Public ignores union deals in good times; fumes in bad times

Andrew Sullivan brings up a good point about the debate over Wisconsin and public employee unions.

In normal circumstances, the tendency is going to be for the government to pay its workers a bit more than would be the case if the public were paying closer attention, because special interests are always more focused on matters that affect them directly than average voters with many disparate priorities. As a result, when the public at large suddenly starts to scrutinize the deal any special interest has secured for itself - public employee unions included - it's quite normal for there to be a sizable backlash as voters begin to comprehend a status quo on which they never knowingly signed off. In this sense, public employee unions benefit from the ignorance of voters during boom times, and suffer more than most from backlashes in bad times.