On January 19, 2011 I received an email newsletter from the group 9-12 Super Seniors.  (Yeah, I’m a senior….and maybe a couple of people think I am “super” so I definitely belong 🙂  The first article, written by James Soviero addressed the Tuscon tragedy that had happened a short time before.  He began:

“Nothing good can come of the irresponsible acceptance of an incorrect premise.  This is especially so when people wielding influence and power blindly accept an assumption that fits their way of thinking, then, very publicly, declare it as fact.” (emphasis mine)

He, of course, was referring to the aftermath of the Tuscon shootings, but I would like to discuss the aspect of “accepting an incorrect premise.”

In the post I recently shared at this site I paraphrased something that C.S. Lewis said.  It basically pointed out that your world view needs to be consistent with what you experience in the real world.  He pointed out that the world view that is erroneous will lead one to act in a way which “simply does not fit the real universe.”  I believe that is what we are seeing in Wisconsin.  A group of people who have a view of the world that is erroneous; they are accepting a premise that does not fit with reality.

Holding the world view that there is a transcendent source for determining what is “right” and what is “wrong” I have a difficult time accepting the world view that basically says I don’t have a right to my world view.  Communism, Socialism, Marxism and Progressivism all hold a world view that is in direct conflict with the world view which I hold and I believe in no way reflects the real world.

Why Wisconsin?

There is a great blog post at Gulag Bound that gives you a great historical summary of the beginnings of the Progressive movement in this country and, in my humble opinion, when our Constitutional Republic train left the tracks laid out by our Founders and headed toward Collectivist Tyranny.

As a reality check for the situation in Wisconsin I’d like for you to consider something I found on the New York Times Opinion page:

“The founders of the labor movement viewed unions as a vehicle to get workers more of the profits they help create. Government workers, however, don’t generate profits. They merely negotiate for more tax money. When government unions strike, they strike against taxpayers. F.D.R. considered this “unthinkable and intolerable.”

The debate worth having is whether or not it is appropriate for the public sector unions to wield the power they have had over the past 50+ years. Using the progressive tactics that have been used so successfully in the past, demonstrators in Wisconsin express that the actions of Governor Walker are aimed at “union busting” and he is creating a “Nazi Germany-like” environment.  Details of the Budget Repair Bill reveal that its provisions do indeed limit collective bargaining among some groups, eliminate it for other groups and exempt others (local law enforcement, fire, and state troopers.) The comparisons to Hitler’s actions after the collapse of the Wiemar Republic are, to my understanding not legitimate.  Yes, Hitler outlawed the Wiemar Republic Trade Unions but he replaced them with the German Labour Front. I believe if these people would broaden their focus and do some reading, in particular Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas they would see some disturbing similarities that might hopefully open their eyes to the dangers of the collectivist world view they’ve come to accept as reality.  More to the point, presenting a possible chain of events from a governor attempting to bring his state back from the brink of bankruptcy and second holocaust disrupts the debate that should be taking place.

In a thought-provoking article by Peggy Noonan written in August 2010 she says:

“But do our political leaders have any sense of what people are feeling deep down? They don’t act as if they do. I think their detachment from how normal people think is more dangerous and disturbing than it has been in the past. I started noticing in the 1980s the growing gulf between the country’s thought leaders, as they’re called—the political and media class, the universities—and those living what for lack of a better word we’ll call normal lives on the ground in America. The two groups were agitated by different things, concerned about different things, had different focuses, different world views.” (emphasis mine.)

And that, is the source of many of this country’s problems.  It is not just the gulf between political/thought leaders and those living “normal lives.”  It is an issue of a Collectivist world view vs the world view that gave birth to our Constitutional Republic.

So, who’s involved in the protests in Wisconsin and who are the key players?

Revolutionary Communists Join Rally In Wisconsin to bring forth “emancipators of humanity.” I think we have to define what that really means.  I’m personally still trying to pin down what that “fundamental transformation” that President Obama spoke about actually means.

Union members who attack those with opposing views.

Union bosses who say one thing and do another.

Union bosses who are more interested in protecting their political dynasties as opposed to protecting the interests of their members.

AFSCME members expressing “solidarity” and invoking the classic technique of class warfare….and making obscene threats to those who hold an opposing view.

Democratic State Senators who picked up their marbles and left town rather than stay and debate the issues.

States that have promised more than they can deliver, or, should I say more than the taxpayer can deliver.

Rallies held in support of the Wisconsin unions that include cries of “Eat the Rich” and “Tax the Rich.”  (I wonder if they realize that in the global/collectivist  community they ARE the rich?)

International Socialists

MoveOn.org and union members who call those with opposing views “fascists” and resort to assault.

and, finally, Americans who are awakening and becoming aware of the political economy of public sector unions and the reality of what the progressive movement has done using them as one of their tools.

Update March 4th: Short video of interest: Government Union Collective Bargaining 101