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For weeks now, the world has focused their eyes keenly on the democratic movements of the Middle East and North Africa. At the same time however, another revolution has been brewing in an unlikely place—Madison, Wisconsin.
The protests in Wisconsin, which have spread to other states in the Midwest, stem from a bill that Wisconsin’s governor Scott Walker that largely detracts from important rights that union members have, including the right to collective bargaining. For a state with such a strong union presence, it’s a wonder how the bill ever got passed in the first place, right? Speaking from a purely democratic viewpoint, it didn’t.
In truth, the bill was only passed through constitutional loopholes, but not through representative votes. In fact, the Democratic representatives for Wisconsin had crossed state lines into Illinois to protest the bill, and were not even present for the voting or signing.
What makes this story important is not whether the Wisconsin bill has good intentions. What does make this story important is the lack of representation for constituents, and the fact that the bill was signed in the absence of the elected representatives who were supposed to vote on it.
To Gov. Walker’s credit, the state, as is the case elsewhere in the U.S., faces budget cuts because of the economic recession. However, the public unions in Wisconsin recognized this too, and had already agreed to some cuts to state funding. The bill’s measure to take away collective bargaining went too far though, in taking away rights from union workers.
The signing of this bill signified a major flaw in American politics today. Walker was elected to serve and represent the people of Wisconsin, a large chunk of who are involved in one way or another with public unions. So why then, would he move to take nearly all of their rights away?
Governor Walker’s job is to serve the best interests of his constituents, while maintaining respect for their beliefs and values. That is a fundamental aspect of representative democracy, something that appears to have been fully lost on the governor. Cuts had to be made, and the public unions needed to accept that, but the bill overstepped boundaries but taking away collective bargaining rights.
Additionally, the fact that the bill was passed without the formal votes of the Wisconsin representatives is outrageous altogether. Loopholes like that should not exist in our government, which is supposed to serve as a model of free and fair representative democracy. The fact that a bill can be considered constitutional does not inspire much confidence in the American government.
Voters, especially the younger population, have grown more skeptical of the government in recent years. With incidences such as the one in Wisconsin, it’s not hard to see why. As seen from the mass demonstrations in Wisconsin however, it’s reassuring to see that Americans still care about the democratic freedoms ensured to them.
More American voters would do good to take a page out of the union workers’ books. Increasingly, it seems that too many Americans are apathetic when it comes to paying attention to politics, and voting. The scenes coming from Wisconsin are an important reminder of why democracy should be valued. Going forward, everyone should be as critical as the Wisconsin voters were, of bills in proposition. Otherwise, democracy in this country will fail.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Taryne Tosetti at Taryne.tosetti@colorado.edu.
