1. arrest v. — seize someone and take them into custodyOn March 3, 2011, these six Wisconsin State Senators, Robert Cowles, Alberta Darling, Sheila Harsdorf, Luther Olsen, Randy Hopper, and Dan Kapanke, endorsed a resolution by their legislative leader, Scott Fitzgerald, to issue arrest warrants, in the sense of definition 1. above, for 14 of their political rivals. They did so on the flimsiest of alleged legal bases, and in fact on legal bases manufactured from the deliberate misreading of an adverse decision issued by an Oconto County court.
2. arrest v. — stop or delay progress or a process
And amazingly, they did this not in the Soviet Union but in America.
Today, many Wisconsin voters have the opportunity to arrest the six named Republican Senators, not according to the lawless means by which those Senators acted, but in the sense of definition 2. above, to impede the progress of a radical Republican agenda in which all three branches of State government — including the highest court — are complicit.
Also in March, Republican legislators broke the law — and admitted they broke the law — by convening a twilight gathering in clear violation of the State's open meetings statutes, which give effect to the Wisconsin constitution's guarantee of public access to government proceedings.
On June 14, in perhaps the most radical act of the current regime, the State Supreme Court, by a bare majority of Republican judges and in an unsigned, unexplained order, invented a novel form of judicial authority through which they blessed the illegal acts of the Republican legislators.
Some, including the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the State's biggest newspaper, have complained that today's elections misuse and betray the spirit of the people's constitutional power to recall their elected representatives. They complain that the constitutional recall mechanism should be reserved for more serious misdeeds in office, not just for disagreements with those representatives' policies.
But Wisconsin voters have to wonder, what more serious misdeeds of office can there be than ordering State law enforcement officials to arrest their political rivals? What more serious misdeeds of office can there be than violating a collection of statutes intended to guarantee the people of Wisconsin merely the barest access to the deliberations of their government? What more serious misdeeds of office can there be than cheering on a court to fabricate its own unprecedented authority?
I can think of none. Arrest them. Or else just arrest any three of them.
See also: Alberta Darling's deliberate indifference to suffering
Interlude
Well done as always.
ReplyDeleteI hope it's not lost on you (or your readers) that with a few tweaks this same post could get huge page views at Hot Air or RedState. Just change Walker to Obama and substitute "socialist insurance scheme" for "assault on public workers rights."
Of course, it remains to be seen how the Supreme Court will rule in the case of healthcare reform. Ultimately, the parallel may break down, but it exists nonetheless.
Such is our politics these days.
Thank you sir. You're alright.
ReplyDeleteWorkin on it....
ReplyDeleteplease let me know when President Obama implements a "socialist insurance scheme".
ReplyDeleteHeck i will settle for let me know when President Obama implements a policy that is democratic.
How about something that leans even slightly to the left?
Jeremy, you remind me of some of the sophomoric types I asked to sign recall papers, aghast at the increasing polarization. Scott Walker started this and we're going to finish it.
ReplyDeleteTin foil hat on too tight?
ReplyDeleteThis has to be the stupiest blog post in a long time.
And I suppose you are going to blame the Waukesha County for the loss to Alberta Darling?
Question: Why cannot you accept the fact that the voters of Wisconsin have changed and have taken a turn to the right?
This has to be the stupiest blog post in a long time.
ReplyDeleteI've seen stupier.
Why cannot you accept the fact that the voters of Wisconsin have changed and have taken a turn to the right?
I don't believe you know which facts I do or do not accept but there's been no evidence presented in this set of recall elections of any rightward turns. So far one Democrat has successfully defended his seat and two Republicans have failed to defend theirs. From the sounds of things, Republicans don't like their chances in WISEN 22 and I don't think even y'all are crazy enough to elect Kim Simac. So by the time things shake out next Wednesday out of the nine contested Senate seats, Republicans will have sustained a net less of two. Wouldn't that be a turn to the left? Moreover, even though Democrats couldn't turn the trick last night, there is Dale Schultz, who today may be the most powerful politician in Wisconsin. Now it's probably up to him to decide whether the voters of Wisconsin have changed and taken a turn to the right.
Speaking of Stupi
ReplyDeletehttp://lasvegasbadger.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-9-2011-date-president-obama-lost.html
Heh, heh, the wingers are a little testy this morning. Walker, here we come.
ReplyDeleteGood job IT, Steve Earle got me fired up for field work yesterday.
Odd they'd be testy. Thought they were celebrating.
ReplyDelete