Last year, the American people sent a strong message on Election Day that reverberated throughout our entire nation. Traditional blue states elected Republican governors. They also removed several Democrats from state legislatures, in some cases leaving the Republicans with a majority. The GOP picked up a number of seats in the U.S. Senate. And finally, the most telling sign of the people's sentiment was seen in the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans picked up 60 seats to give them an overwhelming majority. This even prompted President Obama to hold a somber press conference in which he said, "It feels bad," and referred to the results of the election as a "shellacking."
So what happened? What happened was that the economic crisis woke a sleeping giant. The majority of the American people, who seemingly always had a complacent attitude toward public employee unions and entitlement programs, finally realized what it was doing to our country. They were ignorant of what was going on while they earned comfortable salaries that easily covered the mortgage payments for their dream homes. But when the housing market crashed and millions of Americans lost their jobs, the political landscape of our country changed forever.
This isn't at all out of the ordinary. Often times, people tend to ignore problems until those problems begin to affect them. Who cares if the unions are using my recycled tax dollars to affect the outcome of elections? Who cares if Democratic politicians are aligning themselves with unions and catering to their every whim in exchange for votes? Who cares if millions of citizens and illegal immigrants are living off government entitlement programs, again supported by my tax dollars? None of it matters as long as I'm doing OK.
But then all of a sudden, the vast majority of Americans were no longer doing OK. In fact, they were doing far less than OK. They were losing their jobs, not able to pay the bills, and lost their homes in the process. The overwhelming pressure caused many a man to kill his wife and children and then commit suicide, giving rise to a new term: familycide.
And so, voters began to sit down and take a long hard look at what was going on all these years. They began to notice how Democratic politicians and the unions had been playing them like a fiddle. The public employees had all kinds of sweet deals going, and the Dems made those deals even sweeter whenever they needed votes. We had reached a point in history where public employees, when you factor in their benefit packages, were doing far better than the average worker in the private sector. Their jobs were also far more secure, while private companies were laying people off left and right. Finally, the people had come to the realization that it was all extremely unfair.
It is this realization that led to the revolution we are now witnessing. Governor Christie got the ball rolling here in New Jersey and quickly rose to national prominence as a result. His fiercest battle thus far has been with the teachers' union, and the latest poll numbers show that he is winning this battle decisively. While fifty-two percent of voters view him favorably and approve of the job he is doing, only twenty-seven percent have a favorable view of the NJEA. By a margin of almost two to one, the people of New Jersey are behind the governor's agenda.
Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin was elected in the bluest of blue states despite promising to take up the flag against unions throughout his entire campaign. His approval numbers continue to hold at fifty-two percent as well, while an unprecedented number of protesters camp out at the Capitol. The Democrats in the state legislature have fled to Illinois to deny the quorum needed to pass his anti-union legislation. While I find this move disgusting, revolting, lower than low, and a cowardly breach of democracy, I will concede one point: they had no choice.
Democrats all around the country are in a very precarious position. They have been in bed with the unions for what seems like forever, and are too firmly entrenched with them to escape. As anti-union sentiment grows, the fiscally conservative Republicans get more and more opportunities to capitalize on. But the only recourse for the Dems is to flee. They can't bite the hand that has been feeding them for decades, and they can't win the battle against public opinion. All they can do is run and hide.
While they have prolonged the fight as long as possible by resorting to their last option, I just don't see how it can end well for them. Sooner or later, something has to happen. There has been talk within the Tea Party of mounting a recall effort against Democratic legislators who fly the coop to prevent a quorum. Governors can play hardball by issuing layoff notices to thousands of public employees. They can simply state that the Democrats, by fleeing the state and neglecting their duties as public servants, forced their hand and left them with no choice. The Dems who are in hiding will then have to decide between holding out and watching their beloved union members lose their jobs, or returning and allowing the anti-union legislation to be passed. To me, that sounds like a lose-lose situation.
Now empowered by the people, Republicans throughout the country clearly have the upper hand. I don't see that changing any time soon, because despite what many want to believe, the economy is not bouncing back all that quickly. Oil prices are skyrocketing, and this past week saw a global sell-off of stocks that caused the Dow Jones to take a beating. Unemployment is still way too high, and orders for manufactured goods recently fell by the largest amount in two years. Let's face the reality, folks: this economy is not going to fully recover for quite some time.
And that, my friends, bodes very well for Republicans. Until the economy bounces back and unemployed Americans return to work, voters will continue to lash out at public employee unions. Should this issue continue into late 2012, and I happen to think it will, the GOP is primed for a complete takeover of the U.S. government. They'll hold their majority in the House, take back the Senate, and drive Obama out of the White House to seize the much-coveted triple crown. All they need to do is stand their ground and do what the people elected them to do. That's a much easier task than that which the Democrats have ahead of them. To them I say, "Good luck." They're going to need it.
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