Civility for thee but not for me?

James Taranto points out that the new civility has been replaced by 'worker's united in wishing their enemies dead' which is being replaced by deep blue, democrat governments changing the rules on how the state negotiates with unions.  Much like that evil and (soon to be dead and dismembered?) Republican Scott Walker.

"Civility" turns out to have been the most evanescent political fad since . . . well, we don't remember the previous one either. The other day Time magazine's website asked: "Wisconsin's Governor Wins, but Is He Now Dead Man Walker?" The writer, Dawn Reiss, noted without evident disapproval that outside the Wisconsin Capitol "chalk outlines around fake dead bodies etched with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's name remained in dismembered parts."

Did Scott Walker lose by winning? Wisconsin's government employee unions certainly succeeded in raising a backlash, and it's possible they'll be able to keep it going long enough to do some damage to Badger State Republicans. Elsewhere around the country, however, government unions are finding themselves on the defensive.

In Tallahassee, the Associated Press reports, "a Florida Senate bill that prohibits union dues from being automatically deducted from public employees' paychecks has barely survived a vote out of the Community Affairs Committee." The AP notes that "union foes have dubbed the measure the Worker Gag Bill"--and the AP adopts that Orwellian moniker in its headline.

Even the liberal media can't always be counted on to take the unions' side. Suffolk County, which includes Boston, recently abolished two minor Revolutionary War holidays, Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day. But a Boston Globe editorial notes that the move will end up costing Boston $1.5 million. The reason? The holidays are still in union contracts, so that the city will have to pay overtime to get employees to work those days, an absurdity that, even the ultraliberal Globe notes, "can only further the continuing backlash against public-employee perks."

And guess what state capital is the dateline for this Washington Post story: "Thousands of union members rallied before the State House on Monday night, vowing to protect their employee pensions and public school funding." Annapolis, Md., where the governor and both legislative houses all are Democratic.

What's more, Baltimore's WBAL-TV reports that "Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold signed into law Thursday a measure giving the county government more power over its public safety union":

The County Council will now have the final say if a contract cannot be reached.

"The unions are going to be struggling, and we'll take what we are given with very little or no recourse," said Fraternal Order of Police President O'Brien Atkinson. . . .

"I think it's very close to what's happening in Wisconsin. There's a complete and utter disregard for the Democratic [sic] process. There's a complete disregard for collective bargaining, which is in our county charter and in the Maryland Constitution," Atkinson argued.

But WBAL notes that "the move puts Anne Arundel County in line with what the majority of Maryland counties do with union negotiations." It seems clear that Wisconsin is leading, not bucking, a nationwide trend.