Tunisia. Egypt. Bahrain. Libya. In these places, brave citizens have taken to the streets in recent weeks to overthrow iron-fisted despots in the name of democracy - thousands being injured or killed as a result.
Contrast these protests with those taking place in Madison, Wisconsin. In the past few months, the people have democratically spoken at the ballot box all over the country, removing many Democrats and replacing them with Republicans with the clear, unmistakable mandate to get serious about out-of-control state and federal budgets. When newly-elected Republican Governor Scott Walker proposed a bill that does just that, 14 Democrat state legislators tuck tail and run for the hills (er, resorts) of Illinois, knowing they didn't have enough votes to stop the bill's passage, to deprive the Wisconsin Legislature of a quorum necessary to even vote on it.
Really??? You serious???
The last time I saw a chump, classless move like that was on the elementary school playground when the sore loser stops the game, and takes his ball and goes home instead of finishing the game. And, unlike the truly democratic protests going on in the Arab world, the Madison protests are about as anti-democratic as they come. Having lost majorities in the legislature fair and square, the Democrats flee the state to avoid their constitutional obligations to vote so that the winners of the last election cannot do what the public sent them there to do. Real mature.
Public union members have since ran out on their jobs too, teaching Wisconsin youth, to flood the Wisconsin capital and get bogus "doctor's" notes that they are too sick to go back to work. Schools across the state were forced to close as a result. These teachers are shameless. Unlike their counterparts in the private sector (whose tax dollars go to pay their salaries/benefits), public union members pay pennies on the dollar toward their pensions and virtually nothing towards their gold-plated health benefits. Even if Walker's proposals did pass, the public union members would still be making more, on average, than those in the private sector (salary+pension+benefits) despite working 3/4 the time, while still paying considerably less for their benefits than those in the private sector. Gov. Walker promises no furloughs or layoffs in exchange for these collective bargaining restrictions. Is it any wonder that they have yet to win much sympathy from the public who is paying their salaries?
You know what people should be protesting? The lack of merit-based retention, the abysmal Milwaukee high school graduation rate of 46% (34% for African-Americans), and these shameless teachers and cowardly lawmakers who think they have an inalienable right to pad their wallets by raiding everyone else's at an ever-increasing rate despite bankrupted budgets and unsustainable deficits.
What do you all think about this?
2 comments:
So, I rented "Waiting for Superman" a must-see on the question of school reform. It emphasizes that the biggest obstacle to reform is not the teachers, it is their unions.
And there was another instance where the legislators walked out - it was in Texas I believe during the 1990s. I heard that some veteran Texas lawmakers were giving their Wisconsin brethren some advice about how to stay out of the state.
This is Creighton by the way.
I'm a strong believer in balanced budgets. I'm okay with spending by the government as long as the money is there for it. I applaud the Wisconsin's governor's attempts to balance the budget. I feel like people expect way too much out of the government for a little amount they put in. Citizens across the US are angry about the growing national debt and increasing yearly deficit, but when polled about what things to cut; education, medicare, social security, national defense, etc. all those options are unfavorable to cut funding. It's really shameful that the democrats of Wisconsin were not even willing to be present to help balance their own budget. People have to realize that in an economic downturn, there will be cuts.
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