Big, International Consequences in Wisconsin Union Battle

The consequences of the battle playing out in Wisconsin and other states between government-employee unions and taxpayers hoping to rein in spending will be huge and international, warned CEO Arthur Thompson of The John Birch Society (headquartered in Wisconsin) in his weekly video address.

“What we’re witnessing in Madison, Wisconsin is a turning point,” he said, referring to the massive anti-reform protests entering their third week. “Either the taxpayers will win, or the radical unions will gain strength. And through that strength, they’re going to take control out of the hands of the electorate.”

Thompson emphasized that if the government-employee unions are victorious, voters will no longer “stand a chance” of controlling their public servants — no matter how they vote.

“If our public officials — that we elect — are not allowed to set the compensation and benefits for public employees, what does that make us, the taxpayer?” he wondered. “The taxpayer can just keep working to pay them no matter how they vote.”

And that is the main issue, according to Thompson — not the fact that, while serious nonetheless, state governments are facing massive fiscal challenges.

Next, Thompson addressed some of the terminology being used in regards to the protests. The word “solidarity,” for example, is frequently associated with socialism, he said.

And the term democracy is misleading, too, because America and all of the states are supposed to have a Republican form of government based on laws — not a democracy governed by the whims of a majority. “Our forefathers did not like democracy,” he pointed out. “They said it was the worst form of government known to man.”

Among the big players behind the protests in Wisconsin is the National Education Association teachers union. So, Thompson highlights some interesting points about the organization.

On the group’s website, a list of “recommended reading” includes leftist “community organizer” Saul Alinsky’s notorious book, Rules for Radicals. That work, considered essential reading by socialist agitators around the world, is dedicated to Lucifer — “the very first radical,” according to the book.

“I find that very revealing,” Thompson said. “Is it any wonder that the type of teachers in the streets that we see do not teach God in the classroom when they follow a kind of book like this? When they lie about being sick? When they enlist students into the protests? Is this the message that’s being taught by this type of teacher? Do we want that kind of message taught?”

President Obama, Thompson also pointed out, began his career in politics working for an organization that followed Alinsky’s tactics as well. And this summer, the President will even be organizing an “Obama Camp” to prepare a swarm of campaign workers trained in the methodology of Alinsky, much of which — such as the use of lies and deception to advance socialist goals — would be considered deeply immoral by most Americans.

“And that’s what’s going on in Madison behind the scenes,” noted Thompson. “We’re seeing a rolling tide of these demonstrations into Indiana and Ohio —even international demonstrations in support of what’s going on in Madison,” he said, citing videos posted by official communist sources around the world in “solidarity” with Wisconsin demonstrators.

What’s going on is not simply about Madison, a few Midwestern states, or even the U.S., Thompson said.  “What we’re seeing going on is international … What we are witnessing across the world with all these demonstrations [is] interrelated, and the interrelationship appears to be communism – it appears to be international socialism.”

And indeed, some concrete evidence for the assertion has already started to surface. For example, The Blaze news service recently discovered something astounding: The protest permit for the “Save the American Dream” rally in Washington, D.C. over the weekend — purportedly organized by the SEIU, MoveOn.org and a coalition of leftist groups in “solidarity” with Wisconsin demonstrators — was actually issued to the International Socialist Organization.

The National Park Service confirmed that permission was in fact granted to the openly socialist group aiming to build a “future socialist society.” On top of that, among the speakers at the rally was former Obama “green jobs” Czar Van Jones, who admitted a few years ago in an interview that he was a communist.

“There‘s no escaping it for those of us who‘ve followed these things for years,” concluded Thompson. “And I think we‘re going to see some very interesting things happen over the next several days, several weeks, several months. It doesn’t bode well in many, many ways.”

Other prominent commentators and analysts have offered similar warnings in recent days as well. If the tax-funded, Democrat-supporting government-employee unions win these battles, the future does not look good for America.

Watch the video below:

Photo: Protesters for and against the governor's proposed budget were evident outside of the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., March 1, 2011.: AP Images

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