A left-wing ‘temper tantrum’ to short-circuit elections and their consequences
Three years ago, the combination of a $787 billion stimulus and multibillion-dollar bailouts sparked the first tea party rallies. The tea partyers protested, yes, but most importantly they pledged to “remember in November” — that is, November of the following year, when the next congressional elections would be held.
Liberals, confident the tea parties would fail, called it a “temper tantrum.” That “tantrum” wound up sweeping many a Democrat out of office. Now, liberals are throwing a fit of their own. But they aren’t waiting for the next elections. They want their way, now.
That’s the upshot of both the threatened boycotts of a conservative legislative group’s corporate sponsors and the attempted recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. The left, having lost last time, is too impatient to bide its time.
The conservative group in question, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has been around since 1973. It has been quite active in Georgia since Republicans took the reins here a decade ago.
By ALEC’s count, each year one in five bills based on the group’s model texts becomes law. That rate hardly signals a rampant rubber-stamping of laws written in secret and railroaded through statehouses.
The two ALEC-approved laws at the heart of the boycott threats are one requiring voters to provide photo identification and the “stand your ground” self-defense law that gained national notoriety after the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.
But states began passing voter ID laws nearly a decade ago. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2008 upheld Indiana’s version, one of the strictest, noting plaintiffs presented no one denied the vote because of the law. “Stand your ground,” meanwhile, is a century-old legal concept long approved by courts. In recent years, it has been codified by a number of states — including eight with Democratic governors at the time.
Now, suddenly, these court-approved laws have made ALEC public enemy No. 1. Companies that donated to it are shrinking in the face of boycott threats. What changed? Why now?
Permit a theory: The urgency stems from the conservative wave that swept over numerous statehouses in 2010. Republicans now control 26 statehouses and 29 governor’s mansions. That’s a stark change from before the 2010 elections, which produced the largest loss of statehouse seats for one party in decades and the most GOP state legislators in 82 years. Suddenly, ALEC has a lot more influence. And the left doesn’t want to wait for the next elections — and to have to win a reversal at the polls — to stop it.
In Wisconsin, labor unions aghast at the changes Walker and GOP legislators enacted — including limiting collective bargaining rights for some public workers and requiring them to contribute more toward their health care and pensions — will try to recall him in an election next month.
Never mind that Walker campaigned on most of these changes, won the election and followed through. The unions want to remove him from office more than two years early. There’s talk Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder could face a recall as well due to his union-limiting law.
Fledgling democracies mark a significant milestone when they transfer power safely from one group to another. We haven’t fallen that far.
But it is disturbing to see some groups try to lessen the effect of their electoral losses by making threats and seeking to remove officers carrying out an electoral mandate. They tread on dangerous ground.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
327 comments Add your comment
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 21st, 2012
2:07 pm
Americans need labor unions like slaves need owners.
Joe the Prophet
April 21st, 2012
2:11 pm
How can you condemn homosexuality and abortion when you condone polygamy, practice polytheism, and do not believe in Hell…!?!?!? I suppose that’s how it gets political…..
Really….As a polytheist, I command you to submit to this trans-vaginal ultrasound in the name of God…!!!!!
AmVet
April 21st, 2012
2:17 pm
What a laugh riot, oure neer-do-well Republischmucks fighting the plutocrat’s War on the Middle Class thinking that the fat cats are gonna trickle down on them!
And shower them with good jobs.
But where are they???
Oh yeah, Bangalore and Beijing.
And those companies were given money by Uncle Sam as a reward for sending them there.
Yeah, you neocons must be cheering your arses off!
BTW, how has that Reaganomics worked out for you bankster lackeys over the past forty years?
You love your flat-lined wages?
Enjoy your weekends, and thank a union man for it!
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 21st, 2012
2:36 pm
But where are [the jobs]???
Oh yeah, Bangalore and Beijing.
———————-
Your Idiot Klown wasted a year on an unconstitutional health care power grab instead of fixing the jobs problem. After inheriting a recovery, we’re into our fourth year of 8-10% unemployment.
Heckuva job, Barry.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 21st, 2012
2:42 pm
how has that Reaganomics worked out for you bankster lackeys over the past forty years?
—————-
I think we can all agree that I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, and only having been of working age for the most recent thirty years of your forty my biggest problem is figuring out whether to keep working at my present, highly compensated job or strike out on my own since I don’t really need the income. So it’s worked out exceptionally well, thanks.
