By Rick Manning –
The first stage in the battle to rein in government spending before our nation drowns in red ink is being fought, or shall I say being fled from, in the states of Wisconsin and Indiana.
It is being reported that House Democrats in Indiana could be joining their Senate Democrat comrades in fleeing to Illinois in order to avoid doing their duty in their State Legislature.
The last time so many leftists fled across a border was during the Vietnam War to avoid their duty. Unfortunately, many of them did return home just in time to spit on those patriots who did their duty by fighting for their country.
Now, these ’60s-legacy Democrats are reliving the Canadian experience in Illinois, a safe-haven state that is distinguished by having raised taxes by 66 percent and still finding itself the leader in the “Which state is going bankrupt first?” sweepstakes.
Illinois is a fitting place for these rogue “public” officials to hide. The failure of the Illinois electorate to elect public officials who will take on the public employee unions is likely to lead to cataclysmic results for those very union members.
When bankruptcy hits Illinois, those public employee union members will likely be forced by the courts to give up not only some of their pension and health care benefits, but salaries as well. When the bankruptcy courts get done with the public employees in states that choose to ignore the donkey in the room, like Illinois, they will be wishing that Scott Walker was their governor.
However, the sad fact is that a system that allows public employee unions to give millions of dollars to the very politicians who decide their salaries and benefits is unalterably broken.
The Hatch Act was created to protect public employees from being coerced by political appointees into engaging in political action. Perhaps it is time for a new Hatch Act, a law that prohibits public employee unions from giving money to politicians who determine their salaries.
The direct quid pro quo that exists between public employee unions and their Democratic Party elected puppets is being revealed for all to see in Wisconsin and now Indiana. As these politicians run for the border rather than allow the power of their financial masters to be diminished, in spite of the consequences to the people of the state, they are giving a whole new meaning to the term public servants.
With Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid warning against government shutdown Armageddon in the federal government in order to protect federal bureaucrat jobs from the modest cuts made by House Republicans, Madison and Indianapolis are merely the Lexington and Concord of this Tea Party revolution.
The House Republicans have done their jobs by taking the important first steps to restoring fiscal sanity. However, it remains to be seen whether the Democratic Party-controlled Senate and the White House will move forward with what is clearly best for the nation, or continue to kowtow to the very employees whose checks they write.
Tragically, I can see them arm in arm with their now-Illinois-housed cohorts from the states, singing “We Shall Overcome” while blaming Republicans for shutting down the government, because they insist on cutting a mere $61 billion from a budget that is $1.65 trillion out of balance.
Ultimately, national Democrats can try to run from the financial mess they have created through their four years of abusing the nation’s credit card, but unlike their Wisconsin and Indiana buddies, there is nowhere to hide.
Rick Manning is the communications director for Americans for Limited Government and is a pundit at The Hill’s Pundits Blog. He can be followed on Twitter @RManning957.
