Meanwhile, in Columbus

Apparently they don't have enough drum circles in Columbus:

The Ohio Senate voted 17-16 today to pass a major overhaul of Ohio's 27-year-old collective bargaining law that supporters say will give governments more flexibility but public unions see as an attack on the working class.

Close, but good enough. The bill moves to the Ohio House, where Republicans have a decisive majority and it does not appear there is any way that the Democrats can stop the vote by absconding. That means there's an excellent chance that Ohio will its reforms in place before Wisconsin does.

Ohio Governor John Kasich explains why this matters:

"This is a major step forward in correcting the imbalance between taxpayers and the government unions that work for them. Our state, counties, cities and school districts need the flexibility to reduce their costs and better manage their workforces, and taxpayers deserve to be treated with more fairness."

What happens at the local level is what really matters. It's at the local level where teachers' unions use their muscle the most. Local school boards are quite often filled with union supporters and those who try to hold the line are always a target. Both Kasich and Scott Walker recognize that. In fact, for all the drama we've seen in Madison, once the Walker bill finally does get passed, it's hardly certain that the local school boards will just start cutting and that teachers will become mendicants. They may decide to raise local taxes instead.

There's nothing wrong with that, either. If higher taxes that get funneled into teaching salaries are what people really want in an individual school district, more power to them. If the teachers and their friends in a school district can convince enough people that providing higher salaries will get better results, chase that dream. The key is this -- if the people pushing that agenda are proved wrong, it's much easier to hold them accountable at a local level.

Meanwhile, don't let anyone tell you that you can't learn something important from the protesters in Madison. This photo has rather a lot of educational value, I think.