Sometimes I read something and it just hits me really hard. In a good way.
I came home tonight to find an NPR article about the nation wide battle over collective bargaining rights. The entire article can be found here. The part that struck me was the last three paragraphs, they refer to Nebraska. Read it, it's beautiful.
This week, lawmakers (in Nebraska) are expected to pass changes to the state's collective bargaining system, worked out with the union. Jess Wolf, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, says the two sides reached a compromise, avoiding a bitter public fight.
"We don't tend to like to do those types of things in Nebraska. We don't tend to want to get into everybody's face and make major arguments," he says. "We tend to like to try to see if we can solve our differences, and that's sort of what took over in this particular case, as well."
Wolf says he hopes Nebraska can serve as a model of compromise for other states. But with recall election campaigns that are sure to be nasty in Wisconsin this summer and a bitterly partisan tone to the battles over collective bargaining rights in other states, that may be unlikely.
I really don't get why politicians have chosen to make this so partisan. I can guarantee Michelle Rhee (my old boss) is a democrat, but she is a union buster to the max.
Overall though, it's not the partisan politics that bug me. It's the ingratitude. I could be seeing it the wrong way, but I really feel like the public is following along while wealthy individuals decide to make an attack on firefighters, school teachers, community electricians, your local plumber. The very people who serve you. Who make your existence in a community possible. We have somehow become the bad guys in this great recession.
This probably sounds more like a "poor picked on me" party than it is intended. I don't want to demand a "thank you." I just wish people would open their eyes and see the truth of the matter. Firefighters and electricians aren't millionaires. Teachers can't afford exotic vacations during their summers, they usually work another job and try to cram in months worth of lesson planning. Yet, as a country we are cheering on their pay cuts and loss of rights, while crying over the idea that someone who grosses one-million per year might have their taxes raised.
It just baffles me.
How does this all tie into that quote you wonder? I guess I just wish the whole country was Nebraska right now. My hat goes off to them.
I came home tonight to find an NPR article about the nation wide battle over collective bargaining rights. The entire article can be found here. The part that struck me was the last three paragraphs, they refer to Nebraska. Read it, it's beautiful.
This week, lawmakers (in Nebraska) are expected to pass changes to the state's collective bargaining system, worked out with the union. Jess Wolf, president of the Nebraska State Education Association, says the two sides reached a compromise, avoiding a bitter public fight.
"We don't tend to like to do those types of things in Nebraska. We don't tend to want to get into everybody's face and make major arguments," he says. "We tend to like to try to see if we can solve our differences, and that's sort of what took over in this particular case, as well."
Wolf says he hopes Nebraska can serve as a model of compromise for other states. But with recall election campaigns that are sure to be nasty in Wisconsin this summer and a bitterly partisan tone to the battles over collective bargaining rights in other states, that may be unlikely.
I really don't get why politicians have chosen to make this so partisan. I can guarantee Michelle Rhee (my old boss) is a democrat, but she is a union buster to the max.
Overall though, it's not the partisan politics that bug me. It's the ingratitude. I could be seeing it the wrong way, but I really feel like the public is following along while wealthy individuals decide to make an attack on firefighters, school teachers, community electricians, your local plumber. The very people who serve you. Who make your existence in a community possible. We have somehow become the bad guys in this great recession.
This probably sounds more like a "poor picked on me" party than it is intended. I don't want to demand a "thank you." I just wish people would open their eyes and see the truth of the matter. Firefighters and electricians aren't millionaires. Teachers can't afford exotic vacations during their summers, they usually work another job and try to cram in months worth of lesson planning. Yet, as a country we are cheering on their pay cuts and loss of rights, while crying over the idea that someone who grosses one-million per year might have their taxes raised.
It just baffles me.
How does this all tie into that quote you wonder? I guess I just wish the whole country was Nebraska right now. My hat goes off to them.
2 comments:
either I am becoming more democrat-ish or you are becoming more republican-ish because i couldn't agree with you more! partisan politics are so counter productive it makes me crazy...can't we all just get along :) i think that nebraska demonstrated just how well we all can get along if we just listen to all ideas and then be willing to compromise for the good of everyone...Wisconsin and D.C. should take notes from Nebraska :)
I was watching Law and Order SVU the other night and this girl asked the man what his political affiliation was. He said "republican". She got upset and he said it is okay you are young. This isn't the exact quote but I thought it was funny. he said you know what they say, if you are a republican before you are 30, you have no heart, if you are a democrat after you are thirty, you have no brain. Don't worry, you still have a year and some before you have no brain. ha ha ha j/k
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