Moving from protests in the Middle East, we are now looking at protests in the Middle West in Madison, Wis. More than 70,000 protestors have gathered outside the capitol for over a week now. This riot started when newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker announced he would cut costs by cutting pension and health care benefits. He also said he is shortening collective bargaining rights for the state’s 300,000 public employees.
Wisconsin has a $3.6 billion deficit, and tough times call for tough measures. During his eight-year term in Milwaukee County, Walker never raised property taxes, cut the county workforce by 20 percent, improved its bond rating and gave back hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own salary as part of the effort to trim spending. The best way to get things back on track is to eliminate collective bargaining rights so public workers cannot fight pay and benefit cuts.
The bill would require government workers to contribute more to their health care and pension costs as well as limit collective bargaining to pay increases less than the consumer price index. He is refusing to raise taxes. To succeed, he is limiting collective bargaining.
The 14 democratic representatives have fled the state and are in the Clock Tower Resort in Rockford, Ill. They are trying to prevent a bill coming to a vote Tuesday.
If you lose, you lose, but please act like the elected officials you are, and handle the problem at hand. These protestors are sleeping at the capitol, and you’re all having a mini-vacation.
These protestors are not going to gain any respect with the way they are handling this. Excuse me, but you are a teacher. Go do your job, and teach. Doctors’ notes are being passed out like candy without any illness, because schools are not letting teachers off to protest. Some are claiming that mental stress is plenty valid. Is this the part where I’m supposed to feel sympathy? However, I will say my favorite sign by far read, “Sorry we’re late, Scott. We work for a living.”
Walker has spoken to several governors across the nation. Governors Kasich, Christie, Daniels and Pawlenty are all saying he’s doing the right thing.
Former United States Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum gave his full support of Walker this past Saturday night in a statement saying, “He is showing tremendous courage to put an end to spending that his state and many like his can simply no longer afford. Americans are looking for this kind of commitment to fiscal responsibility in Washington and in state houses across the country.”
These governors really do not need a speech on budgeting from a president who cannot do that himself.
“This is a president who would not be sitting in that office were it not for public sector union,” Mike Huckabee told Fox News. President Obama called Walker’s efforts an “assault” on public employee unions. This is unprofessional. Please focus on our nation’s deficit.
Talking with Walker about the protests he said, “I can’t let these voices overpower the voices of the millions of other taxpayers I represent.”
Walker needs to hold his ground in Madison, Wis. He campaigned on these issues, and now he’s following through. That might be why some Democrats are so enraged. He is not killing the union, but limiting collective bargaining, cutting benefits and having employees pay half of their pension. Nobody likes a pay cut, but it’s for the good of the economy of Wisconsin.
