Wisconsin Protesters Running Out of Steam?

Even the most avid circus goers tire of the big top, apparently.

Saturday, various labor and left wing organizations attempted to hold another massive protest at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

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The lackluster May Day rallies in Milwaukee and Madison were filled with pleas to head to Madison on May 14th to show Scott Walker that the fight isn’t over. Liberal radio hosts plugged the event. Lefty bloggers posted about it. Labor unions sent out emails and robo calls to their members. Madison coffehouses, bookstores and telephone poles were littered with brochures about the rally. People were bused in from across the state.

Yawn.

It appears “We’re not going away!” isn’t as catchy as “We skipped out of work, to show we deserve our pay.”

When the allure of shutting down schools or shutting down the legislature are missing, so are a hundred thousand protesters it seems. Now, 7-10,000 is still a crowd, but in Madison, Wisconsin the left can get that many out to protest an appearance by the rare conservative speaker on campus.

The changes to the public employee union’s collective bargaining power remain held up in court. But Act 10 has been signed into law. It’s done. It is just going to take some time to get past the liberal judges in Dane County.

The protests have had absolutely zero effect on public policy in the state. They may have served to energize the far left base of the Democratic party, but they did not alter the actions of the legislature or the governor.

Moreover, their chaos strategy is backfiring with a general public that has grown weary of the bizarre revolutionary rhetoric and sophomoric antics of many of the protesters.

As the recent Supreme Court election and now the latest rally shows, the changes in the collective bargaining powers of government employee unions has not created the massive backlash against Walker that the left had hoped for. The ‘movement’ remains a small core of disaffected leftists, public employee union bosses who are losing power and a few politicians who continue to pander to these groups.

A few die-hards within the professional left have kept the revolutionary fires burning in Madison. But this weekend, the vast majority of public employees in Wisconsin dodged a late spring cold snap and rain storm to attend soccer games, mow their lawns, go to church, run errands.

The dust is settling, and life goes on.

The circus is still in town, but despite the best efforts of the carnival barkers at AFSCME, the state teachers’ unions and others, the tent isn’t full anymore.