After observing the protesting teachers’ union thugs and their supporters up close after an Americans for Prosperity rally yesterday, it is becoming more obvious that we are headed for civil war. The chasm between the two parties is the same divide that seperates truth and a lie or a victim and a thief. Common ground does not exist.

The protestors were allowed to demonstrate outside the property bounds of the motel where the AFP had gathered. After the meeting, protestors who had no intention of engaging in commerce entered the Hudson House for the purpose of confronting State Senator Shelia Harsdorf. The exchanges that took place revealed a collective think of entitlement.

My personal encounter went something like the following:
I asked several of the goons what moral right of collective bargaining they held that forced me to pay the union dues that went toward a political agenda contrary to my beliefs. The salary they receive comes from my taxes, which in turn pays union dues that ends up in the coffers of political candidates who favor more taxation and restriction of personal freedoms.

The response was eye-opening. The thug’s view saw no difference in my question then when they shop at Wal-Mart and the company uses their money to support candidates and causes of their choice. A thief could make a similar defensive analogy in that when they go to a store the proprietor eventually takes their money; taking is common to the action of the thief and the store.

Of course the former is forced upon an individual while the act of shopping at a store is voluntary.

Toeing the union line, every teacher complained how they only made $40,000 and the cost of living made it hard to have a decent life. From the looks of their ages, I doubt every teacher that we encountered made $40,000 or less, plus being single. When talking compensation, they always fail to mention benefits paid mostly by taxpayers plus nearly four months of vacation. If the argument begins with obfuscating the truth, then the answer to the problem cannot be found. I voiced loudly that if they did not like the working conditions, then like any other worker in the country resignation was always an option. Many could be found to replace them.

In another conversation, a protestor saw nothing wrong with the fourteen Senators fleeing the state. The electoral process in the past that had so well served government workers now needed to be stopped. Democracy is only a virtue when it serves their desires. Coincidentally, this man from the DNR admitted to contributing not one penny to his pension.

When the mob spotted Shelia Harsdorf exiting the motel, they broke the line of private property and surrounded her vehicle. In doing so they not only presented a threat to safety, but denied othersthe ability to enter or leave the property. As we have now witnessed over the last two weeks, private property rights mean little to bullies or in fact to thieves.

Perhaps “Joe the Plumber” said it best. The divide in the country is between those that feel they deserve something versus others who truly believe in freedom where the word “deserve” does not exist. Philosophically, citizens in the country rest in two camps with no common ground.

It is time we go our separate ways.