INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Indiana’s Republican House leader on Tuesday promised swift movement on a push to make his state the first in more than a decade to ban labor contracts that require employees to pay union fees.

Speaker Brian Bosma of Indianapolis told the Associated Press he is confident he can push the “right-to-work” bill through his chamber during the 2012 session that begins Wednesday and is spending a lot “personal capital” to do so.

“We assume nothing,” Bosma said. “I don’t assume we have all the Republicans votes, in fact I know I don’t and I don’t presume we don’t have some Democrat votes either.”

Bosma, who has been the measure’s most ardent supporter, said he hadn’t yet taken a formal tally of supportive votes, but added he “also wouldn’t bring it forward if I wasn’t confident of success.”

The proposal would bar private employee unions from seeking contracts that mandate all workers pay union fees regardless of whether they are members. Supporters say the law would help attract new business to the state. Opponents call it an attempt to weaken organized labor.

Indiana’s House Democrats successfully blocked the measure last year with a five-week walkout that denied House Republicans the numbers needed to conduct daily business. Democratic leaders have so far declined to say whether they’ll walk out again this session.

Read more here. Here’s to hoping they walk out again. An awesome frame for the upcoming election.

To commemorate this worldwide struggle for freedom, TIME magazine honors “The Protester” as Person of the Year, featuring a cover photo of … Sarah Mason, an Occupy L.A. activist who adamantly refuses to pay her credit card bills.

Take that Wall Street.

“I still have debt and I’m not paying it back because I feel like at this point, I have an obligation to try and disrupt and upset the financial industry, the credit industry,” Sarah told 360 Magazine. “Why would I miss this beautiful opportunity to say, ‘no, you don’t get your money back’?”

Despite a valiant effort to lionize her, 360 Magazine acknowledges, “Her unabashed attitude falters slightly, however, when asked about how she incurred significant personal debt.”

“Each paycheck that I would get, I would overspend,” she said “I had already spent all this money on clothes, make-up, accessories, and I got the credit card because I needed to [pay] my electric bill. … And then of course, it turned into I just started using it recklessly.”

That TIME selected a dead-beat American credit-junkie to symbolize the brave souls who risked everything in their struggle for freedom tells us a lot about why the dinosaur media is dying—and quite a bit about the Occupy Wall Street movement itself.

Before Sarah was inevitably identified as the poster girl of the protest movement (you have heard of the Internet, haven’t you TIME?) the type-setters at last century’s leading magazine concocted a flimsy cover-story for their cover story.

“As the artist behind our Person of the Year 2011 cover commemorating this year’s pick, The Protester, Shepard Fairey says his cover image is based on a composite of 26 different photographs of real protests from around the world.” Well, Fairey also said he didn’t steal an AP photo of Obama for his iconic HOPE poster before he fessed up to lying about that and destroying evidence.

Fairey “used a collage of scenes from the Arab Spring to Moscow to Occupy Wall Street as a backdrop, images he said shows the dramatic accumulation of these global protests,” TIME wrote.

But the protester on the cover was, in fact, derived from a single photo of Sarah Mason, who—despite her own dramatic accumulation of accessories—now represents the struggle the world’s genuinely oppressed people.

While not the best person to symbolize the Arab Spring uprising, Sarah an ideal representative of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, victimized as she was by “the capitalistic system in American society.”

“The reality is that, of course, is what compelled me to buy clothes and make-up and all of these things was insecurity and a feeling of being inadequate … What I also think it was that you’re just surrounded by these messages telling you to buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume.”

Most people facing that kind of pressure while deeply in debt would have cut up their credit cards and worked out a payment plan. But Sarah Mason is no quitter. She’s a fighter, and a born leader. “It’s easy not to pay your debt!” she said. “Nothing can happen … if you have assets, people can seize them, but if you don’t have assets, what are they going to take?”

Well, they could start with her tent.

According to 360 Magazine, “The tent that Sarah leaves looks like any other gray nylon camping tent from the outside, of a nondescript size and description; however a quick peek inside reveals a bohemian paradise, complete with tapestries, blankets and pillows in rich earthy tones, candles and picture frames. It’s a cozy haven where one can hide from the chaos of a bustling day in downtown Los Angeles.”

And that, my friends, is the iconic summation of the Occupy Wall Street movement—a falsely humble exterior stuffed with luxury items that were purchased on credit which won’t be repaid.

A footnote. Exactly three days after TIME announced their Person of the Year, thousands of Tunisians gathered in Mohamed Bouazizi Square—named after the young fruit vendor whose suicide “restored Tunisia’s dignity” and triggered a global struggle for freedom—to honor him and to celebrate their new freedom.

Half a world away, Sarah Mason may well have been snuggling under earth-toned blankets in her “bohemian paradise” on Bank of America Square pondering the riches her new-found fame would bestow upon her.

