Apparently, the Illinois Democratic Party, of which our present President was once a member, has shifted course from the support of teachers to holding them responsible for fixing the budget problems.
There are a lot of things to be said about this topic; but to be blunt, it is NOT the fault of educators and academics that Illinois' budget is in tatters. Put simply, it's the fault of a succession of corrupt governors, the last two of whom now sit in prison (unless George Ryan gets his pathetic "health risk" leave) for precisely that reason, and the two prior to that being basically in the pockets of Chicago Big Business interests at the expense of the rest of the state.
But there's an even bigger issue here.
The REAL issue is, and continues to be, the lack of revenue being generated by major corporations paying their fair share. We are always complaining how Big Business and Wall Street are getting away with crimes akin to murder by not truly shouldering the load when it comes to supporting America's social and economic infrastructure. But the crimes go into the state and municipal levels, too. We as a society are so quick to draw distinctions between levels of governance; the whole issue of states' rights being played out in the DOMA story right now (and applause! to the Court of Appeals for getting it RIGHT, at least until the Evil Four in the Supreme Court get their say) conveniently forgets how much the rights of state governments rely on federal implementation and regulation (read: funding) to maintain themselves.
Or perhaps the Republican Party realizes this all too well; and in their quest to (re)create the supreme police state that über-conservatives enjoyed in the U.S. during the pre-trust-busting days (you know, the one that led us to the Great Depression?), perhaps they are seeing how this will play into their hands.
I would say we need to get more Democrats in Congress to rectify the situation; but the fact is, the Republican Party infiltrated the Democrats with these so-called "Blue Dogs" and ruined the party outlook for the next 20 years.
It also doesn't help that the same Illinois Democratic Party that created this sad situation where progressives are without allies to call upon in the Illinois General Assembly also provided us with our current sitting President, who has made his pro-business feelings all too clear during his first term. He himself has muddied the waters of support for progressives like me, not knowing if I can trust him for a second term, but knowing full well I can't let a corporate greed-shill like Mitt Romney take over.
So what to do?
If you think the Illinois General Assembly, and more specifically, Governor Pat Quinn, are taking the wrong tack on this issue, PLEASE tell him so.
Illinois' teachers, educators, academics -- in fact, ALL of Illinois' public employees -- deserve better. Blaming them for a budget shortfall that has the skidmarks of Big Business all over its back is ridiculous and stupid.