When working-class Wisconsinites took to the streets in February of 2011 as part of what would become a mass mobilization against the anti-labor policies of Gov. Scott Walker, they began with little support from national political figures. Republicans were with Walker and Democrats, shaken by the party’s dismal showing in the 2010 midterm elections and the rise of the right-wing tea party, were even more cautious than usual.

But one U.S. senator spoke up. “On, Wisconsin!” declared Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, who immediately identified Walker’s assault on public employees and their unions as "part of the concerted attack on the middle class and working families of this country by the very wealthiest people in America."

“These guys want to return us to the 1920s when working people had virtually no rights to organize or to earn a decent living," explained Sanders, who argued, "There are a lot of folks out there who say, ‘It doesn't impact me, I'm not a union guy, I'm not a teacher, I'm not a civil servant.' Let me tell you how it does matter to you. Wages are going down in this country for everybody. When you destroy unions there will be no standard at all, nobody left to negotiate decent jobs for the middle class.”