Thursday, February 24, 2011

Axis of Evil - GIMME, GIMME, GIMME, Wisconsin Style

In their effort to bring down (or bankrupt) our government, the Wisconsin public employees rushed to prove that they are not useless; they can always serve as a bad example.
Your TV has allowed you to witness the witless, live and in color:
First, the school teachers decided to withhold their services by simply not going to work.  BUT, they agreed, or were ordered by their union, to call in ‘sick’.  This ploy has the illogical proviso that they will continue to be paid their full salary (your tax money) as they refuse to work to earn it.
Calling in ‘sick’ was a LIE and they knew it was a lie.  But, they did it to insure that they would be paid in a timely manner for refusing to work.  The Wisconsin law, as in most states, provides that taking money from your employer by deception (lying) is a CRIME.  So, let me see if I got this right: The Wisconsin teachers are demonstrating for our children (their students) that the proper way to get ahead in this political world is to lie and cheat, if not outright steal.  Hard work and sacrifice is for suckers.  Fairness is for suckers.  Consider this; the main issue behind this temper tantrum is the Governor’s suggestion that teachers and other public employees contribute to the cost of their own health care and pensions.  The teachers are refusing which simply means that they are insisting that someone else pay the cost of their pensions and health care for them.  A feeble effort by them to make a temporary agreement to pay part of their expense is a ploy to tide them over to the next election.  If they return the prostitutes to a majority in the State senate, They will insist on going back to their Gimme, Gimme, Gimme ways
Now, let me see what is happening here.  Are they working for us or are we working for them?  If they are working for us, what the hell are they doing in Madison?  There is a time and a place, under our democratic system, for employees and other citizens to make their views known to the government.  We have been through that phase.  You know, the first half of a democracy is to allow the citizens to elect their representatives.  Wisconsin has done that.  The second half of a democracy happens when individual citizens accept the will of the majority of those who voted and you accept it by obeying the laws enacted by the peoples’ representatives.  The public employees’ unions refuse to obey any laws that they don’t like. 
To disagree with the law is very normal.  We all disagree with some of the laws that our representatives enact.  To defy and/or refuse to obey the law is unacceptable conduct and must be resisted by everyone who understands and appreciates democracy.  If I choose not to obey then you have the same right to choose not to obey.  The obvious result of this action is anarchy and an end to democracy.  Melodramatic?  Sure!  If you think that some are overreacting, what do you suggest?  Should we wait until the protestors take to the streets and call for an end to the government?   Some of the signs displayed in Madison referred to the uprising in Egypt.  I don’t think they really want to go there.  In Egypt, street mobs, right or wrong, were hell bent on destroying their government.  Should they really be our role models?  Are we ready to take that step?  Down with the entire government?  You choose.
If you choose Yes, then go join the public employees unions and shut down the legislature.  If you are not ready for that step, then recognize what these unions are doing.  They are willing to shut down the government and resort to mob rule.  Hard to say that and hard to listen to it.  But, it happens to be accurate.  This is the ultimate sensate phase of the collapse of our way of life.  As Dante said, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”  Do we really want to go there?  I understand that no one likes to hear this.  I do not like to say it.  I wish I could report that the public employees unions were stand up guys and would look you in the eye and say, “We are all in this together.  How can I help.”  Instead we hear, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme! 
If you have a spoiled child who was throwing a temper tantrum, you could do one of two things.  First, of course, you would review your ruling that precipitated tantrum.  If you are convinced that you made the right ruling, then it is decision time.  If you believe that you are right, then you must stand by your decision and require that the child conform his conduct to this and other societal norms.  Or, you can “kick the problem down the road” and simply let the child have his way hoping that you are not around for the next tantrum.  Be assured, if you yield to a tantrum, there will be another one and another until you reach the end of the road.  No more kicking.  Trillion dollar deficits – we are decision point.
As any intelligent, responsible parent knows, the best and the easiest way to deal with tantrums is to squelch them as early as possible.  The Wisconsin public employees unions have placed themselves outside of, or above, the law.  Does this make them evil?  Only if you let them get away with it when they are so clearly wrong.  We are back to that nasty little area that all of us cowards prefer to avoid.  That is, dealing with the issue of right and wrong.  By dealing with it we mean honestly deciding what is right and doing it at all costs.
It is ironic that this particular challenge to your moral convictions comes on the week-end of George Washington’s birthday.  We tend to forget the ‘small’ things the George did.  He led us through the eight year war and he personally willed us to victory.  Then, he provided his firm hand to the management of the Constitutional Convention.  When he finally went home, he promised himself that he would sit out the next problem, but when he was asked to be our first president, he said could not refuse.  Another eight years of service.  Incredible.  We are now being called upon to quietly stand up for the democratic process for which Washington gave twenty years of his life.  Please think of him when you decide whether or not you can sit idly by as street demonstrators tear another brick out of the wall between us and the unknown dark side.
So, do the selfish acts of a few cheeseheads qualify them for such a prominent spot in our Axis of Evil?  Maybe not.  But, they wandered in at the wrong time, with the wrong issue and they took the wrong approach to satiating their selfish compulsions.  I may be repeating myself, but let’s not lose sight of the issue that brought us to this point.  Some public employees were asked to contribute some of their own money to pay some of their own expenses.  They not only refused, insisting that you and I pay their bills for them (after paying them a pretty good salary), but they now are throwing a tantrum and are willing to deprive you of your functioning government if they don’t get their way.  This is so far beyond what we have a right to expect from people who have fed at the public teat for so long that they have surely forfeit any right to demand sympathy and thereby qualify for full membership in our ever-growing Axis of Evil.

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