Across the country, governors are on the front lines trying to deal with a crisis in the way Americans fund and operate their governments.<\/p>\n
The problems are pretty much the same:\u00a0 struggling economies, a scarcity of good jobs, complicated by whopping levels of budget deficits.<\/p>\n
So far, most of the attention in the national debate is going to Republican governors like New Jersey’s Chris Christie<\/a> and Wisconsin’s Matt Walker<\/a>.<\/p>\n Both men have made confrontation and ferocious rhetoric a big part of their approach.\u00a0 They are talking loudly and carrying a big stick.<\/p>\n The Republicans have energized their political allies by targeting public employee unions —\u00a0 their salaries and benefits — while also attempting to erode much of their collective bargaining powers.<\/p>\n Christie also wants to eliminate the power of teachers’ unions to control big chunks of education policy, from merit pay, to charter schools to tenure.<\/p>\n This is big stuff.\u00a0 It represents a generational struggle over the balance of power that shapes state houses from coast to coast, and the GOP approach is a legitimate — if controversial and still unproven — one.<\/p>\n It is more logical for Republicans because they could kill two birds with one stone, reducing the cost of government while also neutralizing the unions which regularly contribute to their Democratic opponents.<\/p>\n On the other side of the street, however, are Democratic governors, who are wrestling with the same problems, and drawing far less attention, while perhaps being more effective.<\/p>\n For one thing, many Democratic governors have continued to speak intelligently about the economic dangers posed<\/a> by sudden and widespread governmental lay-offs in a struggling economy.<\/p>\n It’s a matter of philosophical conviction on the right that cutting public jobs and salaries is a good thing, but if lay-offs trigger a second recession, thereby cutting tax revenues even further, the approach could actually push states deeper into debt.<\/p>\n It’s also still unclear whether the GOP’s take-no-prisoners approach is superior to good old-fashioned tough negotiations and budget talks.<\/p>\n