Walker Stands Firm

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In what is best described as a low-key but frank assessment of Wisconsin’s perilous fiscal condition, Governor Scott Walker delivered his budget address to those members of the state legislature that attended the session. Fourteen Democrat State Senators remained out of state, continuing their boycott of the democratic process.  Judging by the tone of his voice and his demeanor, Mr. Walker gave no indication whatsoever that such antics would prove effective.

“Democracy does not just expect differences, it demands them,” said Walker.

It’s the manner in which we discuss and resolve those differences that leads to bold solutions and innovative reforms. I ask that we continue to be mindful of our differences–as well our similarities–in the coming days, weeks and months. Above all, let us not lose sight of the fact that we were each elected to represent the people of this state by participating in our democratic process.

Unfortunately, Senate Democrats have lost sight of the fact they represent all the people of Wisconsin, not just the public service unions.  Yet as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reveals, such “loyalty” may be due to the fact that “one out of every five campaign dollars received by the 14 Wisconsin Democratic senators who have fled the state to protect union influence came from public-sector workers and their labor representatives.”  Of the $1.9 million raised by these Senators since 2007, “at least $344,000 came from union and public sector employees.”  The newspaper also notes that the total could be even higher because “the occupations of those donating less than $100 go unspecified.”  The paper further reported that “one Democratic senator, Spencer Coggs of Milwaukee, received about two-thirds of his campaign dollars from public-sector workers and their unions.” (italics mine)

Perhaps this reality is why Governor Walker has proposed to get the state out of the business of collecting union dues from the checks of state workers, as well as making those dues optional for the workers themselves. While most of the media has been focused on the limiting of collective bargaining for salary increases as the key sticking point between Democrats and Republicans, this particular aspect of reform is far more critical.

A mandatory dues structure allows a union to collect money from its members, even those members who may have political leanings that are diametrically opposed to those of the union bosses, and fund candidates who are also opposed to their interests. (In Wisconsin, even public employees who don’t belong to a union are forced to make “fair share” payments, which unions claim are necessary because those workers benefit from collective bargaining.)  By having government collect the dues, they are making that government an integral part of the Democrat campaign fund raising apparatus, irrespective of which party is in power.  Since the Wisconsin state legislature and the governor’s office are currently controlled by Republicans, this means they are literally collecting dues that will be used to defeat them in a future election.

More importantly, by making dues optional, it will be revealed exactly where union members–as opposed to union bosses–stand, not just with respect to one political party or another, but with the unions themselves. It has long been part of the prevailing “wisdom” that union members march in lockstep with their leadership, no questions asked.  Yet if that were truly the case, and union bosses were confident that their members would continue to pay the hundreds of dollars a year in dues that are now required, why would they care if dues were mandatory or not?  What is being revealed by their resistance to such a proposal is a fear that the “solidarity” touted by union bosses is far from solid, and that their concern for the “rights of the working man” is based on coercion rather than the cultivation of good will among their members.

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  • Fred Dawes

    This will be fun to watch. Walker will be attacked by all sides. But the facts are this soon Nation, the USA, Will be under some politically interesting attacks inside and outside by people who have a great deal of money power and who want this nation inside a kind of third world control the reason comes down to big money, for more info listen to Glenn Beck and Savage Nation its not a political simple thing but most so called Americans will go along with Walkers plan but that plan can and will back-fire on all workers, understand one thing the power boys must have us all under control and when not if that happens its all about big money and the total dismantling the USA And the end game is now! that is what mass immigration and mass colonization has been about, the west will become the free trade zone, that will be the end and the start of a doller a day people.

  • Chezwick_Mac

    In my book, Republicans have much more to lose in terms of public support by going soft on fiscal issues than by maintaining a hard line. I'm less concerned about Walker caving than I am about Congressional Republicans. If we punt on this issue…and let's be real here, symbolic cuts in spending IS punting – it'll be clear to the electorate that – rhetoric notwithstanding – we're no more responsible than the Dems…and we'll have lost the edge on the decisive issue of our time.

