2011 is shaping up to be one hell of a year for democracy. History books will look back on the unprecedented protests of the past two months as a time when millions of people poured into the streets, challenging their governments and demanding their rights, in capitol cities like Cairo, Egypt; Tunis, Tunisia; Tripoli, Libya; and Madison, Wis.

Yes. That Madison.

For the past week, tens of thousands of protesters have converged on the state capitol, their numbers swelling by the day. By Saturday, 68,000 protesters had shown up and even more arrived on Sunday. The protests are in response to a bill put forward by Gov. Scott Walker that would strip public employees of most of their collective bargaining rights, effectively destroying public-sector unions.

The state’s Democratic lawmakers fled to Illinois in order to stop the bill from passing through the legislature. Their absence leaves the Republicans one person short of the number of people who need to be present for the assembly to take action. Wisconsin law says that lawmakers who refuse to show up for votes can be “compelled” to show up. Anticipating Walker would send police to their houses to bring them to the floor, the 14 Democrats crossed the state line (and police jurisdiction) and remain scattered throughout Illinois in “undisclosed locations.” If that sounds like a dramatic, almost unheard of move by state lawmakers, that’s because it is. But it is an appropriate response to a Draconian bill that would destroy the hard-won rights of their constituents.

Unions have been the chic object of anger and derision in conservative circles for decades. The idea that unions are a major cause of inefficiency and declining productivity has seeped into the realm of common knowledge. And like most bits of common knowledge, it is short on fact and devoid of context.

It is a testament to the success of unions that we take things like the eight-hour workday, the weekend, child labor laws and worker’s compensation for granted. The American labor movement fought (and many of its members died) to win these concessions. And while modern unions have at times been unreasonable in their demands, the basic idea that we should give health care and pensions to our teachers and firefighters is only realized through the rights of their unions to collectively bargain.

Walker seeks to deny public employees the ability to have meaningful negotiations over state contracts. And he claims that he is only doing what he has to do to tackle the state’s budget deficit. This is not about balancing the budget. This is about destroying unions.

Wisconsin, relative to other states, is actually doing pretty well. They were in better shape before Walker took office seven weeks ago. When the last governor left, the state projected a budget surplus of $121 million this year. Walker quickly turned that into a $137 million deficit by passing tax cuts and pet projects as soon as he arrived.

The unions have told Walker that they would agree to take the cuts necessary to close Wisconsin’s deficit. But Walker is unmoved.

Walker has thrust himself to the forefront of the national conservative movement to destroy unions. Despite their constant assertions that they stand up for the middle class in America, Republicans have long wanted to destroy the only institution that has protected the middle class in our nation’s history.

Unions are the biggest financial supporters of the Democratic Party. That’s because Democrats tend to value the rights of the hard-working employees over the personal bank accounts of employers. If unions are busted, Republicans know that Democrats lose a major organizing force and source of funding.

This is the question the rest of the nation must now answer: Do we believe that the people we as a society place our trust in-the teachers we trust with our children, the cops we trust with our safety, the nurses we trust with out lives, the fireman we trust with our homes-deserve to have health care today and retirement tomorrow? Do we want to tell these underpaid heroes that we can no longer afford them the rights we have long agreed they deserve?

Thousands of people have gathered in Madison to give an answer. We must all make sure their messaged is received. Or we may someday be left with only the regret that we did not stand with them when they needed it most

Dave Balson is a junior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or DENopinions@gmail.com