The conversation is no longer about Wisconsin's finances

[babylonsister]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/02/the_conversation_is_no_longer.html

The conversation is no longer about Wisconsin's finances
By Greg Sargent


An important new poll finds strong support for public employee bargaining rights:

The public strongly opposes laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employee unions as a way to ease state financial troubles, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll.

The poll found that 61% would oppose a law in their state similar to one being considered in Wisconsin, compared with 33% who would favor such a law.

This is only one poll, and we need to see the internals, but there are a couple quick points to be made about it. While it's been widely assumed that conservatives would have an easy time scapegoating public employees amid our economic woes, this suggests the possibility that an active push to take away long-assumed bedrock union rights might be pushing the envelope too far in the public mind. One wonders whether Governor Scott Walker overread anti-public employee sentiment and whether his overreach might end up turning public employees into -- gasp! -- somewhat sympathetic figures.<[br />
The second point: It's striking to note that the main focus of this conversation is no longer on the state of Wisconsin's finances. It's now all about workers' rights to engage in collective bargaining, something that has been enshrined in bipartisan consensus for decades. This is partly Walker's fault: His decision to reject the union's offer to accept his fiscal demands in exchange for preserving their rights did a great deal to shift the conversation into one no longer focused on Wisconsin's budgetary needs. The entry of outside groups like Americans for Prosperity into the fight also fuels a sense that this is no longer a budget dispute, but something else entirely, something far more ideologically charged.

Walker may very well end up winning this standoff in the end, but it feels like the broader P.R. war may have shifted to new, unexpected turf, a place the right suddenly no longer has the upper hand.

[Gr8Dem]

1. Great - maybe people actually get it

The message needs to be that this is not just designed to break the backs of union, but of non-union workers as well, and the middle class worker in general. The pay and benefits negotiated by unions forces even non-union employers to compete by offering at least close to the same pay and benefits.

I had to explain this to my dumb as a rock conservative ex-husband this past weekend. He works in a profession that is almost all unionized in this state (WA), even though he is not union at his job. And he constantly remarks on how much more he gets paid here than he used to get paid doing the same work for a different company in OH.

I said "why do you think you make the same pay and benefits as those in the union here in your same type of job? Because they have to compete with the union jobs to get people with your skill set." He was like, "Oh, yeah, I guess you're right"

If we can just get the light bulb to turn on for people we can defeat this naked greed forced through by republicans that run for office simply to do the bidding of their corporate benefactors.

[babylonsister]

3. Gr8Dem, welcome to DU!

And thanks for educating dim bulbs!

:hi:

[ccinamon]

2. On my Facebook page I've been pushing

several truths over and over whenever possible:

1) taxes are not the problem, stagnant wages are the problem
2) if the greedy, wealthy elite and corporations would pay a living wage, we wouldn't need unions
3) if corporations weren't so greedy we wouldn't need clean air, clean water regulations
4) without liberals, unions, hippies, tree-huggers, etc...we would still have dirty air and water, 60 hour work weeks, working for $2/week, etc

I'd like to think 6 months of this type of posting has helped changed minds and encouraged others to be just as vocal...I've gone nuclear on my Facebook page against regressives, conservatives, and the teapotpartiers.

[babylonsister]

4. Keep up the good work, ccinamon. I've had

kind of bad luck with my politics on FB. Have been unfriended by about 4 people, 2 of them my brothers. They can't stand to read or hear anything that isn't from the mouths of faux.

[ncteechur]

5. The real conversation never was about budget--only the fake one peddled by

Scott Walker, the other nitwit governors, and the koch boys.