anger…..

Anger is a very powerful and destructive thing. 

As I’ve watched the events in Madison unfold, it’s been interesting and disconcerting to watch protests, things said and done, and the continued fire that causes people to go out into the cold and voice their position on the budget repair bill, passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Walker on Friday.

The part that bothers me is the desire to injure the opponent.  Now, I don’t mean from a physical standpoint, although there have been random threats, but from an economic or reputation standpoint. 

There seems to be a sentiment of “if i don’t get mine, you can’t have yours.”

I was hoping we could be bigger than that, that those on the “losing” side could pick up and use positive ways to balance the ledger.  Nobody wins when another is torn down.  And, in this case, spending your time in taking away from others is a very negative pursuit. 

I think I’ve made it plain that I believe there is a better way to negotiate pay than is currently done.  And, I believe unions have become barnacles on the hulls of our economy.  They don’t bring value to goods and services, costing hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of doing government business in Wisconsin.

Union leadership doesn’t teach a class, plow a road, mow a lawn, or build anything.  They are lawyers and negotiators who take our money and use it for means that don’t necessarily line up with the interest of the community.

That said, I am impressed by the impassioned protests and the zeal of people who believe otherwise. 

I would hope that those protesting would find ways to use that anger to promote and improve their position instead of tearing another’s down.  That is how good things happen.