Attack on Domestic Tranquility

The peace at our little household, sliding downhill to a genteel retirement surrounded by aging cats, rambunctious flower beds and traffic noise from I-94, has been shattered. The governor of the state of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, has declared war on state employees (of whom OLGS is one among more than 45,000). Not only is he going to require state employees to pay the full amount allowed (but up to now, not required) by law for pension and health care, but he is banging the drum for privatizing their pensions. And he is railroading this through next week, giving those affected little time to respond and the majority Republicans in the state assembly little time to think (if they do, which I doubt).

In addition to affecting professors and public defenders, who seldom vote Republican, the new approach will also affect folks like prison guards, of whom Wisconsin has many and who do vote Republican. It also severely affects part-time employees who are on limited contracts; their access to health care will be eliminated as of March 1. The LTE in OLGS's department makes $13 per hour, has four children and an unemployed spouse. What will happen to them? Where are the governor's anticipated savings if this family goes on welfare and uses Medicaid?

This is grandstanding of the worst type. I secretly expect that the gov simply wants to make a name for himself, a la Sarah and Michelle. Even if he's not successful -- and he probably will be -- he will have marked out his territory as the driver of a tank rolling to crush the greedy state employees and their unions. George Bush was also very good at this, drawing a line in the sand to make his point and then moving on to something else.

This travesty even made the New York Times, which is ever alert to possible train wrecks. And you gotta love the gov's assertion that he is prepared to call in the National Guard to fill in for state workers who decide to rally in Madison or go fishing. Think about your basic 19-year old Guardsman teaching OLGS's class on the prelude to the Civil War or a class on Romantic poetry. Of course, the gov would say that we shouldn't be providing such classes as state expense. He has an answer for everything.