What the world has to say on the Wisconsin shenanigans

[nairiporter]

A related article on the unions subject - the Wisconsin events seen from abroad. And another one.

But this one provides the money shot:

The dream of American conservatives is to create an oligarchical system similar to the one that ruled over Russia: power for a few, deconstruction of regulation, and privatization of all that could be sold.

In reality, what is going on in Wisconsin has nothing to do with the official reasons invoked by the governor and his supporters. ... The hypocrisy is flagrant: Although the governor admits that it is necessary to reduce the deficit, he is trying to pass tax cuts for a portion of the population (always the same one), which does nothing but exacerbate the deficit.

The governor, elected six weeks ago — thanks to the financial help of the super-conservative millionaire Koch brothers, financiers of the tea party, in the hope that the movement would abolish pollution regulation — simply wants to erase the unions and, above all, their ability to speak on behalf of the employees of an industry. Above all, the unions that do not think like he does, because he is not as hot-headed toward the unions that are closer to the Republicans.

It is precisely this oligarchy that, in pushing for more and more deregulation, has provoked the very financial crisis that America is facing today; it was not the unions. And now, the oligarchy is using the pretext of the crisis in order to eliminate the modest forces of opposition that continue to be against such a form of government. Machiavelli could never have imagined this.

Comments

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

Yes. This is a very bizarre country to be living in right now, particularly for a Scandinavian. I have admitted to myself that I am upset, to the point where I'm even taking a break from political communities (just for a little while)

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

I hope you will come back some time. There are interesting things to learn about, among all the chaff.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

oh yes, I will. I take these breaks sometimes, when there is overload. A true sign is when I start to resent some members (which I really normally don't do, and thus don't count as fully rational). It usually coincides with other types of stress and overload in life, along with politics I feel strongly about.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

Yes, there are such types who cause such feelings from time to time.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

I hope I'm not one of them, as I rather value what you have to say in the community we both are in. :-).

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

nope, I like you, even when you were a big bother and called me "viking". ;P

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Nobody's perfect. ;P. I might note that the more I've read about some of the things I said then, the more I've come to regret that I behaved....inappropriately. In other words, my bad.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

But aren't you a Viking?

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

yeah, but you should have heard the way he said it!

(kidding, and while I culturally am all norse, my background is very mixed and I would probably not be able to call myself a viking among such unpleasant Neo Nazi fellows who care about such things)

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Actually if you read the Discourses, Machiavelli favored a republic based on citizen-soldiery, and wrote The Prince in a context where the individual Italian states were being absorbed into broader empires, a context that remained the way it was for several centuries after.

That said, I don't think that's just conservatives, and I do think it's because the USA is much more a standard New World oligarchy than its political leaders can ever admit.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

I am actually reading the Socratic and Platonic dialogues about the state at the moment. The more I read the more Realpolitik I see and the more I resent it. I am hesitating if I should reach out for Aristotle too.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Well, it should be noted that the last country to try deliberately to set up the Philosopher King was Iran. Strict application of those ideas does not lead to democracy for the damned good reason that those ideas are not themselves democratic *or* suited to be a basis for a modern society anymore than the average religious text.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

By the way this documentary is in line with the topic:

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/athens-truth-about-democracy/

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Ironically, if you read Thucydides it was quite apparent that between Delian League "Freedom" and Spartiate "Slavery" most Greeks knew that there wasn't much of a choice. Nice to see someone is pointing out that particular elephant in the room. :-).

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

And also that women and slaves were not part of the Athenian democracy. It was reserved territory for select few.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Pretty much, yes. It's a terrible irony but Sparta was probably more egalitarian for Spartiates than Athens was for Athenians. Of course all that egalitarianism depended on Helots to do most of the dirty, nasty, civilization-building work which undercut how meaningful that was. *shrugs.*

[alphistia.livejournal.com]

Americans have always been suspicious and confused by unions, and they will not rush to the defense of government workers whose rights are being stripped away in Wisconsin, Ohio, and gawd knows where else. Instead of fighting for adequate pay and benefits for ALL workers, most Americans buy into the politics of resentment and want to take away what a minority of American workers get: adequate time off, real pensions, health insurance, and job security i.e those with union contracts. They buy into the Republican and teabagger lies that it is schoolteachers and policemen who have ruined the American economy since 2008, not the people REALLY responsible: the banksters, the oligarchy controlling corporate America, the crooks on Wall Street and their enablers in BOTH parties. It is astonishing that the majority of the people in the US are blind to the causes of their own misfortune, but I have little doubt that it will change. Americans are the most propagandized people on the face of the earth, except perhaps the North Koreans. Sometimes it is hard to sympathize with a nation that chooses to be so ignorant, but if you read some of the comments on yahoo stories or hate radio sites, you will be shocked at the unbelievable stupidity of so many.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Charlie La Follette and Eugene V. Debs would probably be interested to know that Americans have always been confused by Unions. So would the Knights of Labor, the Grangers, the Populists, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters......

[alphistia.livejournal.com]

y.a.w.n.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

Obviously some people (http://community.livejournal.com/talk_politics/913930.html?thread=69993226#t69993226) disagree. :-)