There is no way around it: The labor movement suffered a huge defeat last Tuesday when Wisconsin voters rejected the union sponsored recall of Gov. Scott Walker. Walker’s reforms were designed to weaken Big Labor’s business model and they succeeded. Government union membership in Wisconsin has fallen by more than half since Walker’s new law gave workers a choice about whether or not union bosses could take dues directly from their paychecks. If this were to happen in every state, the Democratic Party as we know it today would be finished.
Liberal reactions to Walker’s victory fall into two basic categories: 1) whining about “the end of democracy” and the need for new campaign finance regulations; and 2) honest introspection about the decline of labor unions. This column is for liberals who find themselves in the second column.
