The Audacity of Mobs

The Audacity of Mobs
By Kevin McCullough
2/20/2011

There she was in a moment of serious, genuine indignation.

Rachel Maddow on MSNBC this last week bemoaning the "horrific reality" that not only were abortions NOT being performed in south central Kansas since the death of George Tiller, abortion practitioner, but that pro-life protesters had the nerve to go to the home of the woman and hold signs in silence encouraging her to not open up her new practice.

The sin these people had committed was the brute, horrific, intimidation that their mere presence would signal to any and all who sought the opportunity to kill children while still preborn.

I wonder what Ms. Maddow believes about the rent-a-mobs that President Obama had bussed to Madison, Wisconsin this week.

Late on Friday the news cycle was abuzz that both President Obama's campaign organization as well as the Democratic National Committee were both utilizing significant resources to bring tens of thousands of out-of-state protesters to march on the capital grounds in Madison, Wisconsin to interfere in what amounts to a state matter. Some of those protestors were dispatched to the private home of the Wisconsin Governor. Others to the homes of Republican state legislators.

To be specific the protesters were objecting to ending the ability for union leadership to stifle the attempts for the state to work alongside the union to achieve extremely modest compromises, so that no state workers would lose their job.

What was the Governor asking the state employees to give up? A little bit of money.

How little? 5% towards retirement pensions and 12% towards health care coverage.

In other words the state of Wisconsin was still willing to guarantee 95% of the pension, and 88% of the health care costs for state employees, and in doing so would be able to keep all current state employees, in a word, employed.

In New York City, Mayor Bloomberg has been unable to get local teachers' unions to make similar compromises and on Friday announced the city would be slashing the employee count by thousands. Ohio, California, New York, New Jersey and other states all face similar dilemmas.

But let's understand this clearly. A governor of a state, who was elected on a promise of trying to bring fiscal discipline to a state budget process, asks for small sacrifices while still guaranteeing full employment and between 88%-95% of the original benefits promised, is being protested--by largely protestors who were bussed in by the president and all parties who are loyal to him.

Hey - it's Chicago brute politics at its best!

The truth is, the President should've kept his mouth shut and not butted in to the business of the state of Wisconsin. He's not a resident of the state, and it's not a matter that concerns the federal government, hence he has no compelling interest to interfere.

On the other hand, Governor Walker does. His decision to send troopers fanned across the state in search of legislators not showing up for work was entirely appropriate.

The progressives in Wisconsin may not like the direction the new government is headed in. But they lost at the ballot box in November as Wisconsin swept conservatives to power in the majority of local, state, and federal races in 2010. A stunning reversal for what had become one of the real playgrounds for liberals in years past.

All of this makes President Obama's interference, busing in out-of-staters, and making appearances in Wisconsin media so distasteful. It's as though the President wishes to dictate his will upon a state where the voters strongly disagree. Isn't that the action of tyrants?

And what of the lack of integrity in the lives of the protestors? Thousands of teachers calling in "sick?" Hundreds of thousands of school children were abandoned by those who had taken public responsibility to teach them. Additionally Democratic State Senators abandoned their post, their oaths, and their obligations.

Much of this chaos pushed forward by organizations dedicated to the re-election of the President.

Something tells me this will backfire badly against the Democrats, the President, and the unions. This wave of ginned up angst, abandonment of responsibility, and the attempt to strong-arm the tax-payers of state of Wisconsin will be remembered for a long time to come.

On Friday morning, my television and radio shows took calls from Wisconsin citizens, most of whom lived in Madison or very near, some of whom were teachers and more than willing to go along with the Governor's modest request. Though they didn't like the idea of what amounted to pay cuts, they weren't willing to send their state into chaos over the matter.

In essence they seemed more willing to be decent citizens, cooperating, as to the fiscal realities the state is facing.

The dictatorial, thuggish, tyrannical organization of out-of-state mobs as sanctioned by President Obama may be familiar to his Chicago roots, and similar to the methods of Jesse Jackson, but it runs exactly the opposite to the ideal of decency.

And if she were honest, even Rachel Maddow would be forced to agree...