Do not take civics lessons from this woman

Diane Ravitch (HUFFINGTON POST LINK HOTSPUR ).

Claiming that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is teaching “reverse” civic lessons, Ravitch lists the 8 “lessons” we can learn from the recent political happenings.

Lesson one?

Citizens should not be hoodwinked by rhetoric. Governor Walker said that the state was broke. He said that public sector workers had to make larger contributions to the cost of their pensions and health care, even as he handed out generous corporate tax breaks for the same amount. Doing a reverse Robin Hood, he took from the middle class to enrich the powerful.

The state is broke, just like most of the states in the US. Public workers are being asked to make larger contributions to THEIR pensions and THEIR health care. The are being asked TO ACTUALLY MAKE SOME contribution. See, before it was zero, and now it is a small contribution. Which, of course, is “larger” in a sense. And those contributions they’ll be making? It’s going to actually go toward their pensions and health care, and isn’t actually being given – in any sense- in the form of tax breaks to corporations.

Lesson two is some stupid comment about voting percentages.

Lesson three: Voters should listen carefully to the candidates and ask for details about what they will do if they win. Walker said he was going to balance the budget. Those of us who live here on the planet Earth knew that meant people on the take in government were going to get a little less.

Lesson four:

Politics in a democracy is different from politics in an authoritarian state. When there is strong opposition to their decisions, they negotiate and compromise. Negotiation and compromise are not signs of weakness, but of the disposition needed to build consensus.

Unless, of course, you just flee the state refusing to participate in good faith. See the Stephen Hayes article linked below for a detailed explanation of how dishonest the democrats were in their efforts at compromise.

Lesson five:

Leaders in a democracy do not crush their opposition. Politics is not war. Leaders may not agree with the people on the other side of the aisle, but at the end of the day, they recognize them as “my loyal opposition,” not my enemy. That spirit of comity is at the heart of our democracy. Elected officials do not destroy those with whom they disagree.

Baahaa haaaa. You’re kidding, right? See Obama.
“I won.”
“Grab a mop.”
“Get in the back seat.”

Moving on. Lesson six:

Citizens should not believe politicians who talk “school reform” yet plan to cut $1 billion from the state’s education budget, while privatizing public schools. Schools will be devastated by the cuts. Class sizes will soar. Programs that children need will be eliminated. And for-profit operators will find a way to make money from a dire situation. This is not school reform.

If people haven’t figured out by now that more money does NOT equate to a better education, then we truly are lost.

Lesson seven:

Governor Walker’s attack on teachers has galvanized millions of demoralized teachers across the nation. The fact that Wisconsin’s teachers organized and protested in the face of insuperable odds has inspired their colleagues across the nation.

And the teacher’s protests have galvanized public support AGAINST teachers.

In lesson eight, Ravitch appeals to the UN’s International Declaration of Human Rights.

In his effort to destroy public sector unions, Governor Walker joins in common cause with other Republican governors, including those in New Jersey, Ohio, Idaho, Tennessee, and Indiana and elsewhere. It’s time to remind them that the International Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, contains Article 23, section 4, which says: “Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.” When the Declaration was passed, only eight nations abstained, not only the Soviet bloc, but also South Africa — which opposed the pledge of racial equality — and Saudi Arabia — which objected to the pledge of religious toleration.

So Governor Walker and his fellow anti-union governors have decided to demolish one of the pillars of a democratic society: the right to join a trade union for the protection of one’s interests. Totalitarian societies ban unions outright or create faux unions without any collective bargaining rights. Not a club that good Americans should want to join!

The United States is not ruled by the United Nations. It is not our supreme authority. That would be the Constitution, which is the document most educated folks here in the United States appeal to as the pillar of our democratic society.

Do NOT take civic lessons from this woman since mostly what she is teaching is union propaganda.

Who niether sees nor understands the difference between a private and a public work force union.

And apparently doesn’t understand why one work force should be allowed to unionize, while the unfettered rights of the other to do so are a danger to our democracy.

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