The legislative boycott by Indiana’s House Democrats pales in comparison to this one from Rhode Island in January 1923. It lasted all year and featured a fistfight and a gas ‘bomb.”
The Rhode Island Senate Democrats were fighting to change how the Senate districts were drawn at the time. Apparently, the 22 Republicans represented 24% of the population while the 18 Democrats represented 74%. (I assume the remaining two percent is some kind of rounding issue.)
There are other historical analogies. All are apples and oranges, but comparative, nonetheless.
• 1932 Bonus Marchers (Veterans) converged on Washington, DC, to “demand for immediate cash-payment redemption of their service certificates.” Gen. Douglas MacArthur sent in infantry to clear them out; burned their camp and belongings. I doubt they would do that in Madison.
• Then there was the Great Railroad strike of 1877. The current teachers’ union protests pale in comparison. Henry Ward Beecher was the contemporary equivalent of a televangelist. Though usually liberal in his political views, Beecher famously said of the strikers, “Man cannot live by bread alone but the man who cannot live on bread and water is not fit to live”. The following Sunday sermon he added, “If you are being reduced, go down boldly into poverty”. Beecher promptly left town for a two-month Europe vacation with his family.
And the Indiana Democrats are fighting against a bill that was removed from the legislative agenda three weeks ago.
I haven’t been paying a great deal of attention to the specifics. What do you mean by “removed from the legislative agenda?”
I assume that, about the best the Democrats can get, is assurances from Speaker Bosma that his caucus won’t pursue this or that issue and he has the votes to defeat it if, somehow, it hits the floor.
The Ind. Democrats originally walked out because of the imminent passing of the Right to Work legislation. Numerous sources have stated that the Republicans have agreed (weeks ago) to take this bill off the table. My own (Republican) legislators have acknowledged that this bill is “dead”.
The title to this story, dated Feb 23rd, is “Right to Work Bill dead…”
http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-indiana-democrats-walk-out-house-speaker-says-democrats-should-declare-victory-come-back-to-work-20110223,0,313924.story
And the r’s folded so quick the d’s decided to push for more.
I am not a huge fan of the walkout, but the negotiations to bring them back was handled poorly.
From a number of people I have talked to, most of what they’re quibbling about now would have been resolved through committee meetings, some amendment tweaks and at least 2 of the issues losing the vote as enough r’s had committed to vote against them.