For roughly the past month now, there have been many protests in the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison over Governor Scott Walker's controversial move to suspend unions' rights to a collective bargaining agreement, among other things. Because of these actions, fourteen of the Wisconsin Senate Democrats have fled the state in an attempt to change Governor Walker's opinion. Despite many protesters currently working to stop this from happening, Governor Walker appears to be winning and has shown no indication of revoking this movement.
More recently, Governor Walker issued an ultimatum, saying that if the Democratic senators do not return to work soon, there will be many job firings of state employees. This firm statement makes many people believe that Governor Walker is not being tolerant enough and should attempt to compromise. Many have even called Walker's action "dictatorial". I have disagree with these statements. Governor Walker's response is justified because of the actions by the Wisconsin state representatives that precipitated it. The purpose of a democratic government is for full representation by the people. So when these elected officials leave the state in order to not fulfill their duty, they are completely disobeying their job.
I have heard many liberals who do not support Walker claim that because of his supposed iron-fist on the matter of trimming the budget, it has shown that he is not willing to move from his position. The opposite is actually true, as Walker has made it clear that he is willing to have civil discussions about improving his plans reduce the state deficit. Despite this, these state senators whom people elected are being ignorant and are actually the ones not being reasonable.
I want to remind the democratic senators that it is their job to participate in their government. After all, the people of Wisconsin entrusted them with the duty to fulfill what they want from their government. By running away from the problem instead of facing it head on, they are failing in their job and are not representing their people. They will not fix the problem if they do not participate in the government for their people.
Sam,
ReplyDeleteI think it's quite simple to reduce this down to the philosophy of a democratic government. Maybe too simple.
But now that the bill has passed and the *way* the bill has passed, you might consider whether or not you deem *that* to be democratic. A followup post or comment might be interesting to your readers.
Think about how you might link this post to other media or articles to enrich the picture.