Scott Walker's opponents trying to oust him in the June 5 recall election are portraying him as a wild-eyed, Koch-brothers-controlled, right-wing ideologue hell-bent on destroying unions. But the reality, notes Reason Foundation Shikha Dalmia in her column at The Daily today, is that Walker is just about as radical as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Walker's attempts to limit the collective bargaining "rights" of public sector employees might be driving the Badger State's unions bonkers. But the fact of the matter is that FDR opposed government unions even more vehemently. FDR once declared: "The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service." And with good reason. Writes Dalmia:
There is something obscene about collective bargaining rights for government employees whose appetites are unrestrained by market discipline. When private-sector employees demand more in compensation than they generate in value, their companies go out of business. But when government employees do the same, they burden citizens with higher taxes and debt, which is one reason why Wisconsin — like nearly every other state — is saddled with unsustainable state worker-related legacy and other costs. This is why no president's administration — Democratic or Republican — has ever advocated such rights for federal workers.
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