Good Intentions

But protesting has its limits, said Darla Dawald, national director for a conservative social networking site, ResistNet.com, that is directing people to local party contacts. The protests were a way to "catapult people off their couches. But then we needed to give them something to do, a way to get engaged."

Dawald took a look at her own precincts in Arizona's Pinal County. She said only 40% of precinct committee positions were filled. In Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, only 30% of the positions were occupied, she said. Dawald, who owned a gift shop that had closed in the recession, said it looked to her like no one was minding the store.

"It's not like we're going in and replacing people. We're going into positions that are open, things nobody is doing," she said. "It was clear that a small group of people within the party were making decisions for everyone."

After several months of organizing, Maricopa County now has 50%, or about 3,000, of its precinct committee positions filled.

Steve Baker, spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, which represents almost 120,000 teachers, said he’s worried new people will be discouraged from teaching careers.

"Everything that’s done changes the calculation for whether this is a good career choice," he said. "At some point, people cross the line and say, I can’t afford to do this.

Give me a break! Here's what the average salary of a teacher in Bergen county makes according to Salary.com.....$84,072 per year! And this doesn't take into account retirement benefits such as generous pension benefits (from the Press of Atlantic City):

Or generous health care benefits that most teachers pay nothing toward.

I'm not against teachers making as much money as they can but at what point do I, as a taxpayer have a right to say how are tax dollars are spent. When do I get the right to say that good teachers should be rewarded and bad teachers should be let go. When do I get the right to say that those in the public sector benefits should at parity with the private sector?