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Chants Democratic in Wisconsin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2011

Chad Alan Goldberg
Chad Alan Goldberg
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Extract

When I moved to Madison in 2001 to take a job as an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin, I knew embarrassingly little about my newly adopted state's historical significance. Judging from their wisecracks about the sociology of cows, neither did my friends in New York. I soon learned about Wisconsin's prominent role in many of America's social advances, from “Fighting Bob” LaFollette's opposition to powerful railroad trusts, to pioneering contributions to social insurance, to the nation's first law for public-employee bargaining in 1959, to the turbulent campus protests against the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Little did I know that a decade after my arrival, Wisconsin would once again become “ground zero,” as some commentators now call it, in America's ongoing struggle between democratic progress and reaction.

Type
Reports from the Field
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 80 , Issue 1 , Fall 2011 , pp. 197 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2011

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References

NOTES

1. James B. Kelleher, “Up to 100,000 Protest Wisconsin Law Curbing Unions,” Reuters, March 12, 2011, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/13/usa-wisconsin-idUSN1227540420110313.

2. Verburg, Steven, “Walker Budget Bill Would Effectively Kill Unions,” Wisconsin State Journal, March 4, 2011Google Scholar, http://host.madison.com.wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_00aaf0ed0460e-11e0-9a32-001cc4c03286.html.

3. Pitsch, Mark, “Balance Of Power: Walker's Union Proposal Could Be Major Setback For State's Democratic Party,” Wisconsin State Journal, March 7, 2011Google Scholar, http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_87f6ba78-46c6-11e0-a5fc-001cc4c002e0.html.

4. Greenhouse, Steven, “Union Membership in U.S. Fell to a 70-Year Low Last Year,” New York Times, January 21, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/business/22union.html.

5. E-mail from AFT-Wisconsin to author et al., March 3, 2011. See also Bauer, Scott, “Wisconsin Democrats Could Stay Away for Weeks,” Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, February 19, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20110219/WRT0101/110219012/1982/WRT04/Wisconsin-Democrats-could-stay-away-weeks; Cooper, Michael and Greenhouse, Steven, “Unions Debate What to Give to Save Bargaining,” New York Times, February 27, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/us/28unions.html.

6. Spicuzza, Mary and Barbour, Clay, “Budget Repair Bill Passes Senate, Thursday Vote Set in Assembly,” Wisconsin State Journal, March 10, 2011Google Scholar, http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_8747fa04-4a74-11e0-8e6b-001cc4c03286.html.

7. Levine, Marc V., “You Heard It Here First: Tax the Rich and Solve Budget Shortfall,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 26, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/116955013.html.

8. Editorial, “Walker Gins Up ‘Crisis’ to Reward Cronies,” Capital Times, February 16, 2011Google Scholar, http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/article_61064e9a-27b0-5f28-b6d1-a57c8b2aaaf6.html.

9. Bauer, Scott, “Walker's First Bills Do Little to Aid Budget, Analysis Shows,” Wisconsin State Journal, January 9, 2011Google Scholar, http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_fa192a0a-1c19-11e0-8688-001cc4c002e0.html.

10. Gilbert, Craig, “Madison, Egypt Link Flawed, Student Says,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 1, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117212248.html.

11. Gilbert, Craig, “Unions Fare Well in Budget Polls,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 23, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116785183.html. Cooper, Michael and Thee-Brenan, Megan, “Majority in Poll Back Employees in Public Sector Unions,” New York Times, February 28, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/us/01poll.html. Gilbert, Craig, “Opinions Polls Show Sharp Divisions on Walker,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 5, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117472988.html. Erickson, Doug, “Poll: Majority Want Walker to Negotiate,” Wisconsin State Journal, March 7, 2011Google Scholar, http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_46e879fe-4856-11e0-8030-001cc4c03286.html. Contorno, Steve, Benson, Dan, and Jones, Ben, “Police: Wisconsin Protest Saturday ‘One of Largest,’” USA Today, February 27, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-26-wisconsin-saturday-rally_N.htm. Fauber, John, “Crowd in Madison May Be Biggest Yet,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 12, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117861864.html.

12. Sinyai, Clayton, Schools of Democracy: A Political History of the American Labor Movement (Ithaca, 2006)Google Scholar.

13. Treleven, Ed, “Union Files Motion for Contempt after State Restricts Access to Capitol,” Wisconsin State Journal, March 10, 2011Google Scholar, http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_bea75d3c-4b73-11e0-983c-001cc4c002e0.html. Patrick Marley, Don Walker, and Jason Stein, “Judge Temporarily Blocks Implementation of Public Union Law,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 19, 2011, http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/118242814.html.

14. In Federalist Paper 10, James Madison defined a faction as “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens.” If one takes into consideration that citizenship rights have developed over time to include new rights which Madison did not envision, then this definition appears applicable to Wisconsin's current Republican leadership.

15. Pitsch, “Balance of Power.”

16. Schlesinger, Robert, “Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and His Allies Drop All Pretenses,” U.S. News & World Report (blog), March 10, 2011Google Scholar, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2011/03/10/wisconsin-gov-scott-walker-and-his-allies-drop-all-pretenses.

17. Heather Cole, “Governor Scott Walker Manufactures Fiscal Crisis and Blames Public Employees,” SEIU Blog, February 19, 2011, http://www.seiu.org/2011/02/scott-walker-manufactures-fiscal-crisis-and-blames-public-employees.php.