Attack on Labor in Wisconsin

Here at Domestic Tranquility we are depressed. We live in a bubble, where everyone more or less agrees with us. However, there are clearly lots of folks who are eaten up with envy and hate and use that to hurt those who are not like them. They even live in Wisconsin, home of Progressivism and LaFollette. They see teachers, nurses, state bureaucrats and others as unfairly profiting from the largesse of the taxpayers, when the benefits that state workers receive should be the benefits everyone receives. And despite the propaganda that would have you believe that state workers are paid more than employees in the private sector, public employees overall make less than those who work for corporations.

So the labor-haters side with the fat cats who just got a big tax cut in return for supporting Governor Walker, even though this is not in their best interests.

The Republicans are masterful at framing issues so that ordinary working people side with the rich and powerful. Why can't the Dems do this?

And, of course, when they are laid off because of the trickle-down effect of the massive budget cutting that is occurring everywhere, they may have a different tune. But then it will be too late.

On Wisconsin

OLGS has gone back to Madison to be part of the state employees protest. The whole thing is so sad and bitter, especially for him. He was -- I can't say that he is now -- so proud to be part of the University of Wisconsin system. Just a few tidbits:

1. His family is tied very tightly to the university. His father, sister, aunt, uncle, brothers-in-law, countless cousins and asssorted in-laws are all graduates of the UW. Some have been major supporters and boosters over the years.

2. He was named Teacher of the Year for the entire university system, an honor that goes to only one faculty member each year, becuase of his devotion to students and his creativity in teaching them.

3. He is (or was) a firm believer in what was known as the Wisconsin Idea -- the notion that the university served the state, and vice versa. He even had his students do projects of specific use to various state departments and had them make presentations in the Capitol about their work.

4. He is perfectly willing (I do not agree with him -- truth in advertising) to sacrifice his pay and benefits in the service of the greater good during a temporary crisis. I disagree because I feel that Gov. Walker has manufactured the crisis to get his way and that having faculty members pay more for health care and pension is simply a drop in the bucket, and a ploy by the gov. to mask his real intention -- gutting the public employee unions.

What OLGS is not willing to do is give up his collective bargaining rights -- rights that were hard won and late in coming but that are a staple of the Wisconsin tradition. But the gov. and his henchpersons wouldn't understand that.

What is gratifying to OLGS and many thousands of his fellow Wisconsin employees is the support they have received. Messages of solidarity have come from other states and countries as well as from students, police officers, neighbors and even Republicans. What touched OLGS the most was a sign held by a student at UW-Eau Claire: We Love Our Professors. In nearly 30 years of teaching, OLGS had never heard this.

Beat the yahoos. Show your support. Go to Madison.

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.