Last month in Wisconsin, state representatives had written a bill designed to help balance the state’s budget. It took away the right of public workers to collectively bargain, so the government could cut salaries and ultimately spend less, creating a more balanced budget for Wisconsin. However, something strange happened when it came time to vote on the bill: The Democratic congressmen, knowing they would lose the vote, ran away. Since the legislature could not legally decide on the bill without a certain number of voters there, all 14 Democratic senators fled to Illinois, leaving the Republicans unable to continue passing the bill.

They performed, in essence, a 5-year-old maneuver. They were on the losing side of the two-on-two football game, so they quit. They realized the other guy had just gotten another king, so they threw the checker board across the room and left. I did this when I was in elementary school, and I would have thought that by the time someone got elected to their state’s senate, they would have outgrown the desire to quit and run away every time things aren’t looking good for you. But apparently not.

Now, you can say that these men and women left to protest cutting wages of public workers, but as politicians, aren’t they meant to accept when the majority has overruled them? It seems ironic that we like to gloat about having a democracy where the people rule the nation, but when it comes down to it, if we don’t like the way our democratic vote turns out, some of us simply refuse to participate.

What would happen if this way of avoiding problems became the norm for the whole political system? Is the Governor nervous that his speech on tax increases won’t go over well? Don’t turn up. President Obama nervous about meeting another world leader? Flee the country. If everyone just ran away every time they had to face a uncomfortable or unfortunate situation, we wouldn’t have any politicians left.

I don’t even want to think about how this principle would be applied outside of politics – half of the world’s sporting events wouldn’t even take place, because one team would be on the other side of the country. Doctors and surgeons would be getting on the next bus out of town once they found out their patient was probably not going to make it. Obviously, this isn’t exactly the same, as fleeing in these situations wouldn’t prevent the events from occurring, but it’s just something to consider – what if everyone reacted to adversity the same way these politicians in Wisconsin did? In a democracy, our politicians are our voice in the government, and in my opinion, if we can’t get them to argue firmly and fairly, I don’t see how we can expect anyone else to.