[J.P.'s Moment of Common Sense on Broad View, KBZZ 1270 AM and 96.1 FM in Reno. Listen to Broad View live Saturdays at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.]

The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest teachers union in the United States.  It’s also the largest labor union period in the United States, and the largest professional organization in the United States, and the biggest source of funds for the Democrat Party.  It is also, based on what happened in Wisconsin this week, one of the biggest problems in the United States.

On Tuesday, after putting the state of Wisconsin through a year of hell and wasting everybody’s time, the NEA failed in its effort to have Governor Scott Walker recalled.  During that year we saw teachers acting like thugs, vandals, and cheats as they threatened political opponents, called in sick to attend protest marches, and commandeered students to work for the recall... which is not only illegal, it’s creepy.  When parents think their child is in music class learning about Mozart, they don’t want to find out he’s in downtown Madison marching around with a recall sign.  It doesn’t set well.  People don’t pay taxes to support the teachers union.

The recall election was an expensive waste of money.  Estimated spending on Tuesday’s election was $63 million, and that’s not even counting the money spent by the state to run the actual election, or the money spent by unions doing “in-kind” support for the recall.  “In-kind” support is when the unions send “volunteers” to work on the election and don’t count it as monetary support.  The unions did more than just help the campaign; they sent busloads of out-of-state members from nearby states to vote on Tuesday, which is fraud.  Vote fraud.

Now you know why Democrats oppose any form of voter ID.

Governor Walker’s big sin according to the teachers was trying to make them pay for a bit of their own health insurance, something which the vast majority of the rest of us already do.  He also took away their right to bargain for more money, and the union’s right to have dues deducted automatically.  That last one really irked union honchos.  Those union officials love their big budgets and job perks, and they need those dues to pay for it all.

Somebody in Wisconsin had to do something.  The state was nearly broke from of out-of-control costs to public employees and Walker ran for office promising not to raise taxes, so he was doing exactly what the voters of Wisconsin elected him to do.

What the heck happened to the profession of teaching?  It used to be held in high esteem but now our kids’ teachers seem to be nothing more than greedy leftwing nincompoops without manners, reason, or dignity.  Some of their protest signs weren’t even spelled correctly, which isn’t a good thing for teachers, ya know?  Most of us like to think our teachers can spell.

Whatever happened to the profession, it has a lot to do with the power and corruption of the teachers unions.  I think most people choose teaching with good intentions but the schooling they receive in college and the atmosphere they find once they graduate are polluted by nonsensical union notions about worker oppression, labor union glory, and socialist poop-osity.

As it happens, my daughter experienced some of that poop-osity in West Michigan on the day before the recall election.  She and three other parents were in charge of running the field day at Belmont Elementary School, which is part of the Rockford School System.  For some reason it’s a policy that teachers don’t run field days in Rockford schools.  It’s not in their job description.  So they make the parents do it.

Which isn’t too bad by itself but parents who attended the field day were annoyed to learn that in spite of not teaching that day teachers were entitled to their half-hour morning and afternoon breaks.  “Break from what?” you ask.  Break from standing around outside on a nice day watching parents and their kids run races and have some fun, I guess.  Apparently that’s hard work.

The afternoon break—from 2:30 until 3:00—was especially galling to parents who were there watching because field day activities were almost done, so parents had to stand around for a half hour waiting for the teachers to come back outside to finish ten minutes of field day.  The field day could not proceed while the teachers were taking their break even though the parents were running things and the kids stayed outside!

That’s not allowed... teachers had to be out there... that’s the rule.

Oh, and the parents were not allowed to give the kids first, second, or third place ribbons.  Having winners might hurt somebody’s feelings, doggone it.

Most teachers are not union thugs, most teachers don’t bring their politics into the classroom, and most teachers do their very best at a very important job, but somehow we’ve let the teachers unions and the teachers unions’ philosophies take over our schools.  Our children.  The leftwing union mentality permeates not only the universities where teachers are trained but now even the elementary schools where the next generation is being groomed.

Something needs to be done to fight this and hopefully Wisconsin was just the beginning.

That's... today’s dose of common sense.

"The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service... strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to obstruct the operations of government until their demands are satisfied.  Such action looking toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it is unthinkable and intolerable."—Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government."—George Meany, former president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O

"America is becoming so educated that ignorance will be a novelty.  I will belong to the select few."—Will Rogers

From Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA        Tweet

June 13, 2012 - POOP-OSITY! LOVE IT! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT IT IS!! – Mary D., Michigan

June 11, 2012 - Take a look at this and you'll be even madder. – Henry, Reno

June 10, 2012 - Wow, the gall of those teachers to take a break (from a day long break), to make parents and kids sit and wait, when parents are doing all the work! In Rockford of all places! Teachers in Michigan have the MEA to wipe their butts for them. Teachers only work 22 weeks/yr, not even an 8 hr day, and have 100% salary match into their pensions, at taxpayer expense. I have to pay for my own retirement... why should I pay for teachers pensions?! Perhaps they could work 12 hr days, 50 weeks a year like the rest of us, to actually earn that pension that is paid by us. – Todd L., Michigan

June 9, 2012 - Thank the good Lord there were enough sensible people in Wis. I can't believe that there was a vote for the recall. The liberals are gaining too many inroads to our society. We live in an average upscale community and this Friday our high school graduated 352 seniors and would you believe with all the computer power that we have available they were not able to designate a single valedictorian so they graduated 40 valedictorians. That is 11.36363% of the graduating class. I am surprised they didn't give all 352 students that honor. This would go a long way in helping their self esteem. When I talked to the powers to be their reply was that the scores were so close they could not tell who really came in first. I bet if they were call a horse race or marathon there would be a first place winner. – David R., Pittsburgh