Just saying..
April 21st, 2012
2:50 pm
One of your weaker efforts, Kyle.
If the ALEC’s been around since 1973, how many mentions of them, and their backers, have appeared in the AJC before 2010? Just for toting “stand you ground” water for the NRA, they deserve the current spotlight. And with the lights on, look at the many PR-obligated corporations scurrying away.
Rafe Hollister
April 21st, 2012
2:57 pm
Joe the Prophet has escaped from the rubber room, everyone duck.
Back Seater
April 21st, 2012
3:01 pm
America needs Unions as much as Kim K needs a good looking a$$
Back Seater
April 21st, 2012
3:05 pm
Michael Szedon
April 21st, 2012
1:53 pm
What is your point?
Now with Ten Percent More Flavor
April 21st, 2012
3:08 pm
Lil,
I know nothing of this “Idiot Klown” that you continue to refer to. Perhaps it is because it is your “Idiot Klown” and no one else’s.
td
April 21st, 2012
3:54 pm
GT
April 21st, 2012
8:28 am
” Romney could have been a communist with a war-chest and he would have been elected in Georgia, money wins elections here, not majorities”
You are kidding right? Barnes had more money the Perdue and Deal and lost both times. Ideology wins in Georgia and you libs just refuse to accept the FACT that Georgians are repulsed by your big government, welfare state ideology. This state is conservative both fiscally and socially.
RW-(the original)
April 21st, 2012
4:06 pm
I see the intellectual lightweights are out in force touting the unions as the great driving force behind the 8 hour day and the 5 day work week etc. It’s almost as if they never heard of Henry Ford, but then again I did mention what mental midgets they really are so what should I expect.
Since I haven’t blogged all that much lately could somebody fill me in please? Did ALEC replace KOCH as the boogie man in the triple l’s closets or do they still shiver in fear at both of them?
Just saying..
April 21st, 2012
4:29 pm
“…Georgia, money wins elections here, not majorities””
td, educate me here if you have a good source for a counter view. The excitement over money in American politics is driven by the statistic that, memory serving, 95% of elections in the US are won by the candidate with the greater campaign fund.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 21st, 2012
4:39 pm
95% of elections in the US are won by the candidate with the greater campaign fund
——————
100% of elections are won by the candidate with more votes. If you have a problem with an elected official, don’t blame a dollar bill or a lobbyist or a super PAC. Blame the morons who voted, as I do when blaming morons, parasites, losers, and America-haters for electing Obozo the Idiot Klown.
td
April 21st, 2012
4:41 pm
Joe the Prophet
April 21st, 2012
1:53 pm
You really need to look up Liberation theology. It is the religion of Obama. When you look deep into its tenants then go back and read Matthew 7 again and tell us about false prophets. I will take Mormonism over Marxism any day of the week.
td
April 21st, 2012
4:53 pm
Just saying..
April 21st, 2012
4:29 pm
I do not know where you get your 95% number from but could it also be related to being an incumbent? Here are a few examples of where money did not win:
Perdue over Barnes
Deal over Barnes
Bush over Gore
Obama over Clinton
Are all of these the unusual?
FoShizzleMyNizzle
April 21st, 2012
4:57 pm
OBAMA WINS!!! OBAMA WINS!!! OBAMA WINS!!! 4 MORE YEARS! 4 MORE YEARS!! (of your bytchin’ and moaning). Delta will be ready and will probably offer discounted fares. Let’s call it their “inaugural special”. Goodbye!!!
tiberius your lightning rod of hate!
April 21st, 2012
4:59 pm
Thanking a union man today for my weekend is about as accurate is thanking a black guy for picking my cotton 150 years ago. Neither has any relevance.
But thanks for the laugh, AmVet.
tiberius your lightning rod of hate!
April 21st, 2012
5:02 pm
Joe the Prophet is overdue for anther round of electro-shock therapy.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
April 21st, 2012
5:05 pm
Gay Porn Interrupts Canadian TV Newscast…
How would you be able to tell the difference???
Just saying..
April 21st, 2012
5:16 pm
td-
For 2004, the figures are 91% of House races, and 91% of Senate races won by the candidate who raised the most money. For 2008, it was 93% of House races and 94% of Senate races, plus the Presidency.
