Money Woes: Wisconsin's "Budget Battle"

SOURCE: Scott Olsen/Getty Images (NPR)

    Today’s Morning Edition broadcasted by the National Public Radio featured coverage on Wisconsin’s “budget battle” in addition to the full story published on their website by David Schaper. Republican Governor Scott Walker is set to deliver a budget address this Tuesday in front of state legislature regarding the projected shortfall for this fiscal year said to be $140 million dollars. Walker plans to cut state funding for schools by $900 million dollars and limit the amount of money schools can potentially raise through property taxes. Reports reflect the status of current teachers as uncertain and they are being put on notice about the discontinuation of their current contracts in the next year. Walker firmly denies any compromise in his assertion to eliminate collective bargaining rights for most public employees. Wisconsin’s local and state governments are decentralized and Walker suggests that the local governments should be free of any employee agreements because of the potential detriment it could cause in the future budgeting process. Public opinion polls display citizens’ as pro collective bargaining and, to ensure this demand, the largest public union in Wisconsin has filed a complaint accusing Walker of unfair labor practices. The Senate has fourteen empty chairs due to the Democrats absence and opposition to vote for Walker’s proposed  budget bill.
    The main purpose of collective bargaining is to establish employees’’ right to negotiate with employers, voicing their concerns as a form of management in terms of workers’ conditions. Established by the National Labor Relations Act passed by Congress in 1935, it emphasized protection from the privatized sector of business in hopes of decreasing monopolization and its effect on the U.S. economy. This was critical given the previous era of the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and J.P. Morgans which was followed by the Stock Market Crash of 1929. A right that has been protected for 76 years is now in jeopardy?  The significance lies within the efforts of Wisconsin citizens and especially the Senate Democrats and their stance against the governor’s policies. This determination attests to the political culture of America as being a representative democracy. Coined by political scientist Gabriel Almond and Sidney Verba, the Wisconsin ordeal, and ideally America, can be classified under the general political guise of a “participant” culture where the citizens are attentive and involved in politics. Imperative to a democracy is the relationship between the governed and the government inclusive to characteristics such as public opinion under the idea of majority rules, as witnessed in this “budget battle”. The strength of interests groups such as the public union is also reflected as the Wisconsin citizens exert their right to peaceful assembly. The beauty in democracy rests in the citizens’ ability to organize and mobilize, as opposed to totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and dictatorships which ultimately minimize the input of the masses or popular views.


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