Ghandi said: “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Sunday, they ignored us.
Monday, they laughed at us.
Saturday, they fight us.
They are bringing in big guns: 8,000 Tea Party activists from neighboring states and Wisconsin. Tea Bagger Leader Andrew Breitbart and Jim Hoft. It is rumored that Sarah Palin, herself, will appear (I imagine it will be a body double).
We need to keep this our movement.
I asked a Capitol Police Sargeant about how our crowd compared to the the South Africa takeover. I probably insulted him because he wasn’t on the force then. But he said that the old-timers told him that this crowd is nicer. That makes sense. This is a middle class union crowd while the Anti-Divestment group was a radical punker crowd.
Anyway. The Wisconsin Education Association Council put out his suggestion for tomorrow:
“Dear Capitol Demonstration Friends and Supporters:
“In the days ahead you may encounter people who disagree with our point of view on the issues that have brought us together this week. Speficifically, we’ve heard that Tea Party activisits have been asked to come to the Capitol in Madison, Friday and through the weekend.
“Please know that we respect the right of anyone to speack out and to have their voice heard, regardless of whether or not they agree with us. In fact, our purpose this week has been to ensure that voices of Wisconsin citizens are heaed by our legislatures and that public employees maintain the right to be heard in their workplaces through collective bargaining.
“I you encounter anyone who does not share our point of view, it is vitally important that we demonstrate our values by conducting ourselves in a polite and resprectful manner. engaging in arguments or other confrontations will only serve to distract us all from our purpose.
“The peaceful expression of ideas and differin points of view is part of the Wisconsin tradition and something we all value.
“Do please, keep it calm and cool and show the world how democracy is done in Wisconsin.”
Wisconsin Education Association Council