So Barry, it would appear to be useful for your Presidential candidate to raise more money than President Obama.
tiberius your lightning rod of hate!
April 21st, 2012
5:20 pm
Just saying, there is zero comparison between house races where districts are gerrymandered and presidential elections.
None. You’re comparing apples to bananas.
Just saying..
April 21st, 2012
5:21 pm
My typo: 2004 was 95% of House races, and 91% of Senate races.
md
April 21st, 2012
5:23 pm
Amvet……you still driving a foreign vehicle and complaining about jobs going overseas????
Once again for those that don’t get it, we dictate how corps act with our buying habits…..don’t buy it and watch what happens. It’s a very simple concept that has always been true in a capitalistic economy.
This concept is also a big reason unions have priced themselves out of being relevant…..you folks think it is coincidence that wages starting stagnating here when we started buying all those Datsuns and Toyotas???
AmVet
April 21st, 2012
5:25 pm
I do love you right wing mental giants.
You boys couldn’t hold your own in a tenth grade debate. Seriously.
So though the lurker brat spouts off about how the unions were not the great driving force behind the 8 hour day and the 5 day work week etc, he is as ignorant or stupid.
And it looks like more than a few of you slept through high school…
Many workers—men, women and children—put in 10 to 16 hour days, seven days a week. Labor organizers called on the government to mandate shorter hours. Workers lost lives in the struggle. At Haymarket Square in Chicago, police gunned down protesters and men were hanged for inflammatory speeches.
The men were demanding, as they put it, time for “what we will.”
“The right to have time with our families. To pursue education,” says historian Michael Feldberg. And to go to the zoo, the museum, the church. Actually, getting Sunday off for worship was relatively easy. Feldberg says, it was Saturday that was the tough part. “If the Jewish Sabbath had been on Wednesday, we would not have a weekend. We would have Wednesday and Sunday off.”
But Jewish and gentile factory workers aren’t the only ones who brought you the weekend. Some of the people who owned the factories helped too. People like Henry Ford. Ford hated labor unions. But he shared their hope in this strange new thing called a weekend. He gave his workers two days off back in the early 1900s, even though the federal government didn’t mandate the forty-hour work-week until 1938.
So, who invented the weekend? It was brought to you by the Labor Movement, but also Management.
Men and women, who unlike you had a spine, fought and were beaten and killed to get all of you the MANY rights, protections and benefits that you ingrates and mooches now take for granted.
At least you could stop spitting on them…
Just saying..
April 21st, 2012
5:28 pm
Tib: Just addressing who raised the most and who won.
As to gerrymandering, not sure where it doesn’t occur. Although there may be breaking news from Florida.
If your point is that gerrymandering distorts American election outcomes as much or more than money, you’re probably right.
RW-(the original)
April 21st, 2012
5:31 pm
Careful there stalker. Kyle’s not as likely to ban people you start crying about as jay.
AmVet
April 21st, 2012
5:41 pm
All I have to do is how up here once in a blue moon and I can bring out the Pavlovian RW and his AmVet Obsession Club.
The Head Victim has delusions of importance and that people are out to ban him.
What ahoot.
More bad history for you willfully ignorant ostriches…
Child labor laws. Nowadays, the idea of young children working in dangerous and hazardous conditions is uniformly appalling, but as recently as the early 20th century, child labor was all too commonplace. In 1881, the very first American Federation of Labor (AFL) national convention passed a resolution calling on states to ban children under 14 from all gainful employment, which motivated states to take action and pass child labor policies, and that led up to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act – the first federal law in the nation to prohibit child labor.
The eight-hour day. During the industrial revolution of the late 1800’s, workers often toiled for 14 or 16 hours at a stretch with no overtime pay. In May of 1886, a labor strike for the eight-hour day led to the now infamous Haymarket Square riot, where striking workers lost their lives standing up for the core labor ideal of “eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what we will.” Workers and unions fought for decades for this basic right, and the eight-hour day finally became reality for all workers in 1938 with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Occupational health and safety. Prior to 1970, firefighters, mineworkers, those who work around dangerous chemicals and just about everyone else had absolutely no health and safety protections at work. But all that changed when labor unions successfully urged President Nixon — a conservative Republican — to sign the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the first comprehensive federal legislation that regulates safety in the workplace. OSHA has provided the basis for more reforms in occupational health, including mine safety laws and standards for workers who are exposed to toxic chemicals.
