Déjà vu: Wisconsin's big waste of time
Wisconsin’s state motto is, simply and succinctly, “Forward!” And for the most part I think the state embodies it quite well. However, I cannot help thinking the Badger State’s recently concluded recall election was antithetical to the notion.
I am not bemoaning the results. The writing was on the wall for a while and last night’s vindication of Scott Walker was democracy in action; the majority of voting Wisconsinites approve of him. (Frankly, the whole thing seemed to pit the forces of progression paired with corporate collusion against the crusaders of outdated ideas and entrenched dysfunction. Basically, it was a race to become the lesser evil.) Instead, I am talking about the months-long episode of déjà vu — a rerun of the 2010 gubernatorial contest — the state needed to endure.
My understanding of unions is rudimentary but I do think private sector unions offer employees a democratic counterweight to reason and resolve disputes with employers; in theory they empower those who otherwise have no power in the corporate boardroom. Public sector unions offer the same but the circumstances are different. Should civil servants have the power to unionize? The power to collectively bargain with the state and taxpayer money? The debate is ongoing in many states but the issue seems to have been settled in Wisconsin.
Since Bobblehead and I traded posts about unionism back in January 2011 (as usual, I played a weak devil’s advocate), I think I have started leaning against public sector unions. Sadly, they seem to be the last remaining and effective unions in the United States, which probably has a lot to do with the recent hullabaloo in Wisconsin; American unions are an endangered species and I suppose the political left considered the protests and recall a battle for their survival. The unions themselves, I guess, are not so much the problem; it is the pensions and benefits attained through collective bargaining that really grind the gears of taxpayers and are starting to wreak havoc on state and local budgets.
Anyway — what the hell is this post supposed to be about? Oh, yeah: déjà vu in Wisconsin. Basically, that is what this whole thing amounted to. The blue Republicrats collected enough signatures to force a recall election and a lot of time, effort, and money seems to have been wasted for the exact same result from 2010.
However, I suppose it never hurts to try.
What now? Apparently the state’s electorate is now deeply divided. According to the Star-Tribune, “A poll released last month by the Marquette University Law School showed that 29 percent of people stopped talking to someone about politics because of disagreements over the recall.” Ouch. Can things be patched over with, as Walker suggested, brats and beer? I have no clue; I know very little about the politics of Wisconsin. What about the public sector unions? Will they admit defeat and move on? Part of the problem seems to be that: the unwillingness to acknowledge reality. I suppose the unions were apt to think Walker crossed a line, but they should have woke this morning and smelled the fat of their own asses frying like bacon.
