By tomorrow morning, Wisconsin will have a budget. After over 100 days of being overdue, Democrats and Republicans finally settled on a compromise budget, voted on it, passed it, and sent it off to Governor Doyle for signing.
Neither side is particularly happy with the budget. Democrats got expansion for health care, but not the universal health care plan they had hoped for. Republicans got an overall decrease in spending percentage-wise, but not as much as they had hoped. Everybody wins, but everybody feels like they lost at the same time.
That's the nature of compromise - no body gets exactly what they want, but everyone agrees to it. In this era of partisan politics, we often forget that the very reason democratic government exists is to allow lawmakers with opposing viewpoints to come together and create law that everyone can live with, if not agree on. As we can clearly see from this recent battle for the budget, when no one is willing to compromise, the government, and society, comes to a screeching halt.
Government agencies were shutting down, unsure of how much money they had on hand to spend. Public schools were |---this close---| to starting to consider cutting programs due to lack of funding. People were growing restless, and the Legislature became the laughingstock of not only the state, but I'm pretty sure that much of the nation was shaking their head. This is not representative government. This is schoolyard bickering.
I'm glad the budget passed. I'm also glad nobody is completely satisfied with the results. Perhaps it will send a lesson to our state representatives that they need to come to the table and negotiate before trying to pass budgets. But, since I read news that legislators will be trying to amend the budget with legislation soon, maybe I'm just naive.
Democrats and Republicans are both at fault here. Neither side is willing to listen, and both are so wrapped up in their own agendas that sometimes they fail to understand that by negotiating, compromising, and making deals, legislators are actually doing the job that we elected them for - establishing laws to help guide the people of Wisconsin, and to provide for their needs.
On a related note, I look forward to seeing many people at the Union tomorrow morning to watch Governor Doyle sign the new budget. May we all quickly celebrate, and get on with our lives past this utterly ridiculous ordeal.
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