    This is why the Dems are playing hard-ball; the trap they're setting is not the one everyone thinks…that they're trying to compel Republicans into a government shut-down. It's quite the opposite; they're counting on the Republicans caving on REAL spending cuts in order to AVOID a shut-down, effectively sabotaging our position as the party of fiscal reform going into 2012. Their hope is that the next election will end up being decided by other issues…and if they succeed, we can kiss the Republican ascendancy good-bye.

  • Supreme_Galooty

    It occurs to me that there are two main problems here. One is the mere existence of unions representing government employees. I'll leave it to others to argue the pros and cons of this situation – another day, another topic – and dogmatically assert that such a thing should not be permitted. Period.

  • Supreme_Galooty

    The second and more pernicious problem is mandatory union membership or "closed shop" as it is quaintly referred to. Such a thing is absolutely un-American and should be prohibited throughout the land disregardless of State boundaries. In typical leftist queer-think, the unions and their stooges in the Democrat party argue that optional union membership allows "freeloaders" to benefit from union expertise in contract negotiations, and that such "freeloaders" should have to pay their "fair share." In a world where 5% of the people think, 10% of the people THINK they think, and 85% of the folks would rather DIE than think, that kind of convoluted nonsense finds easy prey. One is prompted to ask – even before addressing the fallacies of that sort of dilute pabulum – where is it written that unions are great negotiators and always obtain the best deals for their members? And where is it etched in granite that there should be only ONE union representing the entire workforce?

    It is long past time for grown-ups to reassert control of the floundering Ship of State.

    • GKC

      Good discussion!

  • davarino

    So the dems paint this as a hostile takeover……hehehehe, and what was it when the dems were in the majority. I see this as the greatest thing to happen in a long time. When was the last time you saw real spending cuts being enacted? Plus, breaking up the NEA is huge. Parents will finally get to choose where and how their children are educated, and the public schools might just be worth attending again. Imagine that, children getting a real education. Educate the people and almost everything else gets solved.

    Strike while the iron is hot………………..I meant repubs not unions : )

    • Jim_C

      It's actually staggering how uninformed your post is.

      Since when do parents not have a choice where and how to educate their kids? Since when do kids not get a "real" education? Do you even have kids?

      • William_Z

        By law, children have to go to school, and if parents can’t afford private school, they go to public school. Without the money, which parents are already being taxed for by the school district, there is only public—government mandated schools.

        Parents who have the ability to send their kids to private school, they still don’t get their tax dollars returned.

        Also, special education is specific to public schools, and many special education programs are bad.

        A ‘real’ education should at least be ground in reading, writing and arithmetic; basic skills. Enough statistics show many inner city children are behind.

        • Jim_C

          Why should people who can actually afford private school tuition get a tax break over those who can't? Why should private schools be subsidised by tax dollars? How on earth would any of this help inner city kids?

          The whole argument amounts to a philosophical stance that public education is unconstitutional and "tyrannical," a point of view not only NOT shared by any country even remotely competitive with us, but laughable to them.

          • William_Z

            People who send their kids to private school are taxed anyway, ironically, to fund a poorly functioning public educational system. They pay, and apparently, taking their kids out of public school is the right decision. And through the school tax they still have to pay, they are subsidizing their private school as well—another irony.

            There’s nothing in the Constitution about public school, mostly likely do to the fact that the Founders were never ‘publically’ educated. And when it comes to ‘tyranny,’ interestingly, mandated public school is a form of conscription. You don’t send your kid and the government is on you, prosecution, fines, even loss of your children. Some would call that at the least…extreme, if not tyrannical.

