… what rose out of the ashes of the still-ongoing Wisconsin pro-union protests. Or maybe you will. Those perpetual parties by college drop-outs and stoners er, pro-union protests must be getting pretty boring, because this weekend they suddenly veered even further left:
“We’re public employees too,” says Aaron Hughes, an organizer
with Iraq Veterans Against the War, a national group based in New
York that has 63 chapters throughout the country. After serving in
the military, Hughes adds: “Many veterans go into the public sector
because there’s a veterans’ preference, so we depend on these
public sector unions to protect our rights as veterans.”In addition, Hughes and Dennis note, the United States continues
to fight two very costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while
politicians, like Walker, propose spending cuts for schools and
public infrastructure.“The money we’re throwing away occupying Iraq and Afghanistan
could easily be redirected to save teachers’ jobs,” says
Dennis.Dennis says he reached out to the American Federation of State,
County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) about co-sponsoring a
march and rally and got the word last week that the union would
join the efforts.
Yup, a full-fledged anti-war protest, complete with idiotic signage. This of course has the potential to produce some entertaining theatrics, since the anti-war crowd lifted Barack Obama high upon their shoulders during the 2008 election and proclaimed him Messiah and Savior, restorer of honor to America, and bringer of world peace. And now we’re launching cruise missiles and dropping bombs on Tripoli.
But it shouldn’t be unexpected, particularly in light of the character of the protesters. You may recall that last week, blogger Ann Althouse was the subject of a crude and profane threat letter from a protester who was angered by her coverage of the Wisconsin protests. Blogger Dan Riehl tracked down the individual responsible for the letter, an unemployed dishwasher (no, I’m not making that up) named Jim Shankman:
Apart from his nasty rant, if Shankman, a self-defined “radical
progressive” reminded me of anyone, it was Peggy Joseph, who, after
hearing Obama speak in October of 2008 said, “I won’t have to work, I’ll
put gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my
mortgage.” Now, those perceived promises unfulfilled over two years into
the Obama presidency, Shankman emphatically and repeatedly claims
“Obama is the worst president in history.”Asked about his politics, Shankman expressed no great regard for
Democrats or union bosses and sees them as forces, combined with
moderate Republicans, who pose a serious threat to America’s future.
While denying he is a socialist, or Marxist, Shankman labeled his
economic ideology “distributionist.” He believes we should divide the
wealth of America across the population “so that everyone can buy a
house,” feed and support themselves, starting over from there based upon
some concept modeled somewhat after Catholic charity. He also believes
in single payer health care and believes Obama has abandoned
progressives on that issue.… Shankman also claims to be one of approximately ten individuals who have
recently started a new movement they hope to grow, “Labor Party USA.”
He also claims to have once been a member of the International Workers of the World, saying his membership is not current but he may join again.
In other words, Shankman is a stereotypical left wing “protesterus professionalis” — an unemployed twenty-something idealist who believes that the key to world peace is shutting down “the system” created by “the rich” to steal the world’s wealth, then finding their treasure hoard and redistributing that wealth — fairly! — back to “the people.” They can be found protesting anything that threatens the “workers of the world” or the implementation of their “new world order” built upon the redistribution of political power and money from the Northern to the Southern Hemispheres, and from the First World to the Third World.
So no one should be surprised that anti-war protesters eventually turned up at a protest ostensibly to support public workers in the state of Wisconsin, because professional leftist protesters all seem to be part of one big happy family. The Republican victories in the recent elections seem to have stirred them from their self-imposed exile that began on Jan. 20, 2009. Now I am curious to see how vigorously they will protest the current use of military force (without Congressional authorization, or the presence of an imminent threat to the security of the US, or a clearly stated goal, I might add) by our Nobel Peace Laureate In Chief.
