“By a faction, I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or a minority of the whole, who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adversed to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.”- James Madison, The Federalist No.10
There is still hope for theUnited States, and for that matter the entire European Union, in the results ofWisconsin’s recall election this Tuesday. The voters of Wisconsin returned Governor Scott Walker to office after a nasty recall vote, which was an appeal for his head as much as his office by the well-organized and aggressive public sector unions.
After Mr. Walker was elected in 2010, he began to make good on his promises to bring down the state debt and alleviate its burden on Wisconsin citizens. Mr. Walker chose to challenge the state’s public sector unions, and enacted plans which he campaigned for in order to force them to pay more into their health care and pension plans, as well as diminish the power of their collective bargaining agreement. These measures were created to lighten the load on the tax payers (property taxes have dropped in the last year) and enableWisconsinto avoid the fiscal catastrophe that awaits many other states in our Republic as a result of bloated benefit plans for state employees. These unions rallied and gathered all their political strength through the Democratic Party to recall the governor‘s election, running Mayor of Minneapolis Tom Barrett against him. In turning back the democrats’ efforts for the governor’s office, the voters ofWisconsinTuesday proved a government of the people, by the people and for the people, can still make tough choices when faced with challenges to which there are no easy remedies.
And to be clear, these choices should not be as tough as they are reported to be, especially in the mainstream liberal media. All the respect in the world should be given to people who choose a life of public service, working in state and federal government positions to keep our water running and help manage the important role government does play in our lives. At the same time, this does not give such groups carte blanche in their benefit demands.
As recently as the Carter administration, Democrats had avoided supporting government unions and collective bargaining agreements, as the pitfalls of such organizations were easy to predict. Their unionization has helped paint state and local governments into corners, allowing for lavish benefit plans that cripple their state budgets.
When the Democratic Party lost its way giving strong support to these unions, the labor bosses were given unprecedented powers of demand in their respective states. All state employees were forced to blindly pay dues into their respective unions, dues which have dropped since such unionization has been repealed in places like Wisconsinand Indiana. Money was then funneled through these unions’ dowries where the fat cats at the top of the power structure chose to use this money to strongly support politicians that would continue to extend their benefits, essentially buying their elections. This has continued to spiral out of control in the last thirsty years, leaving state governments in the impossible position of paying for these benefits less the levying of higher taxes on the citizens of their state. This goes against the grain of logic, as such measures leaves less money for the very public these public servants are meant to serve.
With Mr. Walker, as well as Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, strong reform was pushed to revamp these plans. Mr. Walker and Mr. Daniels stilled aimed to prove worthy benefits for state employees, but forced them to pay more. As reported by George Will, under Mr. Walker’s plan state employees were asked to contribute 5.8% (most were paying less than 1%) to their pensions and pay 12.6% of their healthcare premiums. This is far less than the private sector average on both, as most work today without pension plans and pay on average 21% of their healthcare premiums. While it is understood strong benefits are created to entice people to work in public service, essentially making up for their low salaries, these benefits cannot become so extravagant they become a financial anchor on the state economy and the people.
What do the results of this recall election say? A lot. The historic danger of a Democratic-Republic as argued since the days of Romehas been the interests of factions dominating the government, constantly voting themselves more money and more benefits at the expense of others. It was the fear of Madison in The Federalist, as well as Lincoln seventy years later, that our republic would not survive under the weight of this burden, and would be torn asunder from within.
We see now in the United States, as well asEurope, that entitlement benefits have spiraled out of control, and have placed a heavy toll on the fiscal solvency of state and federal governments. The result of this recall election. which as gave Mr. Walker an even larger margin of victory than in his 2010 election, does give hope that citizens can act responsibility when their future is at stake. Reforms that have seemed to work in the last two years can now be continued, and the people ofWisconsin, as well as the country, will see if there is a way we can dig ourselves out of this massive hole.
Lastly, this will affect the Presidential election as well. Governor Romney will surely take notice and push the successes of Republican governors Walker and Daniels in their states’ respective fiscal reforms. But what about the President? Mr. Obama has a chance here to do two things- continue the Democrat Party line of blind allegiance to public sector unions, trying again to garner the vote of dependency that has just been rejected in a state he won by fourteen points in 2008. Or he can take his party on a new path, joining Republicans in the fight to restore our country’s fiscal sanity, as well as revamping the Democratic image. Reforms need to be put into place, and our public servants still need benefits. This is a fine line to toe, and it is certainly a challenge considering the heavy hand of power yielded by public sector unions.
But nowhere did anyone say self-government is easy. It’s just that the voters of Wisconsin, and Governor Scott Walker, are up to the challenge.
– John P. Burns
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