Dear J-
The Wisconsin State Senate is composed of 33 members, at the moment 19 Republicans and 14 Democrats. With the Republican majority in place, a bill has been introduced requirng that non-safety public unionized employees (make that teachers and government workers excluding firefighters and police officers) will be required to pay a higher proportion of their benefit costs. Based on the majority vote it would pass on a straight party-line basis except that the Democrats have done the only thing available to them: they have denied the quorum by going into hiding. There is a separate rule that states a minimum of 20 Senators must vote, so though I’m sure this is more grand politicking (wouldn’t an abstention also count as a no-vote?) I’m heartened by the tactics.
I honestly don’t understand voter discontent in this country, but perhaps that because I’m tone-deaf to one end of the political spectrum. I have seen my taxes go up, but that’s because I’m making more this year than last, and the year before too. I happen to think that health care costs grow at a fearsome rate but that’s just based on strict percentages — where my office copay was $7 when I started at my current job five years ago it’s now up to $15. Somehow we’ve decided that initroducing government money into health care is bad, while crop subsidies and bringinig home pork projects is good? When did social services get such a bad rap?
There’s a disconnect between perception and reality that we feed with a few selected facts now and again. Obama’s not even American-born, and a Muslim to boot. Bush really thought we were going after Iraq’s nonexistent Weapons of Mass Destruction. Iran-Contra. Global Warming. Gun control. We hear the parts we want to hear and disregard the rest as extraneous evidence that we just don’t know is really true or not. Yeah, those Wisconsin Senators walked out on their job. How else can they send a message through all the chaff that’s floating around? Is it fair to balance the budget on the backs of teachers? Which services do you cut instead? Or do you raise taxes? It is the politically weak who suffer, and in this country that almost always means those without money. Who contributes against health care reform? Health Insurance companies. Who is loudest against EPA regulations? Big industry polluters, including oil compnaies. Those equations are remarkably simple but dig back into who’s sent the money and you’re on your way.
Mike