By now the hissy-fit by public unions, their wholly-owned Senators, and various sympathizers has reached historic proportion, but mostly for the fact that any first is historic.  Almost as dramatic, in its absence, is any sense of proportion, where cause and effect are concerned.  To balance the budget, as constitutionally required by the way, the Governor wants contributions from state workers for health and retirement benefits lowered to an amount still lavish compared to the private sector, and collective bargaining limited to wages only, which is still a much better deal than most, including federal workers.  

To any reasonable onlooker these are modest measures.  To the Democrat Union Hucksters (a.k.a. the DUH party) it’s an assault on unions, a war on middle class, and reason enough to shut down the entire legislative process for a month.  Really.  

The key word there is reasonable.  I am all for free speech, almost absolutist, even to the point where I agreed with the Supreme Court for allowing that subhuman piece of garbage Fred Phelps, and his so-called church, to protest at military funerals. So, the first amendment, while guaranteeing free speech, also guarantees people can abuse the right to behave like complete jerks.  Not exactly the company I’d want to keep but it seems amenable to public union folk.    

Protestors drew chalk outlines on sidewalks to represent the corpse of Governor Walker, others wrote death threats to GOP State Senators, signs depicted Walker as Mussolini, Mobarek, caused millions in damage to the architectural gem that is our state capitol building, others hit girls, others shouted down live interview broadcasts, and of course the inevitable Adolph Hitler comparisons (only the fevered mind of a public union hack genocidal incineration comparable to union busting)

 All of this, by the way, had no effect on the eventual outcome.

Wisconsin is rightfully proud of its contributions as an incubator of democracy over the years.  It is doubtful you would find more diversity in a states political history than one that includes progressive co-founder “Fighting Bob” Lafollette and commie hunter “Tail Gunner Joe” McCarthy.  As a rule, we don’t take ourselves too seriously.  To a Wisconsinite, even though it was meant to be an insult, we think Cheesehead is a compliment.   Cheesy as a pejorative, forget that, the more cheese the better. 

Wisconsin lays claim to many firsts; 4-wheel drive, electric clothes dryer, outboard motor, kindergarten, head start, and public sector union.  Oops, that last one sure turned out to be a clunker.  Hey, I didn’t say best, just first.  Now Wisconsin will hold the record for most recall petition drives at once, 16, 8 from each side.  If every one of them succeeds we end up with exactly the same numbers in the state senate, and the whole exercise will end up being just as effective as the unauthorized vacation by Democrat Union Senators.  Pffft. 

Progressives consider their vision for government as the ultimate, the best, the last and all we’ll ever need. But the larger truth is that Wisconsin keeps on innovating.  Rather than the be all and end all this was simply progressivisms turn, and now it’s over.  Now Wisconsin is going to try something else for the first time - - fiscal conservatism.  It too will be a first.  Expecting the left to be as tolerant, open-minded, and cooperative as the right has been during their experiment is asking too much.  Obviously.

Of course there are tax raisers who wonder why we can’t we just tax rich people more and be done with it?  Well, mainly because, as we have seen by their exodus in California and New Jersey, those people will move out, and take their businesses with them.  How an imagination supple enough to equate a dictator to an elected governor can't grasp the simpler reality that without the private sector as a fund source the public sector would cease to exist is anyones guess.   

The other reason is the simple phrase comprising the acronym, Taxed Enough Already.  Wisconsin is ranked 4th nationally in tax burden.  In the last 20 years Wisconsin has only escaped the top ten tax exporting states once, in other words we pay the fed a lot more than we get back. Ours, to coin a phrase, is not a revenue problem; it’s a spending problem, and our biggest expenditure is payroll.  

Michael Moore claims the wealthy class assets is a natural resource that belongs to all of us.  Mary Katherine Ham did the math and, surprise, surprise, it turns out the total combined wealth of the 400 richest Americans is 1.3 trillion dollars.  The cost for this year alone is 1.6 trillion.  So, even if we did confiscate all that private property, it wouldn’t be enough to cover a single year.  

The whine has been uncorked and is getting more and more rancid.  The cheese stands alone, and it’s teatime in Wisconsin.  It’s the beginning of the end of progressivism, and the beginning of the beginning of fiscal conservatism.  There will be twists and turns along the way but Wisconsin, in its own imitable way, will assume its usual leadership role.