          • William_Z

            continued…
            Other countries can ‘laugh’ all they want. The top ten are not threats to the US: South Korea, Finland, Switzerland, Japan, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Belgium, Australia and Germany. And they also have social and economic problems, which the US doesn’t face, and the largest population is Germany at 82 million. All of these countries have a homogeneous culture, and American other than it’s pop culture is historical diverse and sees itself that way, economically, socially and politically.

            Americans will pay taxes for education but they want an educational system that works.

      • Rifleman

        "Since when do parents not have a choice where and how to educate their kids?" – Technically, since the government started deciding what educated is, and requiring children to attend school. It would also be accurate to say at least since they started prosecuting parents for enrolling them at the schools they choose, Like they did Kelly Williams-Bolar.

        “Since when do kids not get a "real" education? Do you even have kids?” – For the last 20 years the trade organizations, societies, and employers in my (machine tool) field have been complaining about average high school graduates coming to them without basic math skills, including the ability to turn word problems into math problems, scale recipes, or do rough estimates (things we learned in elementary school). Though we’ve almost doubled the amount spent on education, it’s gotten much worse since then. Davarino doesn’t need kids to see children aren’t being educated, if, like me he hires the NEA’s ‘finished’ product and has to teach them things they should already know just to do a simple job and communicate with the other shift.

      • Rifleman

        I was in one of the top schools in the top school district of my state during the 70s and early 80s. I thought I got a great education myself, until I picked up a high school history text from the early 30s. It was written on a more advanced level than my college history texts, and it is obvious the dumbing down has been going on for a long time.

        • Jim_C

          That's an interesting point about the textbook. I don't think you can argue people were simply more "literate," then (I am not so sure about mathematical acumen). But our predecessors didn't have a fraction of the amount of information we have to deal with.

          Part of the problem, Rifleman, is that we are trying to make a system built for 1911 fit the world of 2011. Between these two dates, there has been exponential growth and change on an unprecedented historical scale–literally, more change in 100 years than in the 500 years previous. That compression of pace of change shows no signs of stopping. It's partly what vexes conservatives, who naturally (and rightly in many cases) want to preserve what's good about the past.

          And THAT, my friend, is the Very Big Something we really haven't effectively dealt with.

  • geez

    Walker… the Dirty Harry of Wisconsin. The Democrats and Progressives should get use to the idea of literally running away from the fiscal fight because they can't stand on facts or principles. Conservative's don't mind mopping up the mess while they run and hide, just continue to stay but stay out of the way. In Wisconsin (and soon in 2012) they are the ones showing up to the political gun fight with a knife. President Obama, have you learned a life lesson from Mr. Walker? Are the Progressives acting stupidly? I love it when the light of Conservatism and a healthy dose of reality shines on Democrats/Progressives, they have no choice but to behave like cockroaches. Run boys and girls run, run away from reality then you'll never have to grow up.

  • gamalpha

    Unions argue that Governor Walker's attempts to prevent them from forcing everyone to pay union dues are unfair. They argue that all employees benefit from union negotiations with management and so should have to pay union dues. By that logic then unions should have to pay for the costs their demands have imposed. Unions should be paying unemployment compensation for all those out of work because union benefits made companies uncompetitive. Government unions in Wisconsin should be paying off the debt that caused the budget crisis there.

  • K-Bond

    The Democraps are the:

    * Party of Nothing
    *Are never held accountable
    *above the law
    *quite frankly, criminal and treasonous
    *self-serving dolts.

  • wanabfree

    It is so refreshing to have a politician with a backbone! What exactly are these protestors afraid of? If they really believe the Union really cares about them…they need to follow the money! The longer this mess drags on, the more truth comes to light. Free choice applies to more issues than just abortion. And Lib Democrats are truly intolerant. as well as hypocritical! My eyes have been opened!

