One Starts to Wonder

Anyone who has watched, listened to or read about Glenn Beck recently knows the demagogic media pundit has gone off the deep end. Every day he seems to come up with a newer and downright wackier conspiracy theory. Liberals have derided his nonsense for quite some time; now even some of his fellow conservatives are not only criticizing him but distancing themselves from all is cockamamie theories.

It has been pointed out by some commentators that Beck's seeming derangement might be part of an orchestrated strategy to make less wild conservatives to appear to be more moderate. If this is true, then it might pave the way for them to sell many of their draconian policy initiatives under the radar while liberals focus on Beck's wild machinations.

This got me to thinking about what is playing out now in the State of Wisconsin and is gathering steam in a few other states too. The possibility exists that the so-called drive to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public sector unions might be nothing more than a red herring. Conservatives might be trotting this idea out as a way to divert unions (and their supporters) from their true objective: exacting significant wage and benefit reductions.

The unions in Wisconsin have been all over the media stating that they are willing to accept the wage and benefit reductions without a fight so long as the collective bargaining language is stripped from the legislation. Would they have been so quick to cede this turf if the collective bargaining elimination was not included in the language of the bill?

Me thinks not. That is where the battle lines would have been drawn. However, with a greater perceived threat married to the proposed reductions, the union easily capitulated on the economic portion.

I will easily grant that this may not be the case at all. Gov. Walker may indeed be gunning for an end to public sector collective bargaining rights. Still, one starts to wonder.