Among Ronald Reagan...

...worshippers, the PATCO strike of 1981 was a watershed event:

Only a short time into his administration, federal air traffic controllers went on strike, violating a regulation prohibiting government unions from striking. Declaring the situation an emergency as described in the 1947 Taft Hartley Act, Reagan held a press conference in the White House Rose Garden, where he stated that if the air traffic controllers "do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated." Despite fear from some members of his cabinet over a potential political backlash, on August 5, Reagan fired 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored his order to return to work, busting the union. According to Charles Craver, a labor law professor at George Washington University Law School, the move gave Americans a new view of Reagan, who "sent a message to the private employer community that it would be all right to go up against the unions." This position was in stark contrast to Reagan's past as a labor union president of the Screen Actor's Guild, as well as his support for the Polish labor union Solidarity in its fight against Soviet domination.

I can practically hear the faithful sniffing as they wipe the tears from their eyes. You see, in Reagan lore, this episode led to everything from taming inflation (never mind that pesky Carter appointee, Fed Chairman Paul Volcker) to the fall of the Soviet Union. (The thinking being that the Kremlin saw Reagan as a more formidable foe than previously thought and simply gave up on the Cold War.)

But it certainly was a watershed event in the history of unions in America. Public opinion turned against unions once and for all and membership declined from about 21% of the work force to about 12% today. (7% in the private sector.)

And -- surprise, surprise -- Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker sees his current standoff with the public sector unions as reminiscent of the PATCO strike. From Walker's now infamous prank phone call from "David Koch":

Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan … had one of the most defining moments of his political career when he fired the air traffic controllers… That was the first crack in the Berlin Wall and the fall of Communism… This is our moment. This is our time to change the course of history.

I wonder if Walker sees himself wearing a cowboy hat and riding a horse like the Gipper. This is my Ronald Reagan Moment!

I agree that this may be Walker's PATCO moment, but not in the way he imagines. Instead, I think this could be a PATCO moment in reverse. In other words, this could be the turning point for the radical laissez-faire economic philosophy that's gripped America for the last thirty years. (In this version, Walker is playing the part of PATCO, and the union is President Reagan.)

From Ezra Klein's blog today:

A new PPP poll of Wisconsin shows that if the Badger State's voters could do it over again, they'd elect Walker's opponent as governor. The change in sentiment is almost entirely attributable to self-identified Republicans who are also union members. They voted for Walker in November, and now wish they hadn't.