  • USMCSniper

    Walker must realize that this is the vanguard against the collectivisr mentality. The collectivist mentality is exactly what our Founding Fathers warned us against. As Thomas Jefferson counseled, "Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows us that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

    • Sprinklerman

      Agreed, but the loss of personal liberty requires that the people allow it to happen. If the people refuse to take that which the government offers like unenployment insurance, medicaid, medicare, social security, etc, etc, then government won't grow and liberty can't decrease. "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Ben Franklin, reply to Govn, 11/11/1755.
      Now when the government requires you to do something and will penalize you when you don't, like buy health insurance, then tyranny has returned to this land of Freedom.

  • Jim_C

    USMCSniper's comments amuse me greatly. All conservatives are unhappy with public school performance. In this they are not alone. But ask: What countries outperform us in education? What sort of educational system do they have? What kind of political system predominates? To what factors do our conservative friends attribute these countries' success?

    Rugged individualism? Laissez faire capitalism? School "choice"? Lack of unions?

    • William_Z

      What do we know? We know the quality of education has decreased. This is reflected in international ratings with other nations. This reflects poorly on the U.S. Department of Education, which has a massive budge and has failed in its mission. So, the first thing to go is centralized education policy, for America, it doesn’t work

      Prior to NEA union, it was an association, which worked, and there were many schools of higher education dedicated specifically to educating teachers and nothing else and it worked.

      Prior to the unionization of teachers and the creation of the US. Dep’t of Ed, America had a thriving space program, heavy industry and textile and even won wars, and most importantly, this debate over the quality of education and cost didn’t have to take place.

      • Jim_C

        You have not demonstrated causality nor answered my question. No one is debating that our school performance lags behind worldwide. I am asking specifically why it is that other countries are surpassing us in education. What are they doing right, and why does it work?

        I have yet to hear a conservative give a serious answer.

        But I will say I am open to the idea that a centralized policy may not work for a country of our size; but why would it work for others and not us?

        • William_Z

          One, teachers begin with associations, prior the 1970’s.  Associations and unions function differently; do you need me to explain that? The centralization of education standards began with the Depart of Ed.  It hasn’t worked.  Education in the US centered on teachers being trained and educated in institutions created on a state level expressly for that reason.   Educating the young was a state function, which was managed on a state level. 

          These are historical facts, not politcals

          • Jim_C

            I don't disagree about state control, and if busting up unions is the way to increase quality, I'm for that, as well. Aside from receiving funding from them, I don't care for a federal "one size fits all" approach, either.

            Try to stay with me here, William. You still haven't answered. Other countries…? What are they doing that we're not? Why are they succeeding, and we're not? My problem is that conservatives, when scratched on education, only seem to be worried about taxes and "constitutionality"–they are merely pretending to care about the quality. So why are other countries surpassing us?

          • Jim_C

            (I just saw your answer on a thread above. feel free to respond anyway).

          • William_Z

            I answered how education as a system has change in the US.   You haven't shown that you understand that. You haven't shown that you have.   The fact that you 'don't disagree about state control' does change the facts.   States ran their own educational systems without federal interference that is a fact. You go on about conservatives having no answers, but you can’t even created a constructive dialogue.  You give the impression that you’ve never looked at what other courtiers are going and just want others to give you answers which make you feel good.  Education isn’t just a ‘thing countries do.’  It’s a cultural phenomenon.  It’s what a nation sees a valuable, and in the US cultural reconstruction has trumped the passing on of knowledge, which is what the good of education use to be. 

  • bill garrett

    I WISH THOSE BABY BOOMER HAD LIVE IN THE 30 .THEN THEY WOULD BE THANK FULL FOR WHAT THEY HAVE. THIS DP. IS NOT OVER MARK MY WORD AT 80YRS I HAVE SEEN ALL GOV WALKER HANG ON OR

  • Proudscott

    STAND firm Mr Walker because you are doing what is right and should be the course of action of every state and of the federal government as well. The vast majority of America stands with you while a small minority of people are against you!

