I live in Wisconsin. A pretty calm, happy place to live. We have festivals and beer and music and the Packers and brats and deer hunting and cheese and the Badgers and loons and....we're pretty content for the most part. We also think the cows who live here are far happier than those in California.
Usually the kind of political turmoil we have around here these days is when a small town mayor is caught pilfering money or cops screw strippers in squad cars while on duty. It's not thrilling and that's the way I like it. But now all of the sudden, there's all this drama going on. Our tranquil little state has become the center of national media attention (for something other than sports or binge drinking) and it's not shedding a favorable light on any side of the issue.
It all started when the new Governor, who just took office six weeks ago or so, decided that in order to fix the budget and get out of the huge financial hole the state is in, that he would do a little...okay, a lot of...tweaking to the public employee unions. (Please note, I'm putting all of this in the simplest terms possible not because I don't know what's going on, but because if I were going to go into everything, this blog would take up far too much space on the World Wide Web.) Some of the changes didn't have a ton of opposition, some weren't pleasant, but do-able, but other changes were pretty drastic including taking the right of collective bargaining away from them.
Yeah, all of those changes in one fell swoop didn't go over well. With no discussions allowed and a quick-time vote scheduled, people went ballistic. Protests were scheduled by people against the bill, the Governor called out the National Guard, more protests happened, the capitol building was filled with protesters who brought in sleeping bags and signed up for round-the-clock speeches before the committee. The speakers were stopped, and the vote sped up. Teachers from across the state made their way to the capitol to voice their disdain which closed schools everywhere. Then, when it came time to vote, the Democrats all seemed to drop off the face of the earth. They disappeared out of state so that a vote couldn't be held, and now the Governor has sent the cops out looking for them.
This is all getting pretty ridiculous - on both sides. At this point, wouldn't any sane person who wants to keep some sort of order in the state stop and say, "Okay let's stop all these shenanigans, look at the bill, talk to both sides and make some changes," instead of stomping his foot and saying, "No, this is how it's going to be. So there!" On the other side...playing hide and seek? Really? And I can't say I'm too jazzed that teachers are forcing schools to close. Colleges and universities are one thing, but when elementary schools don't have enough teachers present to stay open thereby forcing people to call in to work to stay home with their children who are oblivious to the whole thing and just want to hang out with their friends and play at recess...Not cool. Voice your objections, call people, write letters, get to protesting after school. Do your part, it's great! Don't make the kids and their families suffer to get a point across. I don't think that's very fair either.
Changes do need to be made, and people are willing to work together to make the changes, but they have to be allowed to discuss things and not rush through it. Do such drastic measures really need to be taken?
Again, I am NOT a political person, but when things get this out of hand, I just want to pop, and this blog is a quiet enough place for me to do it without people jumping down my throat. I'm sure people who read this will have their own opinions as well, so if you feel the need to comment, please do so without name calling, catch phrases or superiority complexes.
I never thought I'd say this, but can we get back to talking about the Packers again?
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