Scott Walker should fear these words

In his speech that stirred the spirits of the right at the at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), presidential candidate and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) proudly and passionately asserted that as he battled 10,000 protestors, referring to workers defending their right to collective bargaining in his home state of Wisconsin, he can wage war against terrorists in the Mideast.

{mosads}Setting aside Walker’s insults to Wisconsin workers by appearing to compare their battle for collective bargaining rights to terrorists beheading Americans in the Middle East, his analogy is obviously ridiculous. My guess is that Walker ends up sharing the fate of others who had their brief moments of glory as brief frontrunners in Republican primaries, such as Herman Cain, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.). In the unlikely event that Walker is someday sharing the stage with Hillary Clinton in a presidential debate about the future of the nation, here are the words that he should fear, which will probably be hurled at him by former Secretary of State Clinton:

“Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.”

These words were said in front of the Statue of Liberty, in a Labor Day speech in 1980, by another GOP candidate for president whose name was Ronald Reagan. It would be fair for Clinton to ask Walker whether and why he disagrees with these words of Reagan, who was defending the collective bargaining and worker rights championed by the courageous Solidarity union in Poland and their courageous leader Lech Walesa as they battled Soviet communist dictators who were trying to destroy the rights of workers, including collective bargaining, as Walker tries to destroy those rights in Wisconsin.

“Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.” These are the words stated eloquently by Reagan that Scott Walker should fear. To hear Reagan state them, readers are invited to click here.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was then chief deputy majority whip of the House. He holds an LL.M. degree in international financial law from the London School of Economics. Contact him at brentbbi@webtv.net.