Milwaukee DSA Statement on the GOP's Lame-Duck Coup
Statement / By Milwaukee DSA / December 4, 2018
Contact: milwaukeedsa@gmail.com
MILWAUKEE, WI — December 4, 2018 — Wisconsin Republicans—like their peers in Michigan and North Carolina—are staging a coup. In last month's elections, the people of this state said no to Governor Scott Walker's eight-year assault on the working class and to Attorney General Brad Schimel's efforts to gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions. A majority of voters cast their ballots to reject Republican state legislators' destructive brand of politics. But due to one of the most extreme partisan gerrymanders in American history, Republicans remain in office.
Yet rather than adjusting their policies to win over voters they lost, Republicans are now acting like petulant children—taking their ball and going home. Their lame-duck bills severely limit early voting, further harming our democracy, and cripple the governor's ability to fulfill his basic duties to Wisconsin voters. In other words, because voters rejected Republicans, Republicans are rejecting democracy.
We all know what is behind this national trend towards autocratic rule. The capitalist class, having completely captured the Republican Party, has set its sights on American democracy. Democracy is entirely incompatible with capitalism. Capitalism, which prioritizes the private accumulation of wealth over the lives of the working class, requires the curtailment of workers' rights to demand a better life—either on the shop floor or at the ballot box. The only way capitalists can win is by eliminating the freedoms that people fought and died for from Selma, Alabama to Milwaukee.
Socialism, on the other hand, makes meaningful democracy possible. Currently, capital has control over investment––which gives it far too much power over the decisions that affect where most people live, the conditions of their work, and the quality of their lives. The radical reforms advocated by Democratic Socialists aim to give workers more control over those decisions. In our world, workers would have the power to stop the GOP's power grab before it started.
The people of Wisconsin are many. The capitalists, and their Republican handmaidens, are few. When we struggle together, we win. We invite everyone interested in creating democracy and socialism in Wisconsin to join us in the fight.
More information about the Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America can be found at milwaukee.dsawi.org.
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