Wisconsin’s Republican governor , Scott Walker, has set off a firestorm in his home state, and it’s threatening to creep across the Midwest.
While Walker and the Republicans in Wisconsin’s legislature attempt to balance the budget by, in part, reducing or changing some benefits for public-sector employees, many of said employees have stormed the capitol. In the meantime, Democratic lawmakers have literally fled, going to Illinois to avoid having to vote on the issue. Schools have closed because teachers are calling in “sick” and showing up in Madison with picket signs.
It’s a comedy of errors, but one that illustrates a deeper American tragedy: entitlement.
Much of the uproar boils down to Walker’s proposal to require a pay-in for pension and health benefits. He would also look to remove collective bargaining power (but not for salary) from many of the public-sector professions.
Walker says these step would go a long way toward balancing the budget; the unions and public employees say it’s an assault on their rights.
When did a free pension become a right? Pensions have pretty much gone the way of the dodo in nearly every other industry and profession, except for government employees. And, not to be overlooked, government employees would still retain their pensions, but they would have to contribute towards the funds…which, sounds pretty reasonable, not to mention what everybody else has to do in anticipation of retirement.
But teachers and other government employees have been lapping up the scraps of the government’s lavish feast for years, and they’ve acquired a taste for it. For the past two days, hundreds of teachers have skipped school to protest, resulting in the closing of many schools across the state. Great news for the kids, but terrible news for those who, you know, value education.
Although, clearly many Wisconsin teachers have priorities other than the education of their students—this despite ranking right in the middle among the states in terms of average teacher salary (in the upper $40,000s). Further, over the last ten years or so, the average teacher’s salary has increased by over 20 percent. Teachers in Wisconsin simply are not oppressed.
This all comes down to entitlement. After years of getting stuff for free, and being told by the union heads that they deserve it…and government employees now believe it
What’s being somewhat lost among the tumult (including President Obama accusing Gov. Walker of “assaulting” unions, and AFL-CIO union head Richard Trumka accusing Walker of “assaulting” the middle class…talk about your violent political rhetoric), is that under Walker’s plan does not take everything away from teachers and other government employees and kick them to the curb. Not by a long shot.
Under Walker’s plan, government employees (policemen and firefighters excluded) would have to pay half—half!—of their pension costs. This truly is outraging, since most people pay 0 percent of their nonexistent pension costs.
Further, they would have to pay 12 percent of their health care costs. Welcome to the real world, guys. Besides, it’s still less than what most privately employed people pay.
Finally, government employees would retain their collective bargaining power for matters of salary. Now teachers wouldn’t get to gripe and sniffle and go on strike over how many free periods they get, but they could still go on strike over their salary.
It’s clear that years of outlandish benefits due to ridiculously free government spending combined with union power has instilled a sense of entitlement. The threat of reducing (not even eliminating) these outlandish perks has caused an uproar and a government standstill.
It’s a small picture of what’s to come if our government continues along this course (and judging from Wisconsin Democrats actually leaving the state and the president’s support of the unions, there’s a real good chance it will continue).
It sounds nice to give everybody all sorts of things, but after a time it becomes financially impossible (we’re well past that by the way), and people don’t like it when their stuff gets taken away from them (even if that stuff was outlandish and undeserved and free).
It’s a reversal of the American dream. Instead of getting on top through hard work and determination, we’re becoming a nation that values whining for entitlements and handouts, and calling them “rights.”
