In Wisconsin, A Governor Fails to Uphold His State's Creed

On Saturday, February 19, nearly 100,000 people came from parts of Wisconsin and across the country to participate in the business of democracy.  The issue that brought large-scale protests to Madison for a sixth consecutive day is a direct assault on the rights of workers to sit across a bargaining table from their employers to discuss working conditions.  That issue, dressed up in the rhetorical finery of “budgetary necessity” by Republican Governor Scott Walker, is in reality nothing more than the soiled sheets of union busting.

As the son of two retired Wisconsin public school teachers, the brother and nephew of two current public school teachers, the grandson of a Wisconsin firefighter, the nephew of a State schools administrator, and as a former employee of the Madison Metropolitan School District myself, the current goings-on in America’s Dairyland carry deep personal significance for me.  But the outcome of these events is sure to reverberate in other states, for other workers, and in wide swath of business sectors that make up the US economy.

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