WE DID NOT WIN.
Ignore the chevron, it was all just wishful thinking.
THIS IS NOT SOME LOOK AT ME
SEE WHAT I DID BRAGADDOCIO.
THIS IS A WARNING.
A FUCKING POST GRAD LESSON IN WHAT DOES NOT WORK ANY LONGER.
A follow up refresher on the concept of SCALE.
The night this aired, I was ecstatic. The Protests had been building for a full 30 days at this point. HOW THE MIDWEST WAS WON. God did I freak when my friend presented me with this photo of the Rachel Maddow show from that night. “DUDE YOUR FAMOUS!” Well meaning, he had cropped out Senator Erpenback who was split screen with me, live from Illinois…..It looked really good for We The People then.
WE FUCKING LOST. WE DID IT ALL. WE DID IT RIGHT. WE STILL LOST.
But let’s drop back to the beginning.
THIS IS WHAT OUR ORGANISED TAKEOVER AND OCCUPATION OF THE WISCONSIN CAPITOL LOOKED LIKE. You can see the careful planning in action. OH LOOK! Its Mark, when he just owned a print shop (proud union shop I might add) and was hawking his sign making. Love capitalism. He did some fantastic work and has made a solid House Rep. too. Unlike Sen. ‘commie Ron’ Johnson.
This is Day 1. 8am. 28 degrees. It was funny because we were all there, but no one had a plan, very few had signs. We all forgot to bring coffee as you can see. It was all of us walking around the building talking about what the fuck was going on inside and how best to stop it. Not really a protest. A mutual agreement was reached to return the next day and possibly petition someone about doing this in the summer next time, or at least going inside.
This was Week One. We DID go inside. The unions arrived once they had read the full text of Act 10.
We had a UW Doctor walk out, a full nursing freeze, Asfcme walked out. The Teamsters showed up in trucks. The farmers brought tractors. The National Guard refused to answer the call, something about active duty weekend being extended…. for training purposes. You get sent to the Gulf for that shit. The Dane County Sherriff literally said they would not be “Walkers Palace Guards”. Capt. Leon of the Capitol Police handed out the “Rules Of Order” His officers were going to enforce. 100s of police showed up to hang out and watch the show Note the riot shields, the tactical gear and body armor. The long guns and assault rifles. These guys are Union and Walker wants to cut them off at the bargaining table. I can tell you whose house they were in. Their house. Right along with us. It was freaking cold outside.
We The People REDECORATED THE ROTUNDA.
The protests took to the streets and it took over the capitol building to the chant of
WHO’S HOUSE?
OUR HOUSE!
Every day the streets around the State capitol of Wisconsin were filling with protesters. The crowds grew daily, even though THIS IS WINTER IN WISCONSIN. 20 fucking degrees. (We take personal pride in the fact our football team has no dome or stadium seating. Not like those wusses in Michigan and Minnesota)
But Wait, Fox News Reports violent protests being broken up by mounted police…..with palm trees in the background. In Madison Wisconsin. IN February. OUTSIDE.
Bill O’Reilly really knew how to bring the heat to an otherwise FROSTY protest.
And Began the short lived Palm Tree Rebellion no one every heard of.
ONE MUST HAVE HUMOR IF ONE IS TO SUSTAIN PROTESTS. And Ians Pizza.
This had grown fast from the afternoon the drums started beating in the Rotunda calling all Wisconsin citizens’ attention to ACT 10. A union busting law.
We The People and Bagpipes in the Rotunda. What a sound.
We had all kinds of bands and Munford and Sons. The Madison Scouts blew the windows out one day. The Following day Walker had locked the capitol and our representatives were moving furniture out to the statehouse lawn in 30 degree weather to conduct business.
We had celebrity guest speakers. Our group got help from a professional.
We had national TV coverage. We had 14 Democratic Senators take a road trip down highway 14 to Illinois to prevent quorum and were given sanctuary….. I’ll bet you don’t even remember that happened.
The one thing we didn’t see was a SINGLE DEMOCRATIC LEADER. This is 2011. You Know who is president? Came here four times, but not for this.
This wasn’t a Saturday. This wasn’t a Weekend. This wasn’t convenient. It was Tuesday.
Then Walker Got nasty and Wisconsin Showed up for it
As it got colder the crowd got bigger.
A sustained protest of this size is doable on spontaneous energy IF THE PEOPLE HAVE THE EXCESS TIME AND MONEY TO SHOW UP. and they did.
Nope, we aren’t there yet.
Now this is a big crowd. 70,000 to 100,000. Official count. Spontaneous. Not a major announced rally. It’s 14 degrees. It’s snowing. You can see our massive and professional sound system, that “adequate stage and podium” indicating a well planned rally. LoL That’s me, talking to the crowd because we only had a couple of “speakers”. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. You should have seen The People’s BratFest. I thought I was Hallucinating. You never see it coming. WE LOST.
THIS ISN’T EVEN POSSIBLE TODAY
From 2000 to 2026 you have been systematically DRAINED.
You no longer have the time, the money, the security, or the confidence to walk off your job and protest for a month. FEAR is a tremendous motivator.
Back then the courts ruled according to law and that means if you take time off to protest you can’t be fired as that is a protected class of political action and your employment status cannot be determined by your political actions. Such WAS our law.
YOU HAVE BEEN DRAINED OF RESOURCES. YOUR RIGHTS SUBVERTED. YOUR WILL COMPROMISED.
THIS IS HOW THE RICH BEAT YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN KNEW THEY HAD ATTACKED YOU.
This was 2011. This was VERY real. No riots. No Looting. No broken windows. NO arrests. Not even damage to the 100 year old building. It was our house and we took care of it. You couldn’t find a roll of painters tape in Madison in March of that year. Poster board? Not in Southern Wisconsin. Downtown merchants? Begging us to keep it up. IT MADE NO DIFFERENCE.
WE LOST.
THIS NO LONGER WORKS AND HASN’T SINCE 2011. WE PROVED IT.
we need a better plan and we need a real leader. I am not that guy, but I’ll do it if no one else will and only until you find someone better. God Helps us.