Weekly Opinion Editorial
TRUST AND OBEY!by Steve Fair
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker spoke last week to over a thousand people at the annual Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs Citizenship Dinner in Oklahoma City. A group of union members picketed outside the facility. Elected in 2010, Walker, a former Wisconsin state legislator and county executive in Milwaukee is facing a recall election on Tuesday June 5th. Walker, 44, inherited a state government with over a three billion dollar budget deficit and a state whose businesses had lost over 150,000 jobs in three years, so drastic action was necessary.
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After taking office, Walker proposed a state budget that saved Wisconsin taxpayers 300 million dollars over two years. One of the components of the cuts reduced the take home pay of state workers by eight(8) percent. Firefighters and law enforcement were excluded. He also proposed that government workers collective bargaining rights for anything other than wages be eliminated. Walkers pushed for tort reform and property tax reductions. As you can imagine, these proposals did not set well with some in the highly unionized state, particularly the bureaucrats.
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An organized effort, led by United Wisconsin, garnered enough signatures to force a recall election to potentially unseat Walker, the Lt. Governor and four Republican Wisconsin state senators. According to United Wisconsin, “When elected officials subvert the will of those they represent, enacting a radical agenda that seeks to concentrate power in the hands of the very few and jeopardizing the livelihoods of the people they are supposed to protect, the exercise of the constitutionally-guaranteed right to force a recall election is a just and proper tool to force accountability upon those elected officials who act as if there is none.” What they fail to say is that Wisconsin government was going bankrupt when Walker and Republicans were elected! Why can’t liberals understand that government doesn’t have any money? The only money that government has is what the people give it.
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What is ironic is these issues are EXACTLY what Walker campaigned on when he was running for governor, so it should have come as no surprise when he did them. When asked why he moving so fast to implement change, Walker responded, “If you were the CEO of a company and you were taking over a company that was failing, you wouldn’t wait a year or six months or even a month, you wouldn’t wait.. … Wisconsin couldn’t wait.” That is refreshing- a politician who actually did what he said he would do when he was campaigning. Walker had said he would curtail the public sector union activities- they just didn’t believe him.
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Public sector unions are a lot different than private ones. They negotiate with government officials who are either elected or appointed by elected officials. Union involvement in the electoral process often can create a situation where the unions can elect people who are more sympathetic to the union and in effect control both sides of the table- in essence voting themselves a raise. That is often why you see a lot of public sector unions taking an active roll in political campaigns.
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If management of a private corporation strikes a bad deal with a labor union that places the company in an uncompetitive situation and it goes bankrupt as a result, company shareholders take a hit and jobs move elsewhere, but no taxpayer money is involved. If politicians strike a bad deal with a public union, taxpayers foot the bill. Governments cannot (easily) go out of business. They have a captive tax base, so increases are just passed along to the taxpayer.. Public sector unions thus lack the upper limit on their rapaciousness that private sector unions have.
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Walker is a man with courage. He took on a powerful political force in Wisconsin that has the resources to destroy him politically. When he did it, he understood there would be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, yet he charged on.
*****
After taking office, Walker proposed a state budget that saved Wisconsin taxpayers 300 million dollars over two years. One of the components of the cuts reduced the take home pay of state workers by eight(8) percent. Firefighters and law enforcement were excluded. He also proposed that government workers collective bargaining rights for anything other than wages be eliminated. Walkers pushed for tort reform and property tax reductions. As you can imagine, these proposals did not set well with some in the highly unionized state, particularly the bureaucrats.
*****
An organized effort, led by United Wisconsin, garnered enough signatures to force a recall election to potentially unseat Walker, the Lt. Governor and four Republican Wisconsin state senators. According to United Wisconsin, “When elected officials subvert the will of those they represent, enacting a radical agenda that seeks to concentrate power in the hands of the very few and jeopardizing the livelihoods of the people they are supposed to protect, the exercise of the constitutionally-guaranteed right to force a recall election is a just and proper tool to force accountability upon those elected officials who act as if there is none.” What they fail to say is that Wisconsin government was going bankrupt when Walker and Republicans were elected! Why can’t liberals understand that government doesn’t have any money? The only money that government has is what the people give it.
******
What is ironic is these issues are EXACTLY what Walker campaigned on when he was running for governor, so it should have come as no surprise when he did them. When asked why he moving so fast to implement change, Walker responded, “If you were the CEO of a company and you were taking over a company that was failing, you wouldn’t wait a year or six months or even a month, you wouldn’t wait.. … Wisconsin couldn’t wait.” That is refreshing- a politician who actually did what he said he would do when he was campaigning. Walker had said he would curtail the public sector union activities- they just didn’t believe him.
*****
Public sector unions are a lot different than private ones. They negotiate with government officials who are either elected or appointed by elected officials. Union involvement in the electoral process often can create a situation where the unions can elect people who are more sympathetic to the union and in effect control both sides of the table- in essence voting themselves a raise. That is often why you see a lot of public sector unions taking an active roll in political campaigns.
*****
If management of a private corporation strikes a bad deal with a labor union that places the company in an uncompetitive situation and it goes bankrupt as a result, company shareholders take a hit and jobs move elsewhere, but no taxpayer money is involved. If politicians strike a bad deal with a public union, taxpayers foot the bill. Governments cannot (easily) go out of business. They have a captive tax base, so increases are just passed along to the taxpayer.. Public sector unions thus lack the upper limit on their rapaciousness that private sector unions have.
*****
Walker is a man with courage. He took on a powerful political force in Wisconsin that has the resources to destroy him politically. When he did it, he understood there would be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, yet he charged on.
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Walker, the son of a Baptist minister, says his religious life is expressed in the words of an old hymn, “Trust and Obey.”* From childhood onward, Walker recounted how God specifically directed his life, how he had learned to trust that direction, and how he sought to obey Christ in all things and at all times. He related the biblical story found in Matthew 14 of the apostle Peter in a boat, whom Jesus directed to walk on the water. At first, Peter followed Jesus and did, indeed, walk upon water. But Peter became fearful and sank. According to Walker, this is a parable of the whole Christian life. “If you “fail to trust and obey,” Walker said, “You sink.”
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*For the story behind the hymn, Trust & Obey, go to http://www.lectionary.org/HymnStories/Trust%20and%20Obey.htm
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