I’ve been calling a lot of the people who have joined the FDL Membership Program over the past couple of days, and it’s been one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in the five (yikes!) years since we opened the doors. Much to my surprise, many were people who have never even commented here before, and it was the first time I’d ever had the opportunity to interact with many of them.

- Hugh said that he joined because FDL “has become an indispensable source of news.” Civil liberties, and the issues Marcy covers, are important to him: Indefinite detentions, black sites, military commissions. “What was once an aberration under Bush has now become normalized.”

- Robert has been around since the Plame days. Told me “I have no problem financially supporting a news organization, I subscribe to magazines.” Number one issue for him: “We need to start winning the class war back. They are winning.”

- Charles said FDL “is the #1 site I go to when I turn on my computer. I am just grateful for all the good work you do.” Excited about participating in membership conference calls.

- Christopher wants to see an FDL store that carries union-made swag, and perhaps goods made by FDL members. Volunteered to proofread if we need it. (As the world’s worst speller, I may take him up on that.)

- Twain is doing great, she’s always a big supporter. I got to her name and said “I know Twain,” but thought “heck, I’ll call her anyway, just to hear her voice.” She offered to pay for a membership for somebody who needed one, and we helped set that up.

- Jerry has been around since the blogspot days. Says it’s his first read in the morning. Loves what Marcy does, and likes it when he sees FDL folks on TV. Thinks the work we’re doing here is important and wants to support it.

-Maydaze lives in a very red state where his GOP member of Congress ran unopposed in the last election, so FDL is sort of an oasis. Just wants to be supportive.

- Frank is a regular commenter, but I didn’t know he was Frank33 until he told me. I thanked him for always keeping things lively in the comments! He is interested in national security issues, and volunteered to write about topics that need exposing.

- BlueJeansTShirt – I didn’t know his real name either, and let out a whoop when he told me he was BJTS. He says “every time he comes on the blog, there is something new.” When I asked him what he’d like to see in the future, he said “just keep doing what you’re doing. Truly.”

- Terri said she has been reading us for a long time, and “when I figured out it was 30 cents a days, I felt guilty.” I asked her if there was anything we should be covering that we don’t. She said no, “the reason I read you every day is because you cover everything I care about.”

- Susan is very concerned about the economy, the lack of jobs, the environment, and the war on teachers and public workers. She appreciates the wonderful FDL writers like Dave Dayen, Jon Walker and Marcy. She’s been “reading the Lake for a long time, and just happy to help out.”

- Kelly – I know Kelly too, but it was just good to call him and hear his voice. He said everything was good, he was excited to be a founding member of the Membership program, and congratulated everyone on all their hard work. “Kudos to all.”

FDL regulars like Suzanne, Richard and Mary have also been calling new members and letting them know they have someone to contact when they have questions or issues they want to raise. So if you’re a new member, and you get a call from one of us, don’t be surprised.

(lo-res image courtesy of Felix_Nine)

I often marvel at how completely the debate in Washington seems so totally disconnected from the polling data and the concerns of regular Americans in these tough times, but it is important to keep in mind members of Congress aren’t like regular Americans. For the most part they are incredibly wealthy. From Opensecrets.org:

Like their veteran counterparts, U.S. House and U.S. Senate freshmen are together a notably wealthy bunch, enjoying exponentially greater wealth than most of the Americans they represent, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal personal financial disclosure reports.

Sixty percent of Senate freshman and more than 40 percent of House freshmen are millionaires, the Center’s study finds. Roughly 1 percent of Americans at large claim the same lofty financial status.

“Even though millions of Americans continue to struggle financially, most of the nation’s newest congressional representatives are a world away from such constituents’ financial realities,” said Sheila Krumholz, the Center’s executive director.

This is one of the many problems with our country having almost no public financing of elections and extremely expensive congressional races. To run for Senate, you need to either be able to directly write your campaign a multi-million dollar check, which inherently requires you to be fabulously wealthy, or you need to spend a lot of time begging very rich people for money, which, by the way, is made much easier if you are already a fairly rich person with lots of rich friends.

As long as being able to spend lots of private money is almost a prerequisite for winning an election, the wealthy people with lots of private money to spend on elections are going to make up a vastly disproportionate number of winners and people with influence in the process.

Which is basically why the carried interest loophole still exists, allowing billionaire hedgefund managers to pay a lower tax rate than teachers.

Wisconsin Dems have started the clock on these GOP Senators. (photo: markonf1re)

The oddest thing about the “Ash Wednesday Ambush” last night in Madison is that this could have really been done at any time. The idea behind sticking the stripping of public employee rights in the budget repair bill was to give political cover. Once that was blown, and everybody knew what was in the bill, this was always a safety valve. There would still have been legal questions, but they had this opportunity pretty much whenever. They could have tried it the first day the Fab 14 Senate Democrats left. Heck, I wrote on February 21 about this possibility of stripping the collective bargaining piece. Here’s what I said about it at the time:

I don’t think the GOP wants a standalone bill taking away people’s collective bargaining rights. It makes their action far too obvious. Nothing would start the recall petitions faster.

I also mentioned that Scott Walker was constantly talking about collective bargaining being a fiscal issue, and that Scott Fitzgerald promised that he wouldn’t take up the bill without Democrats present, but I guess things change.

Well, they couldn’t take the pressure, I guess. They must have figured the action was already too obvious, and that the recall petitions would succeed anyway. So they might a well get something out of their short-lived majority.

And yes, they will get something. The unions may be able to get an injunction, and who knows, may even be able to stop this in court. But it would be costly. And if it doesn’t work, they have to contend with a host of issues, including annual re-certification to a membership that knows it’s legally barred from advocating on their behalf. Before long, people will wonder what the point of the union is. In Indiana, union dues dropped 90% after Mitch Daniels stripped collective bargaining rights by executive order (which wasn’t possible in Wisconsin).

What Walker and the Republicans cannot extinguish is the new spirit of the labor-progressive movement in the state. That will be on display today, in rallies across the state which promise to be large. And it will be on display in the state Supreme Court race April 5, and the recalls that will ensue, and all future elections in Wisconsin and perhaps the nation. I remember one sign in Madison vividly: “Remember the party who tried to do this.” [cont'd.]