  • turbantorpedo

    Hello America,____Unions, chiefly public unions are finally getting their DUE and they know it, hence the melt down of their zealot membership in Madison, Wisconsin and elsewhere. They know that if the states don't collect mandantory dues that they and their Democrat flunkies are finished. ____Last November was the result of Americans, contrary to the leftist spin on the unpopularity of union busting among Americans for states and federal government to reign in the spending, hence the public unions.

  • turbantorpedo

    Hello Again America,

    Now that the Democrats and what they stand for has been on public parade, coult it be that in 2012 we can complete sweeping the trash out of the peoples houses, then begin the sanitation process with RED WHITE AND BLUE Americans that have our interests at heart;

    The Turban Torpedo

  • turbantorpedo

    It Is Me Again America,

    Could we also be seeing the closest things to Ronald Reagan that has come down the pike in some time in Gov. Walker. I like this guy's Reagan style chutzpah. Those of us in this country that count need to let the man know we have his back on this. We must also back other governors, even Democrats such as Brown and Cuomo also. Sending the fat cash unions packing will take care of a lot of ills.

    Although, Gov. Christie of NJ started the ball rolling on dethroning the unions and their members, and although I like the guy, I don't like his coziness with some radical Muslims and their groups in his state, hence my whole hearted support for Gov. Walker.

    The Turban Torpedo

  • Wesley69

    This is a battle Walker must win!! Not only will it restore a degree of fiscal sanity to the states, but it will limit the power of the unions to influence governmental policies, even on the national level.

    The current administration worships on the altar of unions.
    - when GM was bailed out, the administration support the UAW over the bondholders in violation of contract laws.
    -when the BP Spill was spewing its pollution in the Gulf, Obama refused to waiver the the Jones Act, while clean-up jobs went to unions. Bush waivered it to get foreign help in Katrina.
    -Card Check, where there would be no secret ballot when it comes to a decision to have a union or not was part of the Obama agenda prior to the 2010 elections.
    -a vast number of waivers for ObamaCare have gone to companies with unions supportive of the administration.
    -the head of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka visits the White House almost every day, while there are some Department Heads who have never in two years had an individual meeting with the President.

    This is why the battle in Wisconsin is a battle whose outcome will influence national poliitics and the 2012 electiion. WALKER, HOLD THE LINE!!!!!!!!

  • BLJ

    This reminds of the brave stand the men of the Alamo made. Only difference is this time I believe they will win. Scott Walker needs to stay the course.

  • Supreme_Galooty

    Firstly, around the turn of the last century liberal illuminati decided to abandon scholastic education in favour of populist, cultural training. Our schools gradually evolved into trade schools and/or charm schools, abandoning emphasis on history, mathematics, Latin, Greek, logic, philosophy, rhetoric and Western civilization. Today the very word "education" has taken on a new, weaker, fuzzier meaning. Our children are being schooled. They are NOT – except in rare cases – being educated.

    • Jim C.

      You have been clear about being against public education on principle.

      Newsflash: this country, and the world, changed at a historically unprecedented pace in the last century. Advances in technology, massive population changes, staggering amounts of available information are real-world things you’d rather not deal with, preferring to blithely opine about the good ol’ days when chaps in knickers yawned over Plato in oak panelled parlours.

      So you prefer having your head in the sand (or wherever you like to keep it) and pretend like the 20th century didn’t happen, great. That’s your business.

    • Jim_C

      Our little lord fauntleroys can still go the classic liberal education route you favor, if their parents are so inclined.

      Since the turn of the last century, this country and the world has changed at a historically unprecedented pace. Massive population growth, mind-boggling technological advances, the social upheaval that resulted–culturally we've barely begun to deal with these things. You guys mock the schools for trying to adapt to these enormous changes, as if they'd never taken place.

      Your nostalgia for the days when chaps in knickers yawned over Plato in oak-panelled parlours is quaint.

      • Supreme_Galooty

        "You guys mock the schools for trying to adapt to these enormous changes, as if they'd never taken place." So you aver.

