Commentary
By Gary Kopycinski
It never was about spending, the deficit, or the budget in Wisconsin.
It was all about union busting.
Today, the Wisconsin senate advanced a bill opposed by the unions.
The Wisconsin Senate succeeded in voting Wednesday to strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, after Republicans outmaneuvered the chamber’s missing Democrats and approved an explosive proposal that has rocked the state and unions nationwide.
"You are cowards!" spectators in the Senate gallery screamed as lawmakers voted. Within hours, a crowd of a few hundred protesters inside the Capitol had grown to several thousand, more than had been in the building at any point during weeks of protests.
"The whole world is watching!" they shouted as they pressed up against the heavily guarded entrance to the Senate chamber.
How did they accomplish this? Again, from the NYTimes:
The Senate requires a quorum to take up any measures that spends money. But Republicans on Wednesday took all the spending measures out of the legislation and a special committee of lawmakers from both the Senate and Assembly approved the revised bill a short time later. (emphasis added)
The unexpected yet surprisingly simple procedural move ended a stalemate that had threatened to drag on indefinitely. Until Wednesday’s stunning vote, it appeared the standoff would persist until Democrats returned to Madison from their self-imposed exile.
So you see, the Republicans demonstrated their priorities.
After the unions conceded incredible concessions to help the tax payers, the Wisconsin senate passed the bill, now stripped of its allegedly money-saving clauses.
And unions across the state of Wisconsin now have less power.
It’s that simple.
Are we far removed from reviving the Pinkertons? Perhaps we should relive the Homestead Strike?
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," said George Santayana.
