Where Is the Will?

While it continues to be heartening to see the good folks of Wisconsin standing up to an ideologue who wants to gut his own state, this same resolve is being applied inconsistently across the nation. As Geov Parrish points out at Eat the State!, Wisconsin's shortfall of $137 million is a drop in the bucket compared to Washington state's estimated $4.8 billion shortfall.

Why, then, aren’t thousands of people occupying the state chambers in Olympia? Or City Hall in Seattle, the scene of a draconian local budget? In part, it’s because Democrats control Olympia (and Seattle), so that no matter how bad things get, unions and other key supporters will never turn on them; the alternative under Republican leadership would be far worse. Partly, it’s because the budget proposals being wrestled over in Olympia genuinely try to blunt the worst of the impact on the people who need government help and services the most, as opposed to using the opportunity to score ideological points. Partly, it’s because there’s little short-term alternative. Wisconsin’s budget has other, easy fixes; Washington’s doesn’t.

But the combination of a bad economy, a fiscally exhausted federal treasury, and a uniquely regressive (and uniquely vulnerable to economic downturns) tax system does make Washington one of a handful of states that will be a front-line exercise this year in what happens when essential services, already cut to the bone, are cut further...

For me, this is one of the troubling aspects of the current political climate. Progressives and liberals are more than willing to take to the streets to show their disdain for Republican initiatives and policies, but they will not show this same fervor in those states that Democrats still control.

As Parrish notes, our Democratic Governor -- not unlike many of her Republican counterparts -- doesn't seem a bit interested in raising taxes on the very people and corporate structure who led to this economic calamity. She is selling much the same flim-flam as anyone else. But alas, don't expect to see massive protests here. It ain't gonna happen.

And it will continue not to happen in Democratic Party strongholds until the majority of people wake up to realize that BOTH mainstream political parties are enablers. Both have enabled Wall Street to bring Main Street to its knees.