Cheese or Protest?!

The latest swing of protests, outside of the Middle East, is in Wisconsin! Finally, some action in the cheese state. So apparently Republican Governor Scott Walker has enraged Democrats in Wisconsin on his new bill that busts public employee unions and collective bargaining rights. So angry that thousands of citizens are marching to and protesting at the State Capitol in order to ensure that their voices be heard and this bill is not passed.
The Democrat representatives are in such dismay regarding this possiblity that they have fleed from the state to Illinois so that proper quorum cannot be reached in order to vote on the bill.
Sounds like an exciting (and only) time to be in Wisconsin..It is amusing to see, though, that news channels are calling these protests 'similar' to the Middle East protests in their nature. I believe that in directly comparing the nature of protests, they are being extremely unfair..to the Middle Eastern protesters. Egyptians, Yemenis, Libyans and the likes are protesting for their rights to overthrow decades of suppressive dictatorships and gain freedom. These are serious reasons for reform. In Wisconsin, however, there is a much less symbolic, important nonetheless, issue at hand. Sure, collective bargaining rights gave workers tremendous leverage to make deals with employers on pensions and benefits. But do most professionals get to do that these days? How many states have dominant unions anyways?
Let's get real. America is in a state of financial distress. Over 40 states are in deficit by billions of dollars, only increasing every year. Serious reforms and policy changes are necessary at every level in order to see some progress. This is a controversial, but a good place to start. Having worked for GM, predominantly employing unionized workers, I have seen how strong collective bargaining rights and union contracts can be. Strong and cumbersome. A small change in business policy takes meticulous effort. It is a slow and expensive process. Unionized workers are in some regard overcompensated when it comes to pension. In Wisconsin, for example, a mere 1% of contribution is actually required from the employee, the rest comes from the state. That is a little ridiculous considering the state barely has enough money to fund public programs. Protesting to preserve these rights sounds a little dreamy to me. Gov. Walker logically stated that he wants to do away with collective bargaining because the state has no money to bargain with. Sounds pragmatic to me.
If there is any comparison to be made between the two types of protests we are witnessing, it's for the protesters in Wisconsin to realize that at least they have a government that is considering voting on an issue that is clearly burderning the economy. Opposition parties are able to sit on the same table without threatening or killing each other and discuss an issue of such clear consequence with such detail.
Government corruption, lobbying operations with selfish motives, and health care - those are issues worth protesting about.