer comedic brilliance, Mr. Walker exposed himself and his whorish subservience to the robber barons for all the world to see. The MSM wants to sweep that prank phone call under the rug as fast as possible! The streets of every state capitol need to come alive like those of Cairo. We must be rid of these corrupt clowns before they steal again.

Black Diaspora said...

Already Gov. Walker is downplaying his predicament.

He was punk'd good, and we learned first hand what we already suspected: He's in the back pocket of the Koch brothers and is doing their bidding.

The Fab-Eleven are onto him, as are the rest of the nation.

Walker broke some serious ethics rules, and might become the object of an embarrassing investigation, which might scuttle his alliance with his fellow Republicans to crush state unions.

Republican legislators may not be willing now to hold the center and become embroiled in his scandal.

While he was plotting, others were plotting against him.

Democrats have their faults, but this heartless, cold-hearted effort to bust unions, and the blunder that ensued is vintage Republican.

Doesn't all of this remind you of Tricky Dick? And Walker has presidential aspirations, to boot?

I don't think he can jettison his dirty laundry fast enough to achieve that lofty goal.

Poetic justice of the richest kind.

GrannyStandingforTruth said...

Hey Diaspora:

I tried visiting your blog, but it was down for a while, so I'm glad to see you back. I missed you.

The media has Americans focused in on the revolutions going on in other countries, but they need to be focusing on what is going on here right under their noses. I'm mighty afraid that a revolution is gonna come to this country as well, if Walker gets his way. We living in the last days and the majority of people don't want to recognize that. However, "wars and rumors of wars" is not a joke, it's real and so are the other prophecy put forth. Nevertheless, it even told us that people would not believe, so only thing believers can do is pray.

The Koch brothers are some greedy brothers that want to transform American into a feudalism system. They want to be Kings of America and next the world. Lot of dirty money being exchanged in different hands, mostly Republicans, but there are Democrats too. The military hands are not clean either. Generals lying to keep money flowing their way. All of that was hidden is coming out and more soon to come.

People's boiling pot runneth over though and it won't be long before the lid pops off and explodes.

Black Diaspora said...

Well said, Granny, as is this:

"We living in the last days and the majority of people don't want to recognize that. However, "wars and rumors of wars" is not a joke, it's real and so are the other prophecy put forth."

And you're right again: What's hidden is coming to the light, and what's being held back is being released.

It's not happenstance that the struggle for freedom that we're seeing in the Middle East, and the coming to the light of evil plots, are occurring at the same time.

Yes, we will see more of this shining of the light upon wicked deeds: Wikileaks with its disclosures, Gov. Walker and his chicanery, and the general that is using psyops against U.S. Senators.

It's not a good time to be using machinations, Machiavellian tactics, or subterfuge to concentrate power, or to line one's pocket with money that's taken from the poor and the middle class, and given to the rich.

What's ahead is the worst of times and the best of times. It just depends on what side you're on.

Greg L said...

BD,

Thanks for this video from George Carlin. The man told it like it was. You're absolutely right the difference between the democrats and republicans is only a difference of degree and even that one is being chipped away at as time goes. Both are disgusting with the Republican party being the absolute worst between the two. It's the ignorance of the people that allows the current situation to continue. I've often thought about how the lack of investment in things like education support the existing political structures. Keeping folks uneducated and at a hand to mouth level of subsistence allows for greater control. All part of the grand plan IMO.

We no longer have a democracy when folks like these Koch brothers and others can fund a movement and control the direction of the politics. The politicians are basically for hire and this prank call with Walker is very revealing.

Black Diaspora said...

@Greg: "You're absolutely right the difference between the democrats and republicans is only a difference of degree and even that one is being chipped away at as time goes."

Yes, it's a difference of "degree" rather than kind, and it pains me to say so.

It's being "chipped away" because both groups are competing for funds from the same monetary source--corporations.

Thanks to the Supremes, democracy took its biggest hit to date with their ruling to give free-speech rights to corporatist.

"It's the ignorance of the people that allows the current situation to continue."

Yes, and their bigotry, biases, and blind support for a political ideology more intent on its own survival, and consolidation of power, than in the welfare of the people.

"The politicians are basically for hire and this prank call with Walker is very revealing."

Indeed it is. Yet, this is not a new phenomenon. Money has always run the show, and called the shots, even from the inception of our country.

I agree with Carlin: Freedom of choice has always been an illusion. It has never existed.

Dwight Eisenhower warned years ago of the encroachment of new breed of power grabbers that would operate as an anti-democratic force in society--the military industrial complex.

Kathy said...

Hey BD, thanks for the Carlin video, loved it.

the military industrial complex, my mother had a saying, where the blood flows, the money flows.

Black Diaspora said...

Hi, Kathy:

Carlin knew what he was talking about, and he wasn't afraid to say it.

Comedians have a natural insight into things: They not only see what's funny around them, but what's true.

The two things don't necessarily conflict.

What's funny is often true, and what's often true is funny. In short, comedians tell you what's true, and make it funny.

What a talent!

Constructive Feedback said...

Second article on the BLACK DIASPORA blog. SECOND reference to SARAH PALIN.

Seriously dude, - you have a fetish for this White girl. Don't you?

Why is it that you and other Progressive-Fundamentalists are focusing on the "Republican Governors" of Wisconsin but you say nothing about the mass layoffs that happened in Milwaukee, long before Walker took office.

With 75% of the Black population of Wisconsin living in Milwaukee - it is quite suspect as to why this selective indictment.

The schools of Milwaukee laid off 700 workers.
The city almost laid off 1,400 union workers until a last minute agreement.

Whereas Milwaukee has one of the highest rates of Black male unemployment - you all appear to look past the 100% Democrat controlled forces of the city and go after the new Republican governor.

How do you justify your actions other than raw ideological bigotry and partisanship Black Diaspora?

Black Diaspora said...

@CF: "Seriously dude, - you have a fetish for this White girl. Don't you? "

It's probably the second time I've mentioned Scott Walker, and the Koch brothers, so I guess I have fetish for them as well.

But the question isn't my "fetish," but your eagerness to defend Palin. What's with that? Why do you care if I have a "fetish" or not?

I don't care who you obsess over. It's none of my business. For that reason, I suspect that you're the one with the "fetish," the drive to defend Palin's reputation from colored men like me.

"Whereas Milwaukee has one of the highest rates of Black male unemployment - you all appear to look past the 100% Democrat controlled forces of the city and go after the new Republican governor.

"How do you justify your actions other than raw ideological bigotry and partisanship Black Diaspora?"

Here's what you wish me to believe: Were it not for "democrats" at all levels of government this country would be that "shining city on a mountain" that all politicians love to emote over.

Here's the truth: Politics is corrupt. It doesn't matter the venue, or the party. But it just so happens that Republicans are more corrupt than Democrats.

Now when you're ready to uproot corruption at all levels of government, you'll find me a willing a participant. Until that time, I'll go with those who evidences the least corruption.