Thousands Rally Against Austerity in “Blue State” Maryland [New]
Over 10,000 Descended on Annapolis Against Austerity
Austerity-Mania has gripped the entirety of the nation’s political class (read: “rich white people”), and sadly allegedly liberal Maryland is no exception. Despite resisting the Republican Wave of 2010 and handly re-electing a (supposedly) liberal Democrat Governor, Maryland’s proposed 2011 budget is long on cuts in both education and public works, and extremely short of tax increases for the wealthy and corporations.
Fortunately, the resurgence in the labor movement sparked by the action in Wisconsin has also caught on here in Maryland- as many as 15,000 rank and file, leadership and progressive activists took to the streets of Annapolis and demanded that Democrats who ran on their reputation as the party of labor “Keep the Promise” and balance the budget in a way that doesn’t decimate their ranks and the collective future of the state.
Governor O’Malley, always the opportunist, appeared and quickly reminded the collected crowd (some of whom greeted him with jeers) that the Democrats value labor not for their contributions, but for their campaign money and their votes:
“Look we have tough decisions ahead of us,” O’Malley said. “But we are committed to staying at the table, and figuring this out together” with the unions, he said.
Note there were no promises to preserve pensions or find a way to balance the budget without vicious slashing of education funding and public works. While the above link claims that the crowd was disarmed, I was there and I can report that the majority in attendance were not sold. In fact, it was widely reported that union leadership had resolved not to allow politicians to participate and that the Governor’s staff simply “insisted” that O’Malley be allowed to address the crowd.
Regardless, to see a crowd in Annapolis of this size should give progressives hope that despite the platitudes of centrist hucksters like O’Malley and OFA, there is a legitimate and robust progressive movement being born in this nation- one that is not dependent on the Democrats and their agenda of surrender- one that will hopefully turn back the insane tide of austerity and redistribution of wealth to the richest Americans.
What Do You Think?
7 Responses to 'Thousands Rally Against Austerity in “Blue State” Maryland'
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Emocrat [New]
Wednesday, 16 Mar, 2011 at 10:55 am
“Tough decisions” is just neo-liberal code for “screw the little people.” At this point, I would guess that phrase was met with some indignation from the crowd. But at least, just like Scott Walker, he’s “willing to talk.” (Yes, that’s over the top, but I can’t help it right now, given just how craven political leadership is these days)
So a couple questions, Travis:
1) Is the axis of labor-liberals-progressives-and-anyone-else-who-fits-into-the-category-of-relatively-enlightened-oppo-to-neo-liberal-crap willing to pushback really hard against this kind of talk from O’Malley? The thought occurs that if he thinks he can get away with it, he’ll go right ahead with smashing the middle class, which he needs to do if he wants to impress the folks in DC.
2) Do you think liberal/progressive Maryland is capable of taking down Democratic pols who try to move in this direction?
It seems to me that the progressive forces need to counteract language like “tough decisions” with qualifiers like: “If by ‘tough decisions,’ Gov O’Malley is referring to raising taxes on the rich and corporations, then we’re certainly ready to ‘get tough.’ If he’s just talking about austerity, then our ‘tough decision’ will be to make sure he’s out of office as soon as humanly possible.”
The Big Hurt [New]
Wednesday, 16 Mar, 2011 at 11:15 am
number 2 is the key
if the left electorate allows left politicians to sell out, then the sellout will happen
this is one thing I don’t like about the left electorate: it allows the left pols to go right and won’t punish them. am I wrong? would the right allow right pols to go left?
Emocrat [New]
Wednesday, 16 Mar, 2011 at 11:36 am
I will simply point you to the Tea Birchers. How many establishment Thugs have they dethroned thus far?
So I agree with you. If the willingness isn’t there to take on the Dem establishment, then all this is just Show & Tell. All sound and fury, signifying nothing.
At least the folks in WI haven’t had that problem, for the most part. I seriously doubt any Dem leaders in that state would buck public opinion at this point. So that message has to be brought to Neo-Libs like O’Malley (although I’m not sure that really applies to him, since I’m not that knowledgeable on his part) and definitely Cuomo in NY, among others. Simply having a “D” next to one’s name is not sufficient anymore.
More broadly, one thing that sticks out as a positive for people not among the elites is the simple fact the DC Dems stayed out of the WI struggle. They had an opportunity to bigfoot the whole thing and co-opt it and they blew it out of fear their corporate paymasters might get upset with them.
Oopsie. That will leave a mark next November, if not sooner.
Wednesday, 16 Mar, 2011 at 6:36 pm
well…
1) there is definitely pushback against Democrats in general by Marylanders. We have a Senate president who refuses to come out in support of Gay marriage (tacitly part of the platform) and a Governor who refuses to propose ANY tax hikes. there’s a LOT of buzz in labor and progressive circles about the fact that O’Malley is simply positioning himself for a presidential run in ’16 by being a shitheel centrist, Bayh-style
2) it’s already happened- Progressive Maryland primaried numerous centrist Dems last year and look to expand their reach in 2012
Emocrat [New]
Wednesday, 16 Mar, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Well, good luck to O’Malley. The word “centrist” will be well out of style by then. “Shitheel” will probably be more common usage by then. Can’t wait to see those ads!
William Timberman [New]
Wednesday, 16 Mar, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Yesterday, I was one of about 75 people in the streets of Sedona AZ with Wisconsin solidarity signs — small potatoes, compared to the rest of the country, but hey…it is AZ after all.
Sedona votes blue, and the local Democrats, although mostly geriatric types (i.e., non-boat-rocking retired souls from CA, NY, and CT, who would probably annoy the hell out of you, Travis) are considerably to the left of the DNC, and are increasingly unhappy with business-as-usual.
Who knows, maybe one of these days we’ll actually amount to something. In the meantime, some tourist passers-by from WI got a big kick out of us, which I have to say, buoyed spirits considerably.
David [New]
Wednesday, 16 Mar, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Generally speaking, it’s hard for regular people to pressure someone like a governor. On the other hand, when a governor spouts conventional wisdom and his or her allies in the legislature are pressured to distance themselves from that CW, those legislators may well more effectively pressure the governor.
Regardless, it is very important that people talking about “tough choices” and “shared sacrifice” are not treated as allies. Ultimately, people like O’Malley need to publicly choose sides – pushing the Predator State agenda with less zeal puts you on the wrong side.
It’s good to hear that people are mobilizing even where they are not under attack from the more obvious conservative assaults – and not just in DC.