It should be no shock that The Last Stand of the Government Class begins in Madison, Wis., one of the most politically liberal parts of the country. And it won't end there.
The Government Class will not give up its disproportionate privileges without a fight. Teachers will sacrifice your children's education, garbagemen will sacrifice city sanitation, first responders will sacrifice fire protection for your home and emergency services for your heart attack or stroke. And all of this to avoid participating in even a minimal way in paying for their own health care, benefits and pensions.
Eventually, courageous governors will have to engage in wholesale firings of entire classes of government employees, ala Reagan's firing of the air traffic controllers during the Patco strike. But that kind of toughness in the face of the unreasonable demands of the Government Class endeared Reagan to the American people for a generation, and heroes will be born out of such political courage now. The dynamic is different today than in 1995. Republicans were perceived to have lost that battle, but the opposite will happen this time. At least it better, or the next generation will see the United States become like France, ungovernable due to the Government Class reaching critical mass in the population.
February 24, 2011