Wisconsin Needs 3 Courageous Senators. Now!

Why are the 6 Republican State Senators up for recall election on August 9, 2011?  Did they not do a good enough job to deserve re-election which they won?  Did they not look to help their constituents when asked?     Do they not love their district?

Irrelevant.

Remember this sign up at the Capitol in February and March?

Alberta Darling, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke, Sheila Harsdorf, Rob Cowles and Luther Olsen are being recalled because they failed to stop Governor Walker when they had the chance.  In fact, they did worse than that.  What these Senators did was to vote for Governor Walker's  legislative agenda which aims to change Wisconsin from a progressive laboratory of Democracy into a guinea pig for out of state interests.

In the middle of February, when the Budget Repair Bill looking to take away collective bargaining right was first presented, it was clear to everyone including Scott Walker, that with the Assembly being in Republican hands and the Senate having only 14 Democratic Senators,  there was little that could be done to stop Governor's agenda from becoming the law of the land.  As the people flooded the Capitol in protest, the sign saying Wisconsin needs 3 Cou(R)ageous Senators went up right away because it made it very clear: all of this can be stopped by 3 people on the other side who stepped up and put breaks on this run away train.

Only 3 people who felt that Budget Repair Bill and what followed -  State Budget, Voter ID bill, redistricting - were too extreme, could make a huge difference. But they were not there.  Who knows what Republican Senators were promised and how they were threatened.  But the fact is that these Senators can no longer remain in the position of power they were placed in by voters.  

Did Alberta Darling, Rob Cowles, Luther Olsen, Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke and Sheila Harsdorf step up and protect their constituents and the rest of the state?  No.  That much is clear.

Now some say that what these Republicans Senators did does not rise to the level of warranting a recall.  Really? Does voting to take Wisconsin 100 years back in time does not warrant a conversation at the voting booth?  We say it does.

Now it is up to us to decide what we are going to do about it.  Are we going to think back fondly to the protests in Madison in the middle of winter as merely some kind of a community festival that has no meaning today or are we going to reach out to our friends and neighbors and tell them that voting for Randy Hopper and the rest is the same as voting for Scott Walker?

And here is one more image to remind you about the simple math involved in these recall elections:

It's quite simple, really:

It takes 17 Democratic Senators (since obviously Republicans are unable to step up their game to protect their constituents and the state) to put breaks on Walker agenda.  If these can be found, not only will we have protected our State but we will show the rest of the nation that voting counts, voting matters and that these extremists can be stopped peacefully and democratically.  If we fail, Scott Walker and his ilk will continue to take Wisconsin apart and reassemble it in the image provided to them by Koch Brothers.

The same as with Joe McCarthy, the time will come when all of us will look back and laugh at the time Scott Walker tried to run our state into the ground, but until someone steps up and says "enough", that time will never come.  Rob Cowles and the rest of the Republican Senators failed to stand up to the Governor.  That is why we need to say "enough!" and recall those that can not stand up to the Governor, so that those who will fight for Wisconsin can be put in the Senate on August 9.

Want to help get out the vote for recall elections?  Click here for information: Wiscotumblr