Health care. Up until the mid-2oth century, employer-provided health care was incredibly rare, but all that changed thanks to the labor movement. In 1943, the National War Labor Board (a coalition of unions) declared employer contributions for health insurance to be tax free, which encourages companies to offer health-insurance packages to attract workers. By 1950, “half of all companies with fewer than 250 workers and two-thirds of all companies with more than 250 workers offered health insurance of one kind or another.” Today, most workers are covered under employer-provided health care, and we’re a healthier nation because of it.
The minimum wage, workplace equality, unemployment insurance, family and medical leave, higher wages – all brought to you by labor unions forcing Uncle Sam to force management to stop treating workers like property.
One rhetorical question before I go, why is it that virtually all of you self-destructive working stooges hate that American working families have any say in their lives and futures?
hryder
April 21st, 2012
5:44 pm
VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENT ELECTED OFFICE HOLDERS IN THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS! The medium to far left on the political spectrum usually have their buttocks covering underwear in a wad about some perceived outrage. They seem to become very silent when told that when they liquidate all their possessions but that necessary to remain just above the poverty line, then, you wil consider doing the same. This since they hold such a deep belief in their philosophy of purchasing support with funds other than their own.
RW-(the original)
April 21st, 2012
6:00 pm
Left Wing temper tantrum was certainly spot on in the headline. Kudos Kyle.
…and for those keeping score at home the next blue moon is August 31…
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 21st, 2012
6:34 pm
Hard to understand why the libtards are perpetually angry. They’ve got their Messiah in our White House, they got Obozocare passed, they had a filibuster-proof majority and could have done whatever they wanted with our President Bush’s tax cuts…
What all the anger, libtards? Is there still something you haven’t been able to control, tax, corrupt, or ruin?
md
April 21st, 2012
6:37 pm
Unions…..past history. Sure, they played a role, but that was history. We now have OSHA, and a host of other agencies dedicated to the benefit of the employee.
Unions as a spokesperson for the masses is no problem, if done within the confines of the company they are employed by. Third party unions on the other hand, are doing more damage than good. Nothing more than a wedge between the 2 parties involved…..with a tendency to push a third party agenda. And typically, is the one party not hurt nearly as bad as the other 2 when a company goes under…………
Rafe Hollister
April 21st, 2012
6:50 pm
Am Vet
Horses helped us conquer the west and helped the Allies defeat the Germans in WWI, however, we no longer need them in the armed forces. They performed admirably and are to be praised, but now belong in a pasture. We are grateful for their service. Move on.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
April 21st, 2012
7:05 pm
Humber perfect game.
You can put it on the board, yes!
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 21st, 2012
7:09 pm
Excellent point, Rafe.
Maybe now that unions have driven our economy into the ditch with their job-destroying demands and their unsustainable gold-plated public sector union benefits, it will be the corporations that rescue America from their tyranny. No wonder the libtards have such vile hatred for well-meaning organizations such as ALEC.
RW-(the original)
April 21st, 2012
7:15 pm
Humber perfect game.
Good thing it was against the Mariners. Otherwise the last idiot that batted might have had sense enough to run to first instead of arguing, but Humber was dominating most of the game.
Congrats!
td
April 21st, 2012
7:43 pm
Just saying..
April 21st, 2012
5:16 pm
td-
For 2004, the figures are 91% of House races, and 91% of Senate races won by the candidate who raised the most money. For 2008, it was 93% of House races and 94% of Senate races, plus the Presidency.
Like I said does these numbers have to do more with the power of incumbency or money? Since the house districts are gerrymandered in such a way that the opposite party can not win in 90 to 95% of the districts then those numbers you are quoting may not have any relavency. Just saying..
April 21st, 2012
5:16 pm
td-
For 2004, the figures are 91% of House races, and 91% of Senate races won by the candidate who raised the most money. For 2008, it was 93% of House races and 94% of Senate races, plus the Presidency.
Since the house district are so gerrymandered and the opposite party can not win in 90 to 95% of the districts then those numbers are a little skewed. On the Senate side most states are red or blue so the money follows the party that is probably going to win so your numbers theory is probably a little off there as well.
td
April 21st, 2012
7:55 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 21st, 2012
6:34 pm
They are angry at not Republicans but at conservatives. I read many a post after they did not get universal healthcare (government run single payer), the carbon tax and the fairness doctrine due to bluedog democrats that they hoped all of them got voted out of office. When that happened now they do not have control any longer.
