Wisconsin governor and Tea Party darling Scott Walker is out to kill the unions. He believes that by eliminating or weakening the power of collective bargaining (the ability for unions to negotiate working conditions, among other things, with employers) he can save his state $30 million. What he neglects to talk about is that the tax breaks he gave to the wealthiest citizens in his state are what lead to the Wisconsin financial crisis. Simply put, Scott Walker dug the hole he is now trying to bury the unions in.
Walker will try to pass off the unions as the problem. He says that deficit demands this sacrifice. However, the unions have agreed to take budget cuts, recognizing that the deficit affects everyone. They would agree to the financial concessions of the state legislature’s bill, but that wasn’t enough for Walker. He wants the unions gone for good, their collective bargaining ability destroyed. Even President Obama has called this “an assault on unions.”
So how can the unions win the battle for Madison? They’re definitely on the right track.
They’ve done what few Americans would dream of doing or dare to try. They’ve assembled themselves and are standing up for a cause. They’re willing to bring their lives to a screeching halt, no matter what the consequences may be. They’re willing to take a chance and tell the chief executive of Wisconsin that he’s not a dictator, and that he too can be held accountable for his mistakes.
The fourteen Democrats in the state senate have fled the state, hoping to prolong the vote on Walker’s bill. This may be inherently undemocratic, but the extreme measure can be understood. They, too, want to prove to the governor that he is not above the law. The message even traveled party lines, as one lone Wisconsin Republican state senator, Dale Schultz, said he would not vote in favor of the bill.
If not for the recent riots in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, these domestic protests most likely wouldn’t be happening. People in Madison would have been upset, and maybe voiced their grievances in small public forums. But they would never have taken to the streets and disrupted daily life to this degree had it not been for the cries for democracy from people on the other side of the world.
Protests have progressed to the larger cities of Wisconsin, such as Milwaukie and Green Bay. Columbus, Ohio has seen the public reaction over similar legislation rivaling that of Madison. Fellow Republicans, such as Newt Gingrich and Anna Carlson, have criticized Governor Walker’s actions. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit organization that promotes government accountability and who create an annual report of “the most corrupt politicians,” have said Walker has violated Wisconsin law.
There will always be people who favor unions and those who oppose them. But the personal opinions over unions do not come into play here. In Wisconsin, the only thing that matters is that Walker should not be allowed to have free reign in his state. He may be an elected official, but he is not the supreme leader. He is a man who made ignorant mistakes and wants the unions to pay. But he must have gotten the surprise of his life when he saw all those angry protestors outside the State House, all saying the same message:
We do not belong to you.
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