“Flip, Flop, and Fly”—Modern Version

By William L. Garvin

Before rock and roll, there was rhythm and blues. An old bluesman, Big Joe Turner, recorded a catchy tune called “Flip, Flop, and Fly.” Liberals have recently adopted the tune for their modus operandi, only now it has been modernized to “Flip, Flop, and Flee.”

This probably started with President Obama’s approach to economics. After overspending his federal credit card by over $1 trillion dollars each of his first two years in office, he flipped and cast himself as a born again deficit hawk in his State of the Union address. This flopped shortly thereafter as his current budget hole was exposed as a staggering $1.65 trillion! He then had the gall to suggest a freeze at this insane overspending level and brazenly proposed a budget for next year that would put us another $1 trillion in the hole even with substantial tax increases and a booming economy. Needless to say, he fled from his leadership responsibilities to actually propose a real budget that would address our looming economic disaster.

He was aided in this flight from the economic battlefield by his congressional party. The Democrat party was in full hue and cry in their condemnation of the new Republican House for not having immediately cut $100 billion from the budget. This was quite a flip from their profligate spending habits of the previous four years. They also ignored the fact that the new Republicans had yet to be seated for sixty days. Nonetheless, they performed another massive belly flop when they immediately started moaning about the $61 billion cut that the House passed last week. Technically, they didn’t flee the budget deficit battlefield since they never actually showed up. In a gross abdication of responsibility, the Democrat congress failed to even provide a budget for the current federal fiscal year.

Maybe that’s where the Wisconsin Democrats got their role models for congressional cowardice. The new Republican legislature and Governor have actually shown the courage to lead and make some difficult decisions in confronting their budget deficits. In order to avoid laying off 6,000 government union workers, Governor Walker has proposed that government employees begin to pay 5.8% of their salaries to help fund their generous pensions. They are also being asked to pay 12.4% of their health care premiums. That means their health care costs will “skyrocket” to just about $200/month. How many of you would jump at that bargain? Both of these amounts are well below the national and Midwest averages. To hear the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, one would surmise they were being confined to some sort of penal colony and a lifetime of involuntary servitude.

Simultaneously, many teachers deserted their classrooms resulting in numerous schools being shut down. Not wanting to pay for their convictions, they called in sick so they wouldn’t lose any pay while marching in Madison. Have you got that, kiddies? This is how you lie to your employer. This is how you ignore an employment contract. This is how you engage in a conspiracy to defraud your boss. And while you will not have any school for the rest of the week, it’s because we really love and care about you. As for cheating…well, this is a pretty blatant example of teachers cheating students!

Speaking of cheating, how about those doctors who set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes covering public employees' absences? Doctor Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out “hundreds of notes.” He said that many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from “stress.” Yeah, Doc, lying, stealing, and being AWOL will do that to you. It’s amazing how none of those symptoms existed the day before WHILE THEY WERE IN THEIR CLASSROOMS! Sanner added “…It’s as valid as every other work note that I’ve written for the last 30 years.” Welcome to the conspiracy to defraud the taxpayer, Doc. Was that a Hippocratic or a Hypocritic oath that you swore to?

However, the height of flip, flop, and flee, the height of cowardice in the face of the enemy, the height of dereliction of duty is the fourteen Wisconsin Democrat Senators who ran away in the middle of the night to Illinois, a state with worse deficits than their own. Not only did they abrogate their responsibilities, they essentially eliminated all legislative activity. If you can’t represent your constituents under adverse conditions, get out of the kitchen! If you don’t have the courage to face your opponents and argue your convictions, resign and let someone competent take charge.

On a final note, the Tea Party showed up on Saturday to support the Governor. They apologized for being late but they had to work all week!