The faltering effort by the hard-core right in Wisconsin to put a constitutional cap on local government spending – ala Colorado’s TABOR – is rooted in the idea the state has too many lazy, entrenched, overpaid public employees.
Of course, few Republicans, including gubernatorial candidate Mark Green, have the guts to actually come out and say it that way. Instead, they talk about the need for government to “live within its means” just like all the “hard-working families” in Wisconsin, which we assume means white, suburban, SUV-driving GOP voters, who also own a small business.
But if you read between the lines or listen to the AM radio hate-jocks, it always comes back to the same blame game: too many liberal teachers, too many shovel-leaning streets workers, too many pencil-pushing bureaucrats.