Walker Vindicated: Mass. Democrats Restrict Union Power

The Massachusetts State House has voted to restrict government employee unions collective bargaining rights. It appears headed for victory in the State Senate and the Governor has vowed to sign the bill. Doesn’t this sound like a familiar these during the first four months of 2011? It’s similar but it isn’t quite the same in Massachusetts as it was in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. The difference is that the Republican Party barely exists in Massachusetts. The State House and Senate are dominated by Democrats, who have a veto proof majority. The Governor is a very liberal Democrat.

I’m sure you’re thinking that Massachusetts is heading for Wisconsin style union rallies and protests over these restrictions in government employee bargaining power. While the unions are apparently irate over the bill, they aren’t planning any massive rallies ala Wisconsin. It’s not politically expedient to protest in Massachusetts as it would destroy the narrative that Republicans want to restrict union rights. The unions will no doubt fight these changes but they’ll do it by quietly targeting yes votes in Democrat primaries. The unions may stage some token rallies supporting the no voters but they aren’t going to overtake the Capitol building with 10,000 crazed teachers and bozo socialist college students.

The Massachusetts bill proves that Scott Walker was right in Wisconsin. Government employee benefits are out of control. It is an outrage that the average government employee makes more money in salary and benefits than the average private sector worker. Government employees don’t produce anything of value, they simply take from others. We cannot have a successful economic recovery so long as it is more lucrative to work for the government not producing anything than it is to work in the private sector. The fact that liberal Democrats in one of the most liberal states in the union recognize that government employee contracts are out of control says a lot.

Taxpayers cannot afford to pay for lavish union benefits for government employees. American taxpayers are being taxed to death. Like it or not, there isn’t any more money to squeeze out of the so-called rich and the middle class is currently being killed by taxes and inflation. It is absurd that bus drivers in Madison, Wisconsin are earning over $100,000 in salary and benefits. It is absurd that school teachers in some of the worst performing schools in the country are earning an average of $100,000. This sort of nonsense can only happen in government or when government interferes with private contracts.

Taxpayers in Wisconsin pushed back against out of control spending by electing Republicans in 2010. They backed those Republicans by re-electing a conservative Supreme Court judge last month, in what was seen as a referendum on Walker’s union law. Democrat Legislators in Massachusetts are finally pushing back against the out of control spending they helped create. They recognize that their state can no longer afford to pay lavish union salaries, benefits and pensions for government employees.

This issue was never about Republicans destroying unions. The issue was always about bringing state budgets under control. The fact that we now have extremely liberal Democrats doing the same thing as Scott Walker vindicates his position. It also exposes the unions as little more than the thuggish stuntmen they are. It also exposes the hypocrisy of the Wisconsin Democrats who left the state, as well as the media who of course isn’t reporting that Democrats are passing the same bill Walker signed in Wisconsin. In the end, state budgets must be balanced. Taxpayers cannot afford to pay anymore and it’s time for government employees to see their lavish benefits cut.