Wisconsin's Shame, Progressive's Dream - Granite Grok

Wisconsin’s Shame, Progressive’s Dream

Wisconsin’s Shame: ‘I Thought It Was a Home Invasion’ by David French of National Review,  is the most frightening story I’ve read in a very long time.  I encourage all to read it.  It tells of the true stories, still unfolding, about how laws and the state were/are used to bludgeon citizens, political enemies, destroying their lives and through all of it had to remain silent.  Below are a few excerpts (any and all emphasis mine).

Cindy Archer, one of the lead architects of Wisconsin’s Act 10 … it limited public-employee benefits and altered collective-bargaining rules for public-employee unions — was jolted awake by yelling, loud pounding at the door, and her dogs’ frantic barking. The entire house — the windows and walls — was shaking.

She looked outside to see up to a dozen police officers, yelling to open the door. They were carrying a battering ram.

“I told him this was my house and I could do what I wanted.” Wrong thing to say. “This made the agent in charge furious. He towered over me with his finger in my face and yelled like a drill sergeant that I either do it his way or he would handcuff me.”

They wouldn’t let her speak to a lawyer.

“It’s a matter of life or death.”
That was the first thought of “Anne” (not her real name). Someone was pounding at her front door.

It was early in the morning — very early — and it was the kind of heavy pounding that meant someone was either fleeing from — or bringing — trouble.
..
She ran to the door, opened it, and then chaos. “People came pouring in. For a second I thought it was a home invasion. It was terrifying. They were yelling and running, into every room in the house. One of the men was in my face, yelling at me over and over and over.”

It was indeed a home invasion, but the people who were pouring in were Wisconsin law-enforcement officers. Armed, uniformed police swarmed into the house. Plainclothes investigators cornered her and her newly awakened family. Soon, state officials were seizing the family’s personal property, including each person’s computer and smartphone, filled with the most intimate family information.

“They followed me to my kids’ rooms.”

For the family of “Rachel” (not her real name), the ordeal began before dawn — with the same loud, insistent knocking. Still in her pajamas, Rachel answered the door and saw uniformed police, poised to enter her home.

When Rachel asked to wake her children herself, the officer insisted on walking into their rooms. The kids woke to an armed officer, standing near their beds.

The entire family was herded into one room, and there they watched as the police carried off their personal possessions, including items that had nothing to do with the subject of the search warrant — even her daughter’s computer.

And, yes, there were the warnings. Don’t call your lawyer. Don’t talk to anyone about this. Don’t tell your friends. The kids watched — alarmed — as the school bus drove by, with the students inside watching the spectacle of uniformed police surrounding the house, carrying out the family’s belongings. Yet they were told they couldn’t tell anyone at school.

They, too, had to remain silent.

Most Americans have never heard of these raids, or of the lengthy criminal investigations of Wisconsin conservatives. For good reason. Bound by comprehensive secrecy orders, conservatives were left to suffer in silence as leaks ruined their reputations, as neighbors, looking through windows and dismayed at the massive police presence, the lights shining down on targets’ homes, wondered, no doubt, What on earth did that family do?
This was the on-the-ground reality of the so-called John Doe investigations, expansive and secret criminal proceedings that directly targeted Wisconsin residents because of their relationship to Scott Walker, their support for Act 10, and their advocacy of conservative reform.

Again, read the entire thing. It’s fascinating and horrifying.  Be afraid. Be very afraid. This is the Orwellian state that O’Brien championed and Winston feared alive in Wisconsin.  This is the Progressive “Utopia” where Big Gov leads.  If you find yourself in Milwaukee, the Dells or that wretched bay up North and see a Democrat slithering down the street. Do the smart thing and cross to the other side.

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