February 28, 2011 8:27AM # Is Madison More Like Cairo or Athens? By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE [At the Britannica Blog](http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2011/02/madison-athens-west/) I declare the college town — and state capital — Madison, Wisconsin, “the Athens of the West.” > College towns used to call themselves “the Athens of the West.” In [Nashville](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/403903/Nashville), home of my alma mater Vanderbilt University, they built a full-scale replica of the Parthenon. But these days [Madison](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/355851/Madison), Wisconsin, has the best claim to the title. > > > Lots of [national media](http://www.nationaljournal.com/union-protests-spread-across-the-u-s--20110224) have been comparing the protests against Gov. Scott Walker in Madison to the protests that ended Egyptian dictator [Hosni Mubarak](http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/395776/Hosni-Mubarak)‘s 30-year reign.… > > > The Greek journalist Takis Michas [told a Washington audience](https://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/v32n4/cpr32n4-4.html) last summer that the Greek political economy > > > is a form of capitalism where the bureaucracy and its allies consider the state their property, and use its mechanisms for personal enrichment. > > > > > > In Greece, the fundamental principle that has been dictating economic and political development since the creation of the Greek state in the 19th century is political clientelism. > > > > > > This is a system in which political support is provided in exchange for benefits. > > > > > > In this situation, rent-seeking — the attempt by various groups and individuals to influence the location of political benefits — becomes paramount. > > That sounds a lot like the relationship between government employee unions and state governments. In Wisconsin, the state that [first](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/us/19union.html) gave government unions the right to bargain collectively, the Greek disease has reached crisis levels. Wisconsin faces a deficit estimated at [$2.2 billion](http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/109275069.html) or more. [Wisconsin](http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/article_cd4c3181-c46b-5184-8a1c-f581141b69c7.html) and [Greece](http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/02/10/greek.debt.qanda/index.html) have both used accounting gimmicks and fiddled statistics to conceal the state’s real fiscal condition, though Greece’s fraud reached stratospheric levels. > > > The protests in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya are against tyrannical governments; the protesters seek freedom and democracy. The protests in Athens and Madison are against the long-suffering taxpayers; the protesters seek to continue a political system that allows them privileged access to the public fisc. > > > Eat your heart out, Nashville and Lexington and Berkeley. Madison, Wisconsin, is truly the Athens of the West. ##### Related Tags [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).