This is what democracy looks like

Here’s some students from the University of Wisconsin exercising their right to assemble to express their distaste/disgust/outrage over Gov. Scott Walker’s budget “repair” bill, which has been exposed as nothing more than a thinly disguised attempt to break the collective backs of Wisconsin’s public employee unions.

Here’s some video of the protest:


Students from the University of Wisconsin weren’t the only to protest on Monday, as students from Stoughton High School walked out of class to protest Gov. Walker’s attempt to bust Wisconsin’s public employee unions:

About 100 Stoughton High School students walked out of class Monday morning to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to limit the collective bargaining of public employees, including teachers.

The students walked across the street to the parking lot of Stoughton United Methodist Church, where they signed a petition and listened to protest leaders give speeches.

“Let’s show Gov. Walker that we care about learning and the teachers are worth every cent that we pay to them,” said Theron Luhn, a junior who helped organize the protest.

The students returned to the building after about an hour.

Share:

Related Articles

36 thoughts on “This is what democracy looks like

  1. Yes, let’s hear the protests of non-taxpayers(college students) and those who can’t vote (high-school students). Maybe next we can have kindergarteners stage a walkout.

  2. All of the students who walked out of class should be expelled and if any teachers called in sick and then went to this dog and pony show put on by the union leaders they should be terminated from their jobs. If teachers think they are not replaceable they are even dumber then first thought

    1. Damn straight, Notasquid,

      Those college students and high schoolers should be working in the mines and the textile mills, and only property owners should be allowed to set foot in the capital building. Where’s Bull Connor when you need him?

  3. Why stop there Notalib? how about forced labor camps? Maybe pick a couple leaders and execute them? Public tar and feathering? or maybe put them in stocks and we can all throw rotten vegetables at them! They need to know that dissent is very un American and will not be tolerated. Pappe Walker knows best for all so everyone should just be quiet and go about their work.

  4. I vehemently urge you to denounce Scott Walker’s budget proposal which limits the rights of nurses to protect their profession and livelihood through collective negotiating. Historically nursing has been a profession severely abused and compromised with mandatory overtime (which means, for a nurse, over 12 hours) and low wages. The result is inevitably a dangerous practice environment as well as a lower quality candidate pool. Nursing has made strides to correct these historic injustices, and in turn, has improved care for all citizens.
    Remember, every day we care for all citizens with outstanding care and expertise, care which saves lives. These same people are now making the short sighted decision to undervalue the very professionals in whose hands they will someday place their lives, and to simultaneously undermine the very institutions in whom they entrust their health and the health of their families.
    Please think.
    Ty James, RN

    1. My wife has been a nurse 30+ years never been in a union she makes a very good salary. Yes she puts in long hours but that is the nature of healtcare, beung a nurse is not a 9-5 job, she is often tired, often exhausted but she knows at the end of that 12, 13 sometimes 14 hour day that pat8ents she came in contact with got the very best care they deserve, how much she has to pay for insurance, how much she pays for retirement is the last issue on her mind, can the union RN same the same thing, i don’t think so. Being a nurse for many is just a paycheck but for those who have a calling and understand its about the patient first, well lets just say they are the ones who make nursing sucessful.

  5. It’s funny how conservatives thought that Scott Walker was the cure for all that ailed Wisconsin. As someone who was a republican for two years (and those were two long years), I listened first hand at conventions, rallys, dinners, etc, at the damage this guy was going to cause if he was elected. Many shunned me for going back the way I came last November, but unlike the others in that party, I was not fooled.

    I think Scooter needs to be in office for at least 1 year before he can be recalled. It’s going to be a long year…

  6. OMG You guys. We had democracy three months ago. The citizens of Wisconsin new exactly what Scott Walker was going to do and they voted for him and all the legislators. This is going to happen and it should. This state has a debt. You can either raise taxes(not an option and if you dont know why you are a lost cause) or cut spending. Where is all the substantial spending in this state and every other state for that matter. Personal. Sorry but we don’t need professors at universities teaching two classes and doing “research” while collecting full benefits, a pension and not to mention a very decent salary. We don’t need Teaching assitants in universities making $8,000 a semester so they can half ass it and act like jerks to students. This state needs to change fundamentally how it is run. Trust me this is all for the better long term future of Wisconsin. You’re all just mad that Walker is taking away the money that that funds the Democratic Party. When it comes down to it that is all you’re mad about. He’s collecting and save all that gravey that is being poured into your mouths.

