As a Wisconsinite, I’ve had the good fortune to witness up close the intense debate over Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill. The public sector unions have pitted themselves against the conservative Governor and his Republican Senate and Assemblymen for the last three weeks, with no end in sight as the courts and the ballot box are dragged into the fight.

In early February, protesters began swarming the state capitol building in Madison shortly after Governor Walker unveiled his budget repair bill which would strip the state’s public sector unions of most of their collective bargaining rights (along with other provisions). What took place was unheard of: teachers walked off their jobs, illegally, to protest alongside their students. Those same teachers received fake sick notices from doctors in an effort to avoid any punishment from school administrators. Fourteen state democrats fled to Illinois, where they would remain for three weeks, in a sign of solidarity with the “hard-working middle class” who were being “bullied” by a mean governor. Professional protesters from national labor organizations such as SEIU and Organizing for America traveled to Wisconsin to join and organize daily protests.

Wisconsin became headline news for every major media outlet day after day. Everyone, including President Obama, had an opinion. Eighteen of the Senate Republicans and all of the Assembly Republicans received death threats after the vote took place. Governor Walker became the poster boy for other conservative governors also desiring to loosen the yoke around their states' neck held by unions. My Facebook page lit up like a Christmas tree with people passionate about each side of the debate.


And the truth came out. The more media coverage, the more the bill was dissected, the more people learned about the influence of public sector unions and the inner workings of collective bargaining rights, and the more the issue became polarizing. Wisconsin quickly became the national battleground for the fight between state budgets and union control.


During this time something kept irritating me. Sure, the democrats hiding in Illinois, switching hotels every night, enjoying continental breakfasts while considering themselves real-life "spies" is enough to irritate a cactus. Greasy college students making a human peace sign in the center of the capitol's rotunda and strapping duck tape across their mouths is enough to irritate a monk in a cenobitic community. But something else was really bothering me.


Then I figured it out. Is THIS what it takes to ignite interest, passion and motivation amongst Americans? Is THIS what people care about? Let's be honest what THIS whole debate is about: whether public sector union members should be allowed to collectively bargain for unprecedented levels of benefits, perks and salaries, paid for by the state's taxpayers, and to what extent unions should have authority over the financial decisions within their local communities.


THIS has kindled the flame long dormant. Cries of "democracy!" and "justice!" and "human rights!" have flowed from the lips of tens of thousands of people-- not just in Wisconsin. Elementary school teachers, spouses of teachers, children of union employees, college students, law enforcement officers and many other groups of people came alive. Over benefits. Over salaries. Over paid-time off. Over union dues. Over--their--money.


This entire situation reminded me of a Bible verse: "For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be made known or brought out into the open." (Luke 8:17) We all see it now. The influence of money upon many Americans. The stranglehold our government has understood for decades: money makes elections go around. We see it in the crushing weight of entitlement programs and catastrophic debt that is hell-bent on destroying our country.


Where are the protesters crying foul because of the historical (and expedited) spending binge of government? We cannot continue to spend like trust fund teenagers with a credit card while cutting spending with dull scissors. We are on an unsustainable path, and our children and grandchildren will bear the burden.

Where are the teachers walking off campuses and school yards in a sign of solidarity for the students? The U.S. Department of Education is predicted to spend $77.8 BILLION on education in 2011 alone, but in most major cities across the country, less than half of all children graduate high school.

Where are the protesters storming their state capitol buildings, demanding that the government stop federal funding to Planned Parenthood, who has been caught numerous times advising self-addressed sex traffickers and accepting donations targeted towards aborting African American babies?

Where are the national lobbying groups protesting in our nation's capitol because our president cannot seem to find the word "terrorist" in his vocabulary, all the while he and his administration ignore the growing threat of multiculturalism and radical Islam? We wouldn't want to offend Muslims. We can't speak about homegrown terrorism because we don't want to play into al Qaeda's hands (No really, Sheila Jackson Lee says so).

Instead, tens of thousands of hard-working Americans choose to record American Idol and forgo the bag of potato chips for three weeks so they can speak their peace about their right to bargain with sympathetic school boards and administrators for plush retirement packages.

It's going to take more than these words from our generation if we want to right the wrongs. We are at a tipping point, and it's time for us to be the next "Greatest Generation." It will require much more than caring about issues that directly affect our weekly paychecks. We need collective sacrifice more than collective bargaining rights. And I'm not referring to Obama's connotation of sacrifice; we will need to sacrifice our time, or energy and (gasp) our money if we want to steer this ship on the right course once again. We will only have this Republic as long as we (read: you and me) keep it. What will you do?