The recent outbreaks in Madison Wisconsin and other state capitols throughout the country are escalating fast. What Teacher Unions are calling unfair is the scraping of bargaining rights. Republicans who control the legislature and the Governorship are calling for fiscal responsibility. Though the proposed cuts do run deep into the pockets of many of the teachers in our nation, it is important to call into question, with the failure of American Schools to compete with students all over the world, whether the rise in per capita spending per students and gracious health and pension plans for teachers are worth tax payer money.
The democrats who do participate in the legislature have left Wisconsin for Illinois in order to avoid the vote. Republicans, therefore, or stuck in the mud. With their absence, it does call into question whether our democracy is actually working or not. Sure, a large segment of the state, mostly represented by teachers, are calling foul play, however, a large segment of wisconsin citizens did indeed vote for their state representatives to rein in the debt in whatever way possible for strict fiscal responsibility. Let's face the truth, if taxes do increase, the incentives for people in the state to further invest capital into small businesses will EVENTUALLY dry up. And when politicians eventually see less revenue coming into state coffers, they will be done for. You can't force someone to come back and thats a fact.
To get to the point, or may I dare say the question, is whether democracy is in a free fall because of the union machine. I hope to God it is not the case. But as many Americans are gripping with a recession, I believe that the teacher unions are over reacting. If the unions win, then we have submitted our once highly regarded democracy to mob rule. Let's try not to keep that way.
