Scott Walker's win analyzed

The conventional wisdom has it that the win by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in the recall election was a referendum on support of unions, public unions in particular.  This is based on the radical restrictions imposed early in his tenure and the drama that ensued with public demonstrations, and the efforts of democrats to prevent the governor and state Republicans from eviscerating union bargaining rights.

I respectfully disagree.  I thought during the demonstrations that the public unions got the message all wrong.  They defended union bargaining rights.  That makes some sense.  But what they didn't do is to make any effort to focus the message on anything but bargaining rights and themselves.

The entire working class would love to have the benefits that the public workers enjoy.  Most do not.  And that is the problem. And that is the missing message. 

Our entire national system of retirement and pensions, inclusive of all levels of retirement security from corporate pensions to Social Security and is a system of those who have a lot to those that have very little.  With the economy as sluggish as it is, voters who have little to no retirement savings look to the public unions and their pensions and benefits, compare it to their own situation and wonder why it is that they should support public employees relatively cushy benefits and retirement with their tax dollars while they struggle and have no such security.

If unions argued that their benefits and pensions are something that they and everyone else should have access to, and that they would be working to develop a universal plan that would ensure the middle class had an equal chance at these benefits, they would have garnered more support.  But to merely say that they should have these benefits and the tax payers should foot the bill does not provide and argument that a struggling middle class voter is likely to rally behind.

So it was touted to be about bargaining rights and that was fine with Republicans because they are against unions and their bargaining rights.  But if the unions thought that they could couch their arguments to the Democrats and more importantly the Independents in terms of bargaining rights and ignore the union's benefits that non-public workers do not have, they were wrong.