These past few months, renting a home in a beach community has allowed my dog and I the opportunity to take a daily walk along the shore, where I hunt for shells, watch for porpoise, and occasionally exchange niceties with the fisherman who set up their poles in the sand, and with the locals who are also enjoying their surroundings. Every day, I thank my blessings that I’ve been given this chance to live in such surroundings but my happiness is often interrupted by dogs roaming the beach, unleashed, in violation of the rules which are clearly posted at each entrance. Not only do these dogs defecate on the sand but often they are not well behaved, running at leashed dogs, children, solitary walkers, and anyone within their proximity.

I do not fault the dogs. I am a dog lover and I understand that dogs are social creatures. My problem is with the owners who clearly do not consider that some dogs may respond aggressively to such provocation, children and adults may be afraid of their beloved pets, and some beachcombers may not want to worry about stepping on dog feces, let alone experience being showered by a dog shaking out its wet fur, when their intention is to savor the sand and water running between their toes. The worst offenders do not attempt to corral their dogs around other people and assume because their dogs are friendly, all is well with the world. They do not comprehend the compromise which allows both dogs and people to enjoy this pristine environment.

The Framers understood the importance of balance, which is clearly needed to allow for maximum individual rights but at the same time allows for people to live together in a community. They believed that factions or groups of people should not be able to impinge on the rights of others.

James Madison explained in Federalist 10,

“… that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.”

Madison understood that factions are inevitable.

“From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results; and from the influence of these on the sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of the society into different interests and parties.”

In a republic, the good of all needs to be taken into consideration over the individual rights and liberties of people if the sacrifices made for the common good are for the purpose of maintaining these individual liberties.

Getting back to the beach, there are two factions whose interests are represented through compromise. If the dog walkers without leashes had their way, I would be taking my daily stroll on a dog beach, not a public beach which makes allowances for dog walkers. If people who disliked dogs had their way, I would be walking on a private beach which only allowed members to enjoy it without dogs. Instead, I walk on a beach which allows both factions to enjoy it, provided that each faction respects the individual preferences of the other and follows the rules created to respect the individual rights of both types of individuals to the greatest extent without infringing on each others’ rights.

In our Republic, there should never be laws which favor the individual rights of one group over another. As part of the system of checks and balances, the Framers intended to have the will of the people somewhat filtered through the electoral processes, i.e. Electoral College and United States Senators being chosen by the individual state’s legislatures. Madison saw the difficulty for factions to impart their will on the people as a good thing…a natural check on their power in an extended republic. Madison felt that in a republic that the goal of its elected leaders should be to maintain the authority of the Constitution, which of course gets its authority from the people living under its laws. He would have expected the leaders in such a republic to work toward maintaining the liberty insured by the Constitution and to have a higher sense of purpose when interpreting the needs of the people.

Members of a community agree to make sacrifices for the greater good. This means abiding by the rules to which everyone agrees and by which everyone can maximally benefit with minimal individual sacrifice.

Most of the time I can go about my life following a routine that includes working on the Constitutional Literacy curriculum for our BasicsProject.org website, writing articles about the relevance of our Fundamental Law, taking my daily constitutional along the beach, and performing the chores that demand my attention, but never far from these distractions is the daily reminder that there are men and women who have dedicated themselves to our security; who have placed their lives in harm’s way to protect this absolutely ordinary life I am privileged to lead.

Perhaps the best way to really understand this reality is to contrast it with another. Around the world there are people who live in countries where citizens have never experienced the freedoms that our government was instituted to protect, who will never have the opportunities afforded to Americans to innovate, lead, and maintain the lifestyle to which we are accustomed. It is almost obscene to think that in some countries, children are subject to diseases long eradicated in our own country, hungry because there is never enough food to satisfy their appetites, and whose safety is at risk because fighting factions are unconcerned about the accidental loss of life during skirmishes and all out war between groups vying for power.

Every four years we experience an election in this country in which power of office is transferred peacefully from one person to another. How many Americans have endured a coup, war between an enemy power and our troops on native soil, or lived with the uncertainty which can stem from a majority faction taking power and changing the laws under which we operate. This is because our written Constitution was designed to preserve our rights while providing the stability to grow stronger and wealthier as a nation.

On this Thanksgiving, I give thanks for being fortunate enough to live in the United States of America; free from hunger, sheltered and safe. I give thanks to the Founders and Framers who understood the opportunity freedom from British rule presented. I give thanks for teachers who understand the difference between education and indoctrination and who do not treat people differently based on color, class, or religion. I give thanks for the consistency of family, for the unknown which lies ahead, and for the simple fact of being alive on November 24, 2012.

And to all those reading this commentary, have a blessed Thanksgiving.

The nation will watch as Big Labor Democrats will likely flee to Illinois again in 2012 rather than allow their constituents the right to pay or not pay union fees without the threat of losing their jobs.