    1. Pete,

      I am sure you are correct, but I must have missed it. Can you show me the link where Walker said he was going to give up the train money and that there was no way he could switch that money to roads? or where he said he would not negotiate with the unions and after spending hundreds of millions of dollars then just try and break the union with no input? can you show me where he said he would pass a voter id bill that disenfranchised students and elderly and would take Wisconsin from one of the easiest places to vote to one of the most restrictive?

      I also agree with you on the Professor thing. Who needs research we know all we need to know already!

      1. I almost forgot Pete, since he said he has been working on this for “months” please share the link where he said in his campaign he would use the national guard to break the union.

        Thanks i will be waiting.

        1. OH wow a new twist from the union, he is going to use the NG to BREAK the union? Really? And what exactly would be your plan if guards were to walk of the job in the state prison system, just open the gates and allow them all to leave? The NG is not going to break the Unions, they are doing that job themselves.

        2. I’m fairly certain that the National Guard has only been given a head up in case prison guards strike. As of this moment, there is no “mobilization” underway.

          1. You’re correct. From what I’ve been told the NG would be used to staff the state prisons in the event of a walkout by staff at the prisons.

            1. Thanks for the honesty Zach.

              There’s so damn much zealotry and extremism from all around on this. A ton of people are either implying or directly stating that Walker is going to sick the National Guard on dissenters and force them to stand down at gunpoint. You’ve linked to some of them. But I think you might just be the first person against the Walker’s plan that has actually admitted that the purpose of the National Guard support was to deal with potential safety problems especially with prisoners.

              1. Well, in all fairness there hasn’t really been much said by Gov. Walker to clarifiy what exactly he meant, so I can’t blame folks for assuming the worst.

  7. So I was right Notaclue! You do live alone,(except for the cat)! And you have done exactly what I try to teach my children NOT to do…name calling. I happen to have a child that has mild retardation(so if you are going to use the term, learn what it truly means) and I see nothing stupid about people defending the rights of all the people of all ages. I feel bad for you that you can’t seem to find your way out of this politicians butt(its blocking your perception of the working class people)and have nothing better to do than to pick on the people that are just trying to do the right thing. Isn’t it our youth that we need to reassure and rely on about the future? Isn’t it our youth that will be fighting for our rights when you end up in some nursing home? Nothing here is perfect, but this is really wrong to take away something our country has fought for for centuries(unions). A dictatorship? Thats the answer? I suppose you don’t believe there were any POW’s in Germany either. I am teaching my 6 year old how to be strong and voice her opinion and that its ok to speak up. I have to make sure that our backwards politicians give equal rights to my 9 year old special needs child, so lets just say I know a thing or two about the true definition of BS in this state! So lets not try to assume that you know everything about everyone as you sit in your lonely home, instead of actually experiencing what we are all talking about.:) You can lash out at all of us individuals that have actually lived what we preach, but it’s our politicians you should be upset with…that are NOT practicing what they preach.

  8. I do want to apologize to everyone here for my very inappropriate comment earlier in this therad, it was uncalled for and very insensitive.

    1. Notalib,

      I’ll try to call you by your proper screenname from here on in. I don’t want to go to bed without supper.

      I was raised in a working class home, Zach. We called it supper. None of this snooty “dinner” stuff for me.

        1. Because I was interested, both terms are of French origin, which tends to sound snootier to our ears than words of English orgin.

          Anyway here’s the Word Origin & History:

          supper

          c.1275, “the last meal of the day,” from O.Fr. super “supper,” noun use of super “to eat the evening meal,” which is of Gmc. origin (see sup (1)).
          “Formerly, the last of the three meals of the day (breakfast, dinner, and supper); now applied to the last substantial meal of the day when dinner is taken in the middle of the day, or to a late meal following an early evening dinner. Supper is usually a less formal meal than late dinner.” [OED]

      1. Sorry about earleir today Steve, while it is clear I am on the oppsite end of the political spectrum we are all Americans and only what the best for this country and the people. This country is so divided by ideology its down right scary as to where it will end up some day. I honestly do worry about the direction it is going in, no one seems to listen no one seems to care, we all just think we are right and what others say just does not matter. As a kid growing up in the 60’s I watched this contry change almost overnight and it seems each decade just digs us deeper and deeper into a blackhole with no way out.

  9. Funny how “this is what democracy looks like” isn’t what you said when thousands of people attended a tea party rally at the capitol, imploring Democrats not to raise their taxes or increase spending.

    But now that it is government employees begging for taxpayers to pay for their benefits, it is democracy.

    Oh, and what happened to last month’s call for civility? I guess that is out the window now, isn’t it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71gsnLfsbbM&feature=youtu.be

Comments are closed.