Wisconsin Takes Action To Represent Taxpayers
March 10, 2011 at 11:26 am in News by 2 Comments
Senators who Skipped Town Must Do Their Job
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Tea Party Patriots applauded Gov. Scott Walker and the Wisconsin state legislature for making tough choices to make up for a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall next year.
“The legislators who took swift and decisive action to deal with the fiscal mess their state is facing should be praised,” said Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. “Like many other states across the country, Wisconsin must have the ability to balance its budget without placing additional financial burdens on working class citizens , which includes the hiring and firing of its own employees, as well as decisions over their healthcare. But those choices must be left up to the people of Wisconsin, not government employees.”
“You can’t be an influential voice when you don’t show up to speak to the bill or vote,” said Mark Meckler, national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. “The state senators hiding out in Illinois have abdicated their responsibility and have deliberately stalled the democratic process. If they want their voices heard, they need to be in the Capitol, not hiding from the people of Wisconsin.
“Elections have consequences, and the people in Wisconsin have spoken up for fiscal sanity and the ability to hire and fire government employees based on merit, not tenure. The Tea Party Patriots stand with the individual’s right to choose whether or not to join a union.”
Following the proposal’s introduction that included steep cuts to state spending to make up for a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall, as well as a component to make public sector employees pay more of their healthcare costs and drop some collective bargaining rights, 14 Democratic state senators fled the state to avoid a vote they are likely to lose. On Wednesday, the State Senate passed a separate bill without the quorum normally necessary for budget bills, which strips government employees’ of collective-bargaining rights in an effort to balance the budget and allow the state to hire good teachers, and fire bad ones.
Tea Party Patriots is a national grassroots coalition with more than 3,000 locally organized chapters and more than 15 million supporters nationwide. Tea Party Patriots is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets. Visit Tea Party Patriots online at www.TeaPartyPatriots.org.
I’m from Wisconsin… I don’t consider myself to be highly educated in politics… but some things I understand. Politics appears to be a lot like an onion, lately. Pick an issue, any issue, and one can pull off layers until they find the layer that supports their view and can then exploit it to try to get others to come to their way of thinking. The American public appears to be easily influenced by such rhetoric and sways due to the amplitude of the what the media projects. They are apparently too lazy to dig to find the truth anymore. Just because someone says it’s the truth DOES NOT make it so! Politics is a trade off… in order to get something, you need to give something in return.(basics of trade) The greater the prize… the greater the sacrifice… that’s just the way it has been all through time. Admittedly, I did not vote for Walker(I normally only concentrate on the federal levels… but after this latest liberal extremist fiasco I’m all over it now!) When Walker announced his plans to end collective bargaining to the extents that he did, my first thought was “Oh Crap!”… but being the thorough person that I am and trying to understand(not just hear) both sides… I started thinking about why he would do that. Why would he be so willing to take away the thing that we worked so hard to achieve so long ago? Then it hit me… when the government and the unions it supports start telling the American public where their money will go and choose to ignore the voice of reason to line their pockets and stack the deck… the government ceases to protect the interests of their public.(ie. employers) We needed to take back that control. Ever listened to the head of the union in Wisconsin? The guy sounds like an arrogant thug. Walker wasn’t condemning our public sector employees… he was taking away a corrupted government’s control over the public. Our taxes here in Wisconsin rank second only to New York.(last data I checked) At the time Walker took office… our country as a whole was facing a 14+ trillion dollar deficit. Foreign countries that have bought up US debt are getting excited about the possibility of cashing in.(China, for one) Thankfully our government was smart enough to shoulder the majority of our debt “locally”.(our government owns the controlling shares in our national debt, thank GOD) In doing so they are the controlling voice in our economic direction. I support The Tea Party’s fundamental ambitions to make our country fiscally responsible, limit the reach of our government(remember.. they work for us), and support free markets. Okay… I’m getting off track here. My point is… fiscal responsibility, to some degree, falls on the shoulders of each and every state. How can you hope to balance the federal books if locally you spend money ignorantly and expect the federal government to just print more when you run out so you can continue to spend? To get us back in check is going to take a huge sacrifice as we have closed our eye and hoped for the best for many years(ie “Kick the can”), but nobody seems to want to give up the free money. Heavy fiscal results call for heavy sacrifices… are the American people willing to pay a heavy toll to gain that fiscally responsible end? Hahahaha… the analogy of “too many college students spending money on parentally obligated credit cards” seems to come to mind here. We either stand and fight and make those sacrifices… or whine kick and complain our way into leaving a legacy where our children’s future is controlled by some other country. I don’t promise to like the sacrifices, but I will protect my grand children’s future. At age 40… what do you suppose my odds are of any social security funds when I retire? I’m not putting all my eggs in that basket, sorry.