And employers from Illinois to Ohio will be watching to decide if they can stay in the Midwest or even remain in the U.S.

Indiana is located at one of the crossroads of America, and it has the opportunity to become a free state where workers can no longer be forced into union servitude. Indiana has the opportunity to become the anchor that saves Midwest economic viability.

The Right To Work decision in Indiana may become the first and most important political decision made in 2012. And, it’s a simple choice: live free or under union boss compulsion.

My father “earned” his way out of Cuba by working essentially as a slave on the sugar cane fields for 2 years, where more than 25% of the people died within a year from malaria, as a punishment for asking for an exit visa.  We went back to Spain with the clothes on our backs (I was a toddler).  When Franco died, many Spaniards (my whole family is from Spain, my parents were in Cuba for only a few years), figured Socialism would come in, so many (like us) left, running from socialism to a country where we knew no one, had no jobs, and didn’t understand the culture or the language.  Socialism always does that — creates an incentive for the bright, the educated, the entrepreneurs and the wealthy to leave, leaving the country with what?  So we came to the U.S.

I learned English at 14, worked hard to get out of the ghetto, got into Cornell with a special language waiver, managed to get a Cornell engineering degree, then joined the Navy. Part of the reason I served was that I felt like I owed the country something for taking us in. I got hurt in Bosnia,came home, worked hard to establish a business, and now I’ve left my country, because I can’t take the Socialist slant anymore, and I am so tired of the regulations that make it almost impossible to do business in the U.S.  When I closed my home theatre installation business, I was not an engineer; I was a paper-filler-outer.  I have ZERO incentive to start my business in the USA between the taxes and the regulations.  The last straw was this summer; there are now over 6,000 lamps I can no longer use in jobs.  If I do, there is a fine of $5000 PER LAMP all for some hoax called Global Warming.  By the way, the new “better” lamps are from 4x to 10x costlier, and the “environment-killing” lamps are being used in every other non-EU country.

You need to understand Domingo as I did.  We were on the same dorm floor freshman year.  All he did was study.  He busted his ass, and every other day he talked about how grateful he was to the U.S.  He always intended to join the Navy, despite us (at the time, foolish liberals) trying to talk him out of it.  For this man to do all he has done, then leave of his own free will?  Wow.

Now, he lives in Costa Rica.  Here’s the letter he sent (edited for length):

1 October, 2011; Pilas de Alajuela, Costa Rica

So I decided to take a walk today. This was a Saturday afternoon, and people were doing their business like any other day. Dogs ran around — no collars, no tags, yet no one seemed to care or be bothered.  I saw homes of the poor, the rich and the in-between, all mixed up, on the same street as the church, the schools, the bars, the restaurants and the convenience stores. Many people were dressed in clothes that would surely make the Goodwill rack in the US.  Yet, the people were clean, tidy, polite, groomed, and well-dressed.  No flip-flops or torn jeans in church or school, no ragged clothes or shirts with profane slogans — even the people in the bus stops were well-dressed and smelled of perfume and cologne.

The roads are shared by horses, pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, ATVs, cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles. Somehow hundreds of vehicles taking treacherous turns at steep angles manage to share the road with no incident. There are no medians, no sidewalks, no emergency lanes, no jersey borders, no reflective gizmos on the road, not even a yellow line down the middle. The roads are barely wide enough to allow two cars through, yet buses and trucks manage the turns all day. I even saw an amazingly adept chicken cross the road. In six hours, seeing dozens of intersections, I saw zero STOP signs, one blinking red signal light, no ridiculous “slippery when wet” or “dangerous curves” signs, no highly paid DOT workers standing around with signs that say “SLOW” and of course, no highway marker signs or street name signs. Somehow, 5 million people manage to navigate a country a little smaller than West Virginia with barely a touch from the government. I did not see a single police car all day. We in America are so accustomed to having government in every aspect of our lives and so prevalent in our society, we don’t even notice the intrusion anymore.

There were people cleaning their cars, painting fences and mixing concrete for repairs to their homes. Some had very little, but what they had they kept with pride. I saw almost no graffiti, even in the city center. Most of the homes had been built or expanded by the homeowners. I felt the pride and the dignity of the people everywhere. There were people in their tidy uniforms performing all types of duties. You see beautiful girls standing in the aisles of the supermarket asking you to try new products. There were men working for small tips at the parking lots, charging you a few colones (a quarter) to clear the traffic while you park, and to watch your car while you spend time inside the store. People were doing what they could, working instead of begging.

I met an old impoverished lady who told me through her crooked smile and missing teeth to “travel with God”, and she asked whether I was interested in a live chicken. She raises chickens, then sells eggs and chickens (live or dead) to anyone walking by. Some of the eggs still had straw on them. I am reasonably sure she does not read mountains of regulations regarding raising and selling chicken products, nor does she have a myriad of