CBS News' Monday Early Show pointed to the Wisconsin Protests as the "Tea Party Movement" of the Left, and blogs like that of Kyle Drennen's at New Busters (a right-wing blog by the way), have picked up on the idea.
It reminds me of the late Harvard Economist John Kenneth Galbraith's concept of "Countervailing Power," as introduced in his book American Capitalism in 1952. All "Countervailing Power" is, is the eventual balancing of one set of market forces by another.
Thus, in the Wisconsin Protests, and in President Obama's focus on cutting entitlement programs, we're seeing the rise of a "Countervailing Power" to the Tea Party Movement. But you ask "What's Obama got to do with it?"
In suggesting that certain entitlement programs be cut, President Obama is smartly igniting those people and organizations on the left that were arguably asleep during the 2010 Midterm elections. Now, we have Liberal activists, bloggers, and TV pundits stating why these programs, some impacting education, are necessary and it comes right at the time the State of Wisconsin - or at least it's Governor Scott Walker's illogical attempt at limiting the negotiating rights of teachers. If Governor Walker gets his way, working conditions can just plain get as awful as can be and teachers will have to take it.
As of now, Governor Walker and Wisconsin Senate Republicans will not get their way. And Senate Democrats don't look like their coming back home any time soon.
More Protests In More States?
Protests on spending cuts and union power are threatening to spread to other states. As blogger Tom Hayes points out at Zennie62.com, what we're learning is that the "vast majority of people like what the government is spending the money on."
And that's really the point, isn't it? We're at a place in America where we have to come to terms with our standard of living and how we maintain it. Republicans can't seek a decrease in spending when economic logic points to more spending if only to create jobs to cause the American economy to grow. We also have to maintain the safety net while we're growing the job base. But taking it away hampers the ability of many to maintain a basic living standard while America's economy is being rebuilt. That's why so many people who were almost inactive for the 2010 Midterm elections are protesting the legislative actions of Republicans today.
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