Channel Your Outrage (Reposted from 11/3/10)

The day after Scott Walker won the 2010 race for governor I wrote a blog posting asking both myself and everyone else to channel our collective outrage into effective action.  Many people did exactly that and now we are presented with a historic second chance to correct that horrible mistake.  Remember the pain and outrage of 2010 (and 2011) and continue to use it.

As we all begin to unify in this effort, it felt right to just repost my original item on this subject.

The Following was Originally posted on 11/3/10 (minor edits have been made)

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There are countless things to be outraged about regarding the election results last night. For me they include some of the following:

•  The promotion of a failed county executive even though he has presided over the financial and literal falling apart of Milwaukee County(no wonder those voters overwhelmingly rejected him yesterday). 
• Electing a policy lightweight that refused to talk about "details" until after he was elected. In the mean time he provided us with talking points and slogans. He, along with the help of his corporate soul mates,were able to buy a seat on the U.S. Senate. This clown may have bought an election but he will never be able to "replace" Russ Feingold. 
•  The collective amnesia that we have had as a nation in forgetting which party brought this historic recession on us. The record already reflects that for the last 2 years we have been (too slowly) heading in the right direction. Yet voters chose to elect people that want to implement the very same policies that brought us to economic disaster. 

OK we are all rightfully outraged but now what? I think that the only acceptable solution is to start channeling this outrage into strategic and aggressive action. There are certainly behind-the-scenes and less predictable actions that can take place long before any of this extreme bunch ever takes the oath of office. Then after taking office they will provide us with a plethora of opportunities. If recent history teaches us anything, we already know that this crowd is incapable of effectively governing (at least if they actually keep all of the fanciful campaign season promises that they have made). Scott Walker no longer can pass the buck. He will have a Republican majority in the legislature and no Milwaukee County Board to blame. Republicans both in Wisconsin and nationally are bound to overreach very early and we should be prepared to take advantage of it.

Channel your outrage now to prepare for effective action later NOW.