“No one man should have all that power.” Kanye West phrases my thoughts well in “POWER,” an apt anthem for the Wisconsin public sector’s favorite college-dropout tea partier governor, Scott Walker. In a bold and bullrushed union-busting legislative move, Governor Walker introduced the “Budget Repair Bill” on February 11. The bill included provisions for state employees to be required to pay 50% of their annual pension payment, and at least 12.6% annually of the average cost of a healthcare premium. The removal of collective bargaining is of course the primary issue--I will get back to that shortly.

Now, as a nonunionized private sector worker might say, “is it really too much too ask for the public sector to pay just a little more for their healthcare and retirement benefits?” Well, fictive private employee, yes, it is. For one, state workers on average earn 11% less than comparable private sector workers in salary. Furthermore, jobs in the public sector typically require more education; 48% of public employees are college graduates, as opposed to 23% of the private sector. And as we all know, college isn’t cheap. With these factors considered, on average, state and local employees earn 6.8% to 7.4% less in total compensation than comparable private workers. However, even with this imbalance of compensation between public and private sector, public sector unions have agreed to make these concessions. Now they’re fighting a bigger fight.

The most scrutinized and debated language in the Budget Repair Bill was that regarding the removal of collective bargaining rights for all public employees. Wisconsin, in 1959, was the first state to institute collective bargaining rights. 52 years later, here we are to witness those 52 years of mutual respect between state and state employee being curbstomped. These rights being removed means that public employees cannot negotiate the conditions of their employment: pay, work hours, training, and safety, among other things.

Here’s where it gets ugly: included in the bill is a provision that allows the state Department of Administration to sell state energy plants for whatever they please. No oversight, no necessity for open bidding. This is power put in the state’s hands, more specifically, the hands of a governor in the back pocket of anti-union corporate interests like the Koch brothers (Oh, you didn’t hear about the prank call of all prank calls that Mr. Walker picked up?). Having received millions in campaign contributions from multistate corporations, and having given $450 million in tax relief to multistate corporations earlier this year, it seems awfully convenient that this provision would be included. It lends a window of opportunity for the governor to reimburse his campaign contributors, like Koch Industries, an energy company.

As a citizen of the United States, a resident of Wisconsin, a high school student, and a hopeful education major, I am appalled. I am furious, disgusted, and afraid. This is not the “by the people, for the people” government I learned about in my state-funded education. We’re on a departure from democracy, en route to oligarchy. Next stop, government by the wealthy, for the wealthy. Who will survive in America?

The republicans at the capitol have closed their windows, much like the second Continental Congress did during the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. The windows at Independence Hall, however, were closed to prevent British espionage. The windows at the Capitol were closed to drown out the voices of the people they represent. The Wisconsin legislature is not reminiscent of the stifling, sweltering sweatlodge that was Independence Hall in the summer of 1787, in which the congress met for hours upon hours debating independence from Britain. Our elected officials are out of touch with their constituents, a political experiment gone awry. And if they so choose to soften our cries for fairness, then we have to be louder.