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Townhall...
Don’t Like It? Riot
By Rich Galen
Welcome to another new normal: If you don’t like something your
government is doing, or if your government is not doing something you
think it should be doing - riot.
Don’t wait for one of those pesky elections. Take over the square, the
roundabout or the state house and demand that the government do - or
stop doing - what you want.
I understand that Hosni Mubarak was a despot in dictionary meaning: A
ruler with absolute or virtually absolute power and authority.
A fair election was never going to happen in Egypt while Mubarak was in
power and the only way to get rid of him was to (a) wait for him to die
or (b) get the military to force him to retire.
That is not the case in Bahrain and it is certainly not the case in
Wisconsin.
I know a little something about Bahrain. Back in the day when I worked
for a company called EDS (which was founded by Ross Perot) I ran the
Middle East and our HQ was in Bahrain.
Without getting into the 7,000 year (or so) history of Bahrain let me
just say that the little clutch of islands in the Persian Gulf which
make up the country have been the center of trade and commerce for
centuries.
Bahrain and Israel are among the few countries in the region which have
little or no oil. Both have made a living on being smarter and more
open to foreigners than their neighbors.
If you look at a map you will see that across the Persian Gulf from
little Bahrain is … Iran which is a Shi’ite nation.
Bahrain’s ruling family is Sunni. I have no doubt that Iran is funding
the Shi’ite unrest in Bahrain, but what it will come down to is this:
Immigrants (who are largely Shi’ites) will end up doing battle with
Bahrainis (who are also largely Shi’ites) over whether the king should
be overthrown.
The indigenous Bahrainis will win. Meanwhile, back in the good ole U.S.
of A. we have these union thugs in Wisconsin - along with their allies,
the Democrats in the State Senate - rioting in the statehouse in
Madison over Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to, according to
ABC News:
“strip government workers of virtually all collective bargaining
rights. The bill would also require public workers to pay half the
costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care
coverage.”
Democrat members of the State Senate have fled the state - much as
Democrats in Texas did in 2003 - so that the GOP members could not
assemble a quorum to conduct business.
Dems from Texas hid out in Oklahoma. Dems from Wisconsin are cowering
in Illinois - both outside the reach of their respective State Police
who could compel their attendance.
According to reports, some 5,000 people packed themselves inside the
state capitol building to protest making teachers and other state
workers pay a part of their pensions and health care.
Apparently they were out of town last November 2 when the voters of
Wisconsin actually elected Scott Walker over Democrat Tom Barrett.
Your guy, Barack Obama, immediately took sides saying, “the Wisconsin
proposal seems like an assault on unions.”
If only Wisconsin state workers were members of the Auto Workers Union.
The US Government would take control of the Wisconsin state government,
arbitrarily cancel all the state’s debts and pay the union members
bonuses. Just like GM.
New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie is getting a lot of
ink, but Gov. Scott Walker should get equal kudos for putting the
issues on the line.
Democrats in Madison are, much like their colleagues here in Your
Nation’s Capital: Hiding their heads in the sand; unable and/or
unwilling to make tough choices.
On the broader question of what is a legitimate form of protest, Barack
Obama his hand-maiden Hillary Clinton may have opened a Pandora’s Box
in their zeal to support the rioters in Cairo and their refusal to make
a judgment call on the rioting in Bahrain.
Any group which disagrees with the position of a legally elected city
council, county commission, state legislature or … dare we say it …
Congress of the United States has been given the active permission of
Barack Obama to riot in support of its views.
Once a Community Organizer …
Read it at Townhall
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