The pro-union protestors in Wisconsin got a popular reinforcement on Saturday. Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore joined Wisconsin residents to fight against Republican efforts to trim the budget by temporarily suspending the collective bargaining rights of unions. Moore said, "Madison is only the beginning."
To me, Michael Moore has generally been like that itchy sweater you get as a Christmas gift from your aunt--you appreciate the time and effort that went into buying the present, but you still stuff it in the back of your closet. Analogously, you've got to admire the way Moore dedicates his time and energy into making liberal, left-wing films, but the end products sometimes make you want to ignore him.
On Saturday, the crowd of upset government workers expressed their approval as Moore begged the demonstrators to keep up their fight against Republican Governor Scott Walker's legislation. He even compared their effort to Egypt's revolt. Ever heard of the false analogy fallacy in logic? Moore just committed it.
Moore is under the delusion that wealthy Americans are evil. On Saturday, he informed the crowd that the wealthy had overreached by taking the working class money and then taking their souls via the elimination of their bargaining rights. Has Moore ever noticed that wealthy Americans pay more taxes and give more to charity per capita than anyone else?
The behavior of the Democratic State Senators in Wisconsin is deplorable. They were elected by the people to do their jobs, and when an important vote comes up, all of them saw fit to leave the state. How is this different from pretending to be sick when you don't want to go to school? Senator Lena Taylor provided one perspective, "I ask the governor, 'Do your job. Come to the table and speak to Wisconsin workers. We agree that fiscally we need to do things differently. We even agree that there are some places where we need to talk about how we negotiate." Senator Chris Larson also urged protestors to stay strong, saying, "We've been here for the last 16 days and we'll continue to be here until worker's rights are removed as the target in this budget repair bill by our governor." If only Michael Moore and Democrats in Wisconsin could be convinced that the state must cut back spending in order to balance the budget.
I'll agree with the protestors on one thing- the content of this bill is tough to swallow. The proposed bill will force state employees to pay for half the cost of their pensions and twice their current health care premiums- concessions that are equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut. With the labor bill stalled, Governor Walker has decided to layoff government workers so the state can being to realize the $30 million savings that originally would have come from the concessions. By continuing to protest, some of the demonstrators might lose their jobs, a significantly more devastating option than taking the equivalent of an 8 percent pay cut. On Friday, Walker informed state employee unions that he intends to issue layoff notices to 1,500 workers that would be effective on April 4.
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