Lessons of the Wisconsin Riots

Today, in Wisconsin, the Tea Party protesters will respond to the riots engaged in by the Democratic National Committee and President Obama’s personal shakedown squad - who are imitating the riots started in Tunisia and Egypt.

Part of the response involves recall efforts of two of the fourteen Democratic state senators who have left the state to avoid a vote on Wisconsin Governor Walker’s budget repair bill which seeks to increase contributions by teachers to their own pension plans and to negate the union’s hold on their membership…this would be a good thing.

The unions have put the targets on their own backs and many union members have noticed the inflamatory language that corrupt national-level union officials have expressed. In Wisconsin, they are attempting to paint themselves as saviors of the middle class…but this is not the full picture. Americans are fully aware of statements made by prominent union officials about the “persuasion of power” (the threat of violence) and “workers of the world unite” (a clearly communist sentiment that threatens to undermine our capitalistic system). Americans are aware that the unions are using member dues to “buy” elections for Democrats in order to strongarm the legislatures to pass measures that would force people to join unions. Americans have witnessed the many comings and goings of corrupt union officials in special private meetings with the President. They know that many unions have squandered pension funds and need taxpayer bailouts in order to make up shortfalls. They’ve witnessed the thuggery and demagoguery of people like Richard Trumka and they are not impressed when they see such people getting wealthy using methods reminiscent of gangsters.

But the real issue, in my opinion, is not that the unions are corrupt and being assisted by a renegade President who cares more about political payback than about the taxpayer. The real issue is what the teachers in Wisconsin are teaching the children.

The first lesson they are teaching is that correct political action is dependent upon a dubious concept known as collective bargaining rights. Because of these so-called rights, the rights of taxpayers to their own money are unimportant. This view implies that principles are fluid and subjective rather than universal and all-inclusive.

What this means, according to this lesson, is that politics is a matter of which group appears to have the most protesters in the street; which group can block the streets, fill up the halls, hold up government institutions and invade the privacy of people in their homes. This is the principle of political expediency. Yesterday, paid protesters were sent to Wisconsin to protest on behalf of teachers; and tomorrow, they may be in another state protesting against a bank or a corporation, going to the homes of corporate executives or protesting on Wall Street to raise taxes on the rich. The only principle that unites these professional protesters is the principle of re-distribution, from each according to his ability to each according to his needs.

The antidote to this lesson is to teach children that proper political principles matter, specifically that rights connote freedom of action for the individual not freedom to plunder for a designated priveliged group. Rights are dependent upon the nature of man not some man's whim or decree or Executive Order. Proper political principles derive from reality and they specify freedom from government control, not the freedom of government to control. There is no right to a blank check to be paid by the taxpayer.

The second lesson that teachers are passing to children is the idea that it is proper for government to re-distribute wealth from the productive to the non-productive. Today the teachers get the wealth; tomorrow, the poor, the next day, homeowners, the next day, another union; the next day a bank owned by a contributor to the President’s campaign fund. The only rights they fight for are the “rights” of people to keep their government benefits. This is a statement of plunder, not a statement of rights.

The antidote to this lesson is to teach that people have a right to their property and no one should cavalierly decide what is “right” to do with the money of defenseless citizens. Teach children respect for the property and rights of others and you’ll not have to worry about an unruly mob threatening the children of politicans or executives in their homes.

The third lesson is that it is acceptable that children ignore the consequences of their actions. According to this lesson, taxpayers will always pay taxes; what is important, is how we spend those taxes to help people who need assistance. But is that really how to promote domestic tranquility or does it create conflict, favoritism, nepotism, bribery and theft? Today, government employees in Wisconsin are the designated "good" people whose suffering we should alleviate regardless of what it does to the citizens who must pay for the teachers' pensions. That middle class parents will become poor because of government overspending is ignored. To insist that students join the teachers in their protest is more than a travesty; it is an effort to create more protesters who don’t understand what they are protesting. To consider this a lesson in civics is more than a bad lesson; it is a crime.

In some circles, ignoring consequences is called evasion or denial. On this issue, the denier is always rationalizing that the problems of government spending are someone else’s fault; the Republicans who are in the pay of the CEOs, or the rich who are conspiring to steal their corporate profits; or the super-rich who throw extravagant parties and pay big bonuses…someone is always stealing the peoples’ money, not the unions or the teachers or the welfare parasites.

The antidote to this lesson is to teach children to weigh all government (collective) actions against a principle called individual rights. If any action taken by government violates the individual rights of one citizen, you must be against it. Sooner or later, that citizen will be you.

The fourth lesson is the use of the "altruism shakedown" scam. This is the Alynsky tactic of wrapping your actions in a “moral blanket”. This tactic teaches children that claiming to be “doing good” is a perfect way to get your opponent to freeze morally. In fact, many of us do not realize that this scam is a deliberate tactic that has been drummed into us since childhood.

The antidote to the altruism shakedown is to focus on the Bill of Rights and refuse to violate the sanctity of individual rights. Fight for the individual and his/her freedom and you fight for yourself. When someone shakes his fist at you or gestures that he will cut off your head if you don’t allow him to bully you, that's the time to stand for your rights. It is time to stand up to the bullies of altruism, the professional parasites paid for and bought by the unions and the President.

Yet, the real travesty is what they are not teaching our children. They are not teaching them that freedom matters. They don't teach them about the joys of anticipating a clean road ahead, unencumbered by government ties and dependency, unencumbered by the oppressive duty to sacrifice for the group. This crime leaves school children with a cognitive gap, the inability to see life and its possibilities as a wonderful adventure made up of clear skys and clear minds full of accomplishment and happiness. For these teachers, the pursuit of happiness is a crime and the only thing their students have to look forward to is supporting these teachers. For this crime, they should be fired from their jobs.

It is time we reckon with the fact that the real victims here are not the teachers who can afford to pay a little more for their own pension plans; the real victims are the students who don’t even know that they are being used in an immoral scheme to fill the pockets of politicians and other parasites. That the people who are paid to teach Wisconsin youth should act in such an irresponsible, shameful, undemocratic and deceptive way only proves how much work remains to be done to rid our nation of the scourge that is progressivism.

If we want that bright clear day for our children, we must do that work. Morality is on the side of the Tea Party protesters. Thanks for being there.