What If America Went on Strike?

What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Slate

News, Daily News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2025

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2011, a Republican majority in the Wisconsin State House faced massive protests to their plans to strip power from public sector workers. State Democrats fled across the border and the possibility of a general strike loomed. But the strike fizzled out and the legislation ultimately passed. And now the situation in the federal government is shaping up in a similar way. Do the workers need to break the glass and do what Wisconsin stopped short of? Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:06.6	There was a time, and it wasn't that long ago, when American government workers got so pissed off at the people running things that they called out of work and protested for weeks.
1:23.6	They rolled out sleeping bags on marble floors. They brought in drums and vivusillas so they could make themselves loud.
1:31.3	They chartered buses to bring in nurses and teachers, corrections officers, and cops.
1:37.3	In the end, their ranks swelled to 100,000, maybe more. The amount of time, energy, and resources about to be unleashed on those who supported the attacks
1:52.0	against us is going to be enormous. This was 2011 in Madison, Wisconsin.
2:04.7	Like now, a Republican executive had just come to power.
2:09.6	Like now, one of the first things he wanted to do was undermine government employees.
2:16.4	In the years since, thanks in part to this effort,
2:19.3	the Badger State has been called the GOP's Laboratory for Dismantling Democracy.
2:25.2	And stick with me for a second, because Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's moves back then,
2:31.3	they were different from what Trump is up to today. But there are these similarities.
2:36.8	In 2011, protesters were pissed because Governor Walker was attempting to hamstring public
	...

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