Wisconsin Firefighters Show Us How It’s Done

Firefighters Local 311 has spoken to Scott Walker — and his fellow corporate puppets — in the one language he understands: Money.

Yesterday, union members withdrew almost $800,000 from Madison’s M&I Bank. Two firefighters had huge savings accounts adding up to $600,000 between the two of them. They each demanded a cashier’s check on the spot.

The executives and board members of M&I Bank were some of Scott Walker’s largest campaign donors last year. The union members’ run on the bank caused M&I to close for the day a few hours early.

M&I Bank was the proud recipient of $1.7 billion in taxpayer bailout money during G.W. Bush’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In other words, the money that M&I Bank donated to Scott Walker and other rightwing candidates was YOUR tax dollars at work.

Yesterday’s action by Firefighters Local 311 was a heartwarming reminder of what each and every one of us can do. When things are going to hell all around you, you don’t have to just sit there fuming helplessly, or sit at your computer typing in a bunch of banal cuss words like a 12-year-old at recess. (Not that I’ve ever done anything like that, but some other bloggers have gotten a little carried away in the past few days.)

We’re not powerless or helpless. What stores and businesses do you patronize? Where do you keep your money?

Every one of us can find some small way to make our voices heard; to make a difference. Now more than ever.