So said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin on Fox News Sunday:

“My hope is that cooler minds will prevail,” Walker said. “Democracy is not about hiding out in other states.”

Walker acknowledged that his battle against the public-sector unions has “large ramifications” for the rest of the country, especially as fellow governors grapple with their own budget gaps. “For us, we have to do this,” he said. “For decades, we had leaders who pushed off the problem.”

Jerry, are you listening?  (Via Instapundit.)

UPDATE:  Stacy McCain places before us the common sense of the matter in terms so plain and simple as to command the assent of all but the most dogmatic of liberals:

The union protests in Madison — and the flight of Democratic lawmakers — are an effort to overturn the election, to maintain the power of state employees union in contravention of the expressed will of the majority of Wisconsin voters.

UP-UPDATE: Wisconsin voters knew (or could have easily learned) what they were getting when they elected Scott Walker last fall: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has history of going up against unions.

So says Moe Lane (via Little Miss Attila) in a short post that’s well worth your time.  Seems the unions know they’ve lost and are trying to find a way to save face.

Guess to the “milk cartoon” Democrats, elections are only over when Democrats win them.

Oh, and the concessions have caused Stacy McCain to quip,  ”So after all this protesting, now the unions want a ‘compromise’? Yeah, they’re losing this battle and they know it.”  (Via Instapundit.)  Just a reminder, they may have lost the battle for people’s hearts and minds, but they still haven’t lost it legislatively.

Recall that on Main Street USA, Democrats lost the health care battle, only to win it on Capitol Hill.  Still, a high school friend of Glenn Reynolds wonders if this is, “the high water mark of Liberal America? Will their push be broken? Is the tide turning? All eyes seem turned to the Wisconsin Capital, waiting for a result.”

FROM THE COMMENTS:  Louise B nails it:  ”The only reason the unions are agreeing to the financial cuts now is because they know if they keep the collective bargaining, they can reverse the financial cuts later.”

UPDATE:  Apparently, Wisconsin voters were aware of Scott Walker’s stands on unions when they elected him to office:

He has never tried to disguise his stance on the issues of the day, and if it can be said that “[u]nions have always been his piñata, over and over,” then one can hardly be taken by surprise by his stance on unions in general, or on public sector unions in particular.

And despite–or because of–this stance, the voters of Wisconsin elected him Governor in 2010, with a 6 point, 124,000-plus vote margin between himself and his opponent. Not a landslide, but not inconsequential either, especially given the fact that Walker has not shied away from stating clearly his public policy views. In doing so, the voters not only elected Walker, they endorsed his views, views he clearly articulated throughout his career in public life.

The relevant discussion did indeed take place last November.  Via Instapundit.  Read the whole thing.

As Glenn Reynolds would say… SAVE THE EDISON LIGHT BULB!  FASTER, PLEASE! (via The Red Dog Report)

On Thursday, Republican Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming introduced legislation to reverse a 2007 ban on incandescent light bulbs that is scheduled to take effect January 1, 2012.

The Better Use of Light Bulbs Act (BULB) is intended to repeal the amendment that was attached to a comprehensive energy bill signed by President George W. Bush in 2007.   The ban on incandescent light bulbs was intended to save energy and limit pollution.

Now, Enzi and other lawmakers are attacking the ban as a measure that limits choices for Americans.  “I think it’s fine if someone wants to fill their home or business with the light from the new bulbs,” said Enzi in a statement.

“I also think it is fine if someone wants to buy an old-fashioned bulb because it works better for them,” he added.  “If left alone, the best bulb will win its rightful standing in the marketplace.  Government doesn’t need to be in the business of telling people what light bulb they have to use.”

RedDog rightly notes: 

Let me see if I have this right… The government gives you a choice when it comes to ending the life of a child, But not when it comes to deciding what type of light bulb you use?

As trivial as this may sound, many people — including yours truly — are now hoarding the Edison Light Bulb before it vanishes into the dustheap of history.  Call your Senator and stop the Global Warming Hoax Madness from gaining any more traction in the way the Government rules our lives.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

We now have a fanpage on Facebook.  Go there.  Like it.  You’ll be happy you did.

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Since, as Michelle Malkin informs us, “The Runaway Senate Dems remain AWOL — and wire reports say they could be on the lam ‘for weeks’“, it would be nice to know who’s footing the bill of their accommodations in Illinois. Hotel rooms don’t come cheap.

Democrats on the run in Wisconsin avoided state troopers Friday and threatened to stay in hiding for weeks, potentially paralyzing the state government in a standoff with majority Republicans over union powers for public employees.

It costs money to paralyze state government, not just, at least in this case, providing security for the state legislators who have been receiving death threats, but for those fleeing their home state and their own homes to remain in hiding.

According to my recent search, a room at the BestWestern ClockTower Resort in Rockford, IL (where some of the obstructionist Democrats have been spotted) runs $119 a night.  (Rooms in Chicago likely cost a bit more.)  If they’re going to be on the lam for just weeks, we’re talking about $1,666 (less if the legislators bunk up, more if they go for more deluxe accommodations).  And that doesn’t include food, dry cleaning and entertainment.

Are the public employee unions paying to keep them comfortable or perhaps the Democratic National Committee?

Calling it “a sad moment for liberalism, for the Democratic Party, and, really, for the whole country“, Charles Lane (no conservative he) takes the Democratic, public employee union and their allies to task for their angry antics in Madison, Wisconsin:

Yet today in Wisconsin, anger and vilification are once again the order of the day — and the incivility emanates from the progressive end of the spectrum, including, no doubt, many of the same people who blamed right-wing vitriol for creating a climate of violence in Arizona. Union-backed demonstrators, furious at Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s plans for reining in public-sector unions, equate him with Hosni Mubarak and Adolf Hitler, in disgusting mimickry of some Tea Party members’ inflammatory linkage between Obama and the evil dictators of history. (See Photo no. 10 in this gallery) or Photo 13 in this gallery .

Meanwhile, progressive voices in the media fanned the flames,spreading misinformation and outright falsehoods with a zest that would make Glenn Beck blush: Gov. Walker wants to crush unions with the National Guard; he manufactured a budget crisis to justify his attack on unions; he proposed cutting union workers’ pay 20 percent. Neutral sources have debunked it all, but as far as I know only Ezra Klein among these tribunes of truth has seen fit to correct the record. . . .

This is hypocrisy on an epic scale. I can’t think of a more overwhelming refutation of the claim that incivility is the unique province of the American right

Read the whole thing.

Now, to be sure, I quibble with the accuracy of his descriptions of the Tea Party, but that grassroots movement never obstructed any legislative process — or children’s education — as these protesters are doing.  That said, his jaundiced view of the Tea Party helps establish his bona fides as a man of the left (indeed, on the whole, Lane embodies the sensible center-left), making his critique all the more telling.