"For the kids!" teachers union members chanted in Wisconsin while
protesting Governor Scott Walker's modest proposal to make public
sector union employees contribute 5% toward their pensions and kick in
roughly one-tenth of their health care costs. These are benefits most
private sector employees would jump at - assuming they still have jobs
in Obama's economy. But the Left is hot for teachers unions so they have
declared such measures the stuff of authoritarian regimes, with many
protest signs comparing Governor Walker to Mubarak or worse, Hitler.
Leave it to the misplaced priorities of the Left to make a hero out
of John Walker Lindh and a villain out of Scott Walker. So much for the
new civility.
Lost in all the hubbub is the fact that a protest for more
government goodies at the expense of taxpayers is anything but good for
the kids. These kids are future taxpayers after all, and nothing could
be more liberating than a vote to remove the massive shadow of big
government that will be limiting their opportunities and strangling
their future paychecks.
No, if anyone is for the kids in this case, it's the voters of
Wisconsin who elected Scott Walker just months ago to address the cozy
and crippling relationship between union special interests and
government. In limiting the damage public sector unions can do to the
state budget and bringing government costs in line, Walker is shoring
up the state's fiscal health and ensuring future generations won't face
an insurmountable tax burden. Scott Walker is creating more
opportunities for these kids while the unions, concerned only with
enriching themselves, steal from Dick and Jane.
Has anyone seen the unemployment rate for teens recently? It's
almost 25%, a record high since they started keeping track of such
statistics in 1948. The greedy teachers unions are basically demanding
generous benefits (for only nine months of work) at the expense of the
kids by insisting budget gaps be closed with tax increases in the
middle of a recession on the very companies who give so many teens
their first job. Meanwhile, they expect the rest of us to keep working
overtime to pay for more than 95% of their retirement.
Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas illustrated the Left's temper
tantrum in Wisconsin perfectly when he tweeted, "Sorry
Teabaggers, it's our turn now." Our turn? How about the kids turn?
The Tea Party, for those who were paying attention, has been about
stopping the massive deficits that so many have rightfully described as
generational theft. The union protest in Wisconsin, put together by
the president's own Organizing for America, is the rallying cry of
government thieves who refuse to be held accountable to the taxpayers
who pay their salaries. Big difference.
Meanwhile, 14 Democratic lawmakers fled
the battlefield and crossed state lines in order to prevent a vote
from taking place. Say what you will about the Republicans being the
Party of No when opposing President Obama's radical agenda, but at least
they showed up and voted. It appears the Democrat Party of Wisconsin
represents far worse, a Party of No Shows for No Democracy.
Nothing like running away from the problem, shirking responsibility,
and refusing to participate in the process of democracy when you don't
think the vote will go your way. That's a lesson that should serve our
kids well.
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