State of a Union...

According to Laurence Gold, attorney with the AFL-CIO, "Unions cannot, from their general funds, contribute a dime to any federal candidate or national political party. They can only do it through their separate political PAC and only according to strict limits." This is a double edged sword - can't use one side, but the other side works just fine.

From Wikipedia: "Although much smaller compared to their peak membership in the 1950s, American unions also remain an important political factor, both through mobilization of their own memberships and through coalitions with like-minded activist organizations around issues such as immigrant rights, trade policy, health care, and living wage campaigns." No real big secret here.

Then there's this from the retiring NEA attorney Bob Chanin http://daytonos.com/?p=6836. Chanin posed the question of why NEA is an effective advocate. Chanin said, “It is not because of creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our position, it is not because we care about children, it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power and we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year because they believe we are the unions that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees.” 

I do not understand how that passage of Walkers Budget Repair Bill doing great harm to the Middle Class. Union members are not THE middle class - they may be part of it by earnings standards. But supporters "for" the bill are also a part of the Middle Class. By the looks of things, I would consider Union Members as a Privileged Class.

Unions are struggling for their existence, and their actions over the years are responsible for this. Not Governor Walker. In the public eye, these protests and those standing with the protesters are also doing more harm than good. This is all a part, on either side, of a much larger picture.

I would also like to know how the faction of protesters could break in to the closed State House based on their right to a public vote? To the best of my knowledge, a Public Vote is an item at an election, where a vote is cast for or against a particular issue. This issue is hardly a matter of public vote. It is the responsibility of our elected officials. Time will tell how this will play out. And, no one knows the future.

For the record, here is a list of contributors, amounts to Democrats or Republicans and the percentages given to a particular party. Koch Industries ranks 83rd, contributing 89% of $11,000,000 to Republicans over the past 20 years and are constantly accused as the evil corporate money power. See who and how many have rankings above #83.