Elections matter. In 2010, Wisconsin was swept by the Republican wave that took back the federal House of Representatives and narrowed the Democratic majority in the Senate. The Wisconsin legislature – the Assembly and the Senate – both switched from Democratic to Republican majorities. And Scott Walker was elected Governor, returning a Republican to the Governor’s office after eight years of Democratic Governor Jim Doyle.
This is what happens in a representative democracy with a party system. Parties come and parties go. Sometimes you’re in the majority, and sometimes you’re in the minority. But regardless, elected officials are expected – at a bare minimum – to meet when the legislature is in session, cast votes, and do their jobs.
Apparently, no one sent that memo to the Wisconsin Senate Democrats.
Faced with having to vote on Governor Walker’s plan to gut collective bargaining rights and increase the amount public workers must pay for their benefits, Senate Democrats decided they would take a principled stand, argue long and hard on the floor of the Senate, and, once the vote was taken and they had lost, vow to continue the fight another day.
Just kidding – they hopped a bus and fled to Illinois.
They literally ran away. They turned tail and fled from Madison in order to prevent the democratic process from working. If even one of them had remained, the Senate would have had the quorum of 20 it needed to conduct business. But because all 14 of them fled together, the Senate in Wisconsin is paralyzed.
And Democrats around the country seem to think this is just a dandy solution – a sort of permanent filibuster that keeps them from having to pass legislation they dislike.
But it’s not. It’s cowardice. Political cowardice of the highest order.
Elections have consequences. When Republicans on the federal level lost control of the House and Senate in 2006, we knew that hard times were coming. And when Democrats took control of the White House in 2008, we knew that the Democrats were going to have a field day, passing anything and everything they wanted – and they did, from a bloated stimulus bill that has failed to create jobs or stem the tide of unemployment, to an unconstitutional health care law that has been the Holy Grail of Democratic politics since Harry Truman’s presidency.
Can you imagine the cries of indignation and the bitter recriminations that would have erupted from the left and the mainstream media if the House Republicans had hopped a bus to Canada to try and stop the House from having a quorum to vote on the health care law (it wouldn’t have worked, but imagine if it did)?
Regardless of what you think about Walker’s plan – and I’ve already spoken my peace about it – if he has the votes to pass his plan, and it appears that he does, he is within his rights to pass it and sign it. And the Senate Democrats can use their offices to try and thwart it through every legitimate parliamentary trick they can come up with. But running away – literally abandoning your state and your office to get out of doing your job – is below contempt.
And this seems to be something Democrats do quite a bit. During the Texas redistricting fight, Texas Democrats fled the state to keep from having to vote on a redistricting plan they didn’t like. It was wrong when they did it, and it’s wrong now.
The Senate Democrats in Wisconsin need to come back to the state and take their medicine. Elections matter, and their party lost. Holding the democratic process hostage is wrong, and running from your responsibilities is cowardly. The voters of Wisconsin deserve better.
