Fines won’t stop them from standing up for their constituents. The Democrats who fled the Indiana Statehouse aren’t going to be threatened by a pathetic and delusional house speaker like Brian Bosma.
A few days ago, Bosma threatened to fine Indiana Democrats who fled the statehouse to prohibit, what I consider, an attack on Indiana’s education system and a union-busting agenda hell-bent on harming Indiana’s middle-class families.
I love it when Republicans criticize Indiana Democrats for leaving the state. They usually regurgitate some half-assed response like, “I don’t get paid if I walk off a job at McDonald’s.”
If someone says this, explain this is true, but remind them they weren’t elected by voters to work at McDonald’s and stand up for their interest. If they were, then they should walk off the job if it’s what the voters wanted.
Good luck trying to explain anything to an Indiana Republican who criticizes the Democrats’ walkout. Reason and logic probably aren’t their strong suits.
Some will ask, “But what about the budget crisis?” Be smart. Ask them how much of the Indiana budget have they actually looked at. Suggest they look at Gov. Mitch Daniel’s recommended budget.
Daniels is so hell-bent on balancing the budget without the use of taxes that he suggests cutting funding from the Department of Child Services, Indiana State Department of Health and the Commission on Proprietary Education.
I love the Republicans’ hairbrained idea of charter schools. These schools merely suck funding from the public school system. It’s awful. The Republicans don’t care for education as much as we do.
It’s bad enough Daniels and Indiana Republicans want to screw over the middle class, trample our education system and do everything they possibly can to destroy unions, but
suggesting that cutting business card purchases as a measure to solve out budget problems is a prime example of some of the ignorant ideas of the Republican Party.
One of my favorite ways to trim the budget Daniels proposed was through the “increased utilization of offender labor.”
Paying a Department of Corrections offender 30 cents an hour to do a job for private organizations isn’t just a terrible policy. It’s downright degrading.
To be fair, offenders shouldn’t commit crimes and put themselves in situations where they have to work for pennies anyway. Silly criminals.
Republicans really need to remember walkouts are not unheard of in Indiana.
In 2001, Indiana Republicans refused to take the floor in an attempt to protest redistricting by Democrats.
My favorite example of Indiana Republicans not understanding what the word compromise means was back in 2004 when they refused to take the floor when a constitutional amendment bill that would forbid gay marriage did not make its way to the floor.
I wonder what is more important to the party — no new taxes at any cost or doing everything they can to stop gay marriage.
Please understand the Democrats’ walkout is a genuine function of our political procedure. Just ask Gov. Daniels.
Speaking about the Democrats’ walkout, Daniels told the Indianapolis Star “the activities of today are perfectly legitimate part of the process.”
Even the smallest minority — and that’s what we’ve heard from in the last couple days — has every right to express the strength of its views, and I salute those who did.”
Never thought I’d say this, but Daniels and I actually agree on something.
By MATT CHINN
Website Editor
mchinn@imail.iu.edu