        OK me bucko! Who in the hell is "you guys?" And where do you get off making that kind of assertion? (No matter your answer!) And while you are trying to contrive an answer to an unanswerable question, how about THIS one: Who are the "schools" that are trying to adapt to your thin-swill assertion that is problematic at best? You posture and pose in such a queer fashion that I suspect you are either a schoolteacher or married to one, and you are unable or unwilling to separate your ego from logical argument.

  • Supreme_Galooty

    Another huge factor detrimental to American education is the insidious, stealthy growth of liberals in the profession. These people tout their tolerance, their benevolence toward all, their great respect for freedom of speech, their honor of dissent, debate – especially when confronting the powerful. They see themselves as kind, pure hearted and of noble purpose, yet a more illiberal band of poseurs would be difficult to find. They are blithely unable or unwilling to examine themselves or their ideas in any critical fashion, and their belief in their own righteousness is indefatigably, stubbornly permanent. Indeed if anyone questions the rightness of their ideas or the purity of their beneficence they become nasty, snarling beasts, spittle flying in all directions and generally of foul disposition, unfit for polite company. And our schools today are thoroughly in the grasp of these people who cannot conceive of their being wrong about anything, who are decidedly disabled when it comes to seeing themselves as others see them, and who, in their marvelous arrogance, brook no dissent. With folks like this prancing about our Ivy Halls of Academe, 'tis no wonder ignorance abounds.

    • USMCSniper

      Also the decline of civility in the culture and personal discipline in behavior. I once heard it said, in 40 years we have gone on TV from Father Knows Best, to Homer Simpson and Family Man, and From Leave It To Beaver to Beavis and Butthead, and from Bob Hope and Red Skelton comedy to Eddie Murphy Raw talking about his bowel movements. Even in math, all my students know how to use the advanced HP calculator but solve problems requiring linear algebra, caluclus, or differential equations on paper by long hand requires two weeks of remedial teaching by me in my Physics Honors courses,

  • Amused

    Gee Bootygalooty , sounds like a self description you just blurted out . And talk about running the mouth ….lol….for you and your lot , anyone who disagrees is a commie /marxist / leftist / radical ..out to destroy America . You gotta a good line of bullsheet , but that's about all you got . Another "pontificator " passing judgement on not only a whole profession , but the majority of the rest of the country . Just remember all the so called "qualities " enumerated in your above rant , can be easily found in you and your likeminded cohorts .
    Classic situation of " Look who's calling thje kettle black " ..lol…..hypocrites , all .

    • Supreme_Galooty

      Sakahachi

  • Jim_C

    Thanks all for the responses.

    My problem is that we complain our schools are not up to snuff compared to these other countries who simply don't have a problem with publically-funded education. These countries, indeed, have smaller populations and something of a "monoculture," but–BUT–education is something they actually seem to value and they would never equate it with "tyranny" nor have such open disdain for its practitioners. (cont'd)

  • Jim_C

    I have said several times that I am neither enamored of the Dept. of Education (except as a funding mechanism–but then it doesn't need to be a cabinet position) nor the teachers unions, who have made it very hard to get rid of dead wood and bad apples. There are other systemic problems–administrative waste, and the time-honored practice of bumping up the pay grade-for-the-pension in the last couple years before retirement.

    (cont'd)

  • Jim_C

    Here's the thing: You can go to the private sector, where your talents are "appreciated" via pay and promotion, where your performance affects market value and where the market affects your job security.

    Or you can go into teaching, where (unless you choose to work for less at a private school) you have to deal with everyone, good to bad, in the general public, where your contributions are rarely if ever recognized, where you will make a comfortable, but hardly spectacular living, where you may be caught between crazy/hovering/negligent parents and apathetic/spineless/vindictive administrators, etc. etc.

    I don't mind the union bashing. Let's get off the teacher bashing.