Teaching hatred?

The cries for civility after the Tucson shootings have not much impressed thousands of protesters in Wisconsin. There, many public-employee-union leaders, teachers and other public employees have used disruption and intimidation - rather than reasoned debate and respect for representative democracy - to try to get their way.

Consider some of the protesters' signs. One bracketed pictures of Adolf Hitler and Republican Gov. Scott Walker, elected on a platform of constraining public-employee unions' power and closing a $3.6 billion budget deficit without laying off thousands of state workers. Others read: "Scott Walker - Adolf Hitler. Can you tell the difference? I can't;" ''Midwest Mussolini;" ''Hosni Walker, WI dictator, must go;" ''Why do Republicans hate people?"

And GOP senators say they have received threatening e-mails and that protesters are demonstrating at their homes and businesses.

Instead of protesting on a weekend, teachers virtually closed down public schools, using taxpayer-funded sick leave to attend massive rallies at the State House.

Meanwhile, all 14 Democratic senators fled the state and holed up in undisclosed locations to prevent the Senate from reaching a quorum of 20 - thus thwarting the sizable majority of 19 senators from enacting reforms that the Democrats view as tantamount to union-busting. If citizens are not permitted to conduct public business peacefully, our society is at risk. We must make some tough decisions about state and local government costs in ways that respect all participants.

- Providence (R.I.) Journal