Wednesday night the Wisconsin state Senate voted to limit the bargaining power of the public unions in that state. They did this using a procedure that allowed the vote despite the absence of Democratic senators who fled the state to avoid the union vote. Almost immediately some of those senators said the vote Wednesday night was undemocratic.Is that hypocrisy? You make the call.
Anyway, the Wisconsin public unions are diminished, and there is mayhem in Madison.
"Talking Points" believes that scenes like those will not help the union cause.
Earlier this week in Idaho, the legislature took away bargaining rights from the teachers union there. And all over the United States, union power is under fire.
No American should be celebrating this. American workers need protections; there's no question about that.
But as we've said, some unions have struck corrupt bargains with politicians, leading to enhanced worker benefits the states cannot possibly pay. It goes like this: We'll give you big money, politicians, if you vote for what the unions want. That cannot happen anymore.
The big mistake the Democrats have made in Wisconsin was supporting the senators who fled the state. That is not how democracy is supposed to be.
Gov. Walker and the Republicans were voted in last November to get the financial situation under control. That's what the voters want. Walker says he will add 250,000 jobs because the unions are now diminished. If that does not happen, Wisconsin voters should throw him out and reinstate union power. That's how democracy works.
Finally, if you believe the left-wing media, which is very supportive of the unions, most Americans do not support reining in the unions. However, a brand-new Gallup poll asked: Do you favor changing state laws to limit the bargaining power of state employee unions? Forty-nine percent of Americans say they do favor that, 45 percent oppose and six percent have no opinion.
So summing up, Americans remain divided on the union situation, but in Wisconsin, Gov. Walker has won the fight.
And that's "The Memo."