They are angry because the majority of this country is still to the right of center and they know that they are not going to be able to “transform” our nation by the electoral process. This is why you have the OWS movement and all the picketing now because they are going to try to force their agenda down our throats or create such mayhem that our system fails anyway. Mark my words that if we get to August and September and Obama is behind in the polls then we will see riots in the streets.
@@
April 21st, 2012
8:22 pm
“The new regime”—his name for progressive apparatchiks who run California’s government—”wants to destroy the essential reason why people move to California in order to protect their own lifestyles.”
I’ve often wondered if that’s what motivates liberals.
And the welfare recipients, he emphasizes, “aren’t leaving. Why would they? They get much better benefits in California or New York than if they go to Texas.
I had hopes for Jerry’s second go-round. He just can’t break away from the public-sector unions.
So the rich progressives will be providing for the welfare crowd and the public unions. That’ll be interesting.
Goodbye, California. I knew you when.
@@
April 21st, 2012
8:23 pm
Oops, again.
Joel Kotkin: The Great California Exodus A leading U.S. demographer and ‘Truman Democrat’ talks about what is driving the middle class out of the Golden State.
St Simons - codewords are the new black
April 21st, 2012
8:50 pm
heheh…oh yeah heheh….that’s richhh
cons pout raging over a tantrum…heheh
that missing gene for irony is gonna be the end of them hahahaha
Rafe Hollister
April 21st, 2012
8:56 pm
@@ sad on the one hand, because Oblamer is trying to reproduce the same policies nationwide that is sinking California. You know in the old days, they always said everything new or faddish starts in CA and moves east. If we do not get rid of him, we will be in the same shape as they are, except smart people will not be able to leave the USA, like they are fleeing CA.
The good news is the Hollyweird liberals will either have to desert ship or support all that monumental foolishness financially. As taxes get higher and higher on Streisand, Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Clooney, and Tom Hanks, it will be interesting to watch their reaction.
AmVet
April 21st, 2012
9:00 pm
Rafe, see my comment about sleeping through high school?
One day, in some utopian future, you neocons will be able to make persuasive, fact-filled arguments and analysis, instead of being unpaid sloganeers and sophist analogies to equines…
But by all means, you and the blustering Lil BB should go over to the Lockheed plant in Marietta and spit on those men and women, if it makes you fell better…
md
April 21st, 2012
9:06 pm
Good read @@……..by a Democrat no less. I think the sane ones like him are outnumbered. Just goes to show that the old adage of “at some point you run out of other peoples money” is playing out in real life. No skin in the game has a habit of doing that……..much like the 3rd party union discussion…….3rd party unions have much less skin in the game…..it is not their jobs they are gambling with.
md
April 21st, 2012
9:09 pm
Am…..you would be well served to read the link @@ provided…….if you were in search of facts and figures………
Bullet County
April 21st, 2012
9:11 pm
Kyle, how’s the Leroy Newton endorsement working out for you?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 21st, 2012
9:13 pm
Mark my words that if we get to August and September and Obama is behind in the polls then we will see riots in the streets.
———
And if we get to October and he’s behind, we’ll be bombing Iran.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
April 21st, 2012
9:16 pm
go over to the Lockheed plant in Marietta and spit on those men and women, if it makes you fell better…
——
I have to admit I’m conflicted on that. True, they’re overpaid union thugs, but at least they’re part of the military-industrial complex, building the tools of war that a future Republican will use to keep America strong.
tiberius your lightning rod of hate!
April 21st, 2012
9:19 pm
Amvet always ignores any facts and figures he doesn’t supply. Keeps him from thinking.
RW-(the original)
April 21st, 2012
9:33 pm
Amvet always ignores any facts and figures he doesn’t supply.
Don’t confuse enormous cut and pastes from wiki with supplying facts. It’s simply subterfuge to mask that he couldn’t put together two sentences of coherent, independent thought if his life depended on it. What amazes me is that someone can simultaneously stay that clueless and that bitter. You’d think to be able to get bitter you’d have to eventually have a clue, but he hasn’t changed an iota since his first sock puppets arrived.