Taking Advantage

"I know there's this Democratic state senator Jon Erpenbach who said today it's not about the money, that this is really about the unions' bargaining rights, and that this is just the Republican governor taking advantage of a budget situation and trying to break the unions with this." --MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell

Amazing how the media is so quick to cry foul for the way Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has proposed dealing with a lack of revenue to fund the state.  It is my understanding that the state has a law forbidding it to run a deficit (what a novel idea!), so something has to be cut.  Gov. Walker has suggested, among other things,  unions be responsible for a larger portion of the benefits they offer their members.  This translates to the union members paying more of the cost of their benefit packages (but not all of it by a long shot...like many of us do.)

How expecting people to pay for services they receive is reason to protest just baffles me.  There may have once been a legitimate use for unions, but I dare say that the Government of the State of Wisconsin is a fair employer, and the need for a union is long gone.  The problem is that the union bosses make a career of convincing the union members who pay dues for their "services" that life without them would be bondage to the man (in this case presumably Scott Walker.)  I am sure they are not "taking advantage" of the union members though, no, that could never happen.

 If the union members are being asked to pay 12%+ of their benefits, who do you suppose is paying the remaining 88%?  Could it be the rest of the good citizens of Wisconsin?  You know, the ones who don't get tenure, bargaining powers, or the ability to refuse to work without risking their job?  Yup, those are the ones.  How come the media isn't reporting on the selfish expectations of these union members who expect the rest of the citizens to prop-up their lifestyle in tough times?

What about the Democrat cowards in the State legislature who decided to sabotage the quorum of their body by hiding instead of engaging in principled debate on the virtue of their position?  What an honest display of the character of these representatives, showing they have no respect for the laws of their state and prefer the tactics of mob rule.

Adhering to his policy of letting no crisis go to waste, President Obama has spoken out in support of unions over the rest of the citizens of Wisconsin.  I am sure he is not taking advantage of the situation in order to secure the union support he will need in 2012...no, that couldn't be it.

 There are so many layers of people taking advantage of each other it is hard to sort out.  The everyday citizen is being soaked by union members to gain benefits.  Unions are charging members dues to cover the overhead of their careers.  Democrat legislatures are taking advantage of quorum rules to overcome their lack of votes to control the legislature.  President Obama is grabbing a corner of the spotlight because, well, it is what he does.

How about the union members retain their right to bargain in the free-market like the rest of us.  They can retain the right to purchase whatever services they can afford to, like the rest of us.  They are free to refuse to work and get fired for it, like the rest of us.  They are entitled to seek employment from those who they choose and refuse to work for any they deem undesirable, like the rest of us.

We should all take advantage of the liberty provided us and despise those who encourage us to trade it for a guarantee (usually a guarantee of something they want from us, not for us.)