"I Have Returned..."

General Douglas MacArthur

Friends of #WIUnion, these are dark times.  Many of you will have read that the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in a decision that surprised no one, overturned Judge Sumi's ruling on the open meetings law.  Another defeat.  Another loss.  Another failure.  It is inconceivable that the sun will ever rise again on our beloved Wisconsin.  An apparently endless night has descended on us enveloping us in a cold, unwholesome embrace.  But we must endure this darkness.  We must learn to survive because this too shall pass.  We must hold faith with our brothers and sisters in the struggle and know, really know that day will follow this seemingly endless night.  It will, I promise you.

In another dark time, February of 1942, on the heels of a sweeping victory at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese closed their noose around the Philippines.   The Nazi's had swept aside all resistance on continental Europe, and the Japanese were advancing across the Pacific.  General Douglas MacArthur was responsible for defending the Philippines against the onslaught for as long as possible, but it proved an impossible task.  The Japanese were too strong, their advantage of surprise too overwhelming.  Like the Tea Party Republicans who ran on one platform, but once elected, exposed the depths of the feckless, deceitful plans, the Japanese encircled Manilla having crushed all defenses.  The GOP sneak attack on Wisconsin was as treacherous as the one at Pearl Harbor.

Confronted by the immanent collapse of the island's defenses, President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to evacuate.  MacArthur boarded PT-41 in the dark of night with his family and made his way to Australia.  It would be more than two years before MacArthur set foot on the soil of the Philippines again.

But that was not the last of General Douglas MacArthur.  Upon leaving, he promised the people of the Philippines he would return.

"I have returned," MacArthur famously said upon setting foot on the beach at Leyte on October 20th, 1944.  The Japanese were ultimately defeated within a year.  MacArthur had kept his promise to the people of the Philippines.

Fellow Progressives, we too shall return.  This treacherous, un-American Tea Party GOP legislature will not last forever.  We will undo what they have done.  Recalls are pending and 2012 is right around the corner.  We will vote them out and we will undo the damage they have done to our great state.

Until then, we must fight them at every turn.  Give them nothing.  Never forget that every battle we lose will bring us a hundred victories in the coming months.

We must never stop!

We must never quit!

We will never surrender!