I just can't figure out why the republicans in Wisconsin are so dad-burned intent on busting the public employees union. Shades of Ronald Reagan and the air traffic controllers. The big mistake the unions made then was to not be unified behind the union under attack. The republicans have exempted not only the police, but the firefighters from their union busting in a very hypocritical move. That proves that they understand the importance of unions and are just out to break certain ones.

Of course, those on the left side of the political spectrum that would be the natural union supporters did not do their job during the elections in November and allowed the republicans to dominate the state government. Part of that is Obama's fault, because he has taken so many middle of the road positions that he depressed the enthusiasm factor for many on the left hand side of the political spectrum.

But, it is safe to say that the supreme court decision overturning many years of precedent and turning loose the big, greedy, corporate money to be spent at will in elections, also played a big part. Over and over again Crossroads and Crossroads affiliated groups ran TV ad after ad lying about what the democrats were doing, and the democrats did a pretty poor job in responding to those ads. Put it all together, along with the doubts about the security of the computerized vote counting systems, and you ended up with republicans taking over many governments, such as in Wisconsin, when in actuality, the kind of extremist agenda that is being pushed does not really represent the view of the state.

The unions are offering concessions if the republicans will drop their union busting demands, but they aren't negotiating. And, according to news reports, any recall effort against the governor will have to wait at least a year. It's hard to imagine that this kind of political fervor will last a year, but hey, we are in uncharted territory.

I think in the long run, this is going to hurt the republicans. But, in the short run, it could very well hurt a lot of working people. I think that eventually the democratic senators will give in, the republicans will refuse to budge, the bill will pass, the state workers will lose their union for now. But, in politics, everything that is done can be undone and redone. This kind of in-your-face politics asked for in-your-face politics to be thrown back at them when the opportunity arises. Even if the republicans are successful in doing this now, I think this is one of those things that will not be quickly forgotten.