Topic: Decline of the West
Speaking of Wisconsin, various people have suggested to me that what Governor Walker is proposing to do about public employee unions—eliminating some collective bargaining rights, making payment of union dues voluntary, requiring annual membership recertification of union representation—isn’t “fair.” Why should workers have rights taken away from them just because they work for the state?
Well, all right, it probably isn’t fair. But fairness is not the issue. In fact, it’s irrelevant. The status quo is driving states like Wisconsin closer and closer to bankruptcy. Some states, indeed—think California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York—are already broke. Public employee unions, in collusion with vote-greedy politicians, have devoured all available state revenue. So things are going to change because they have to change. Medical benefits are going to be cut back, pension plans are going to be trimmed, work rules are going to be reformed. Unfair? Sure. But as John F. Kennedy once remarked, life is unfair.
