OpenTopic@: The Groundswell, August 2011

State of the Unions
By Matt Robbins, National Executive Director

I still remember the smell of that locker room.

Every summer during college, I worked at a plant on an industrial island in the Mississippi River. Corn syrup (the fructose in our soft drinks) was the main product, although we also loaded some impressively big barges with some sort of cattle feed.

Hours were long, days were hot (try working under a giant dryer turbine, in July), and we all wore long-sleeves and jeans, plus steel-toed boots and hard hats. And were thrilled to do it.

The college program was a great deal and we knew it. A kid couldn't make that kind of hourly wage, not anywhere. That's why we jumped at every chance to work more: 12-hour days, seven days a week. They literally had to make us go home. We were disgusting, ripe messes by the time we got there, but we were happy.

And that was before that first paycheck came. I tore it open in the men's locker room and couldn't believe my eyes. It was more money than I'd ever earned in my life. I was grinning like the guy on that Enzyte commercial.

Unfortunately for me, a union employee saw the whole thing. He asked me what I was smiling about, and as only an idiot 19-year-old can, I told him. Bad move.

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On the Ground in Wisconsin		Constitution Day Training Bomb
The Historic 2011 Wisconsin Recall Elections are over and the conservatives have withstood an assault from labor unions to maintain a 17-16 majority in the State Senate. American Majority was busy preparing the Tea Party and other conservatives for these historic recall elections through training in or near all of the Senate recall districts in April and May. These grassroots individuals really made the difference in responding to the $25 million the Left spent attempting to buy control of the State Senate and derail Gov. Scott Walker's agenda. Read more here.		On September 17th, local groups are joining us in an effort to bring concerned citizens together for a day of training, in over a dozen cities across our country. Training that will equip citizens with the tools and information necessary to bring about real change- from running for office, to organizing precincts, to using the best online resources. Please find an event in a city near you, and join us as we organize and educate in an effort to ensure that we continue to live in a free society.

Whither the Tea Party?
	Recently, Harry Reid made headlines when he said that he expected the Tea Party movement to fade away. John McCain called tea party members "hobbits". But a look at local groups across the country reveals that the tea party movement is busy organizing, educating and working to chage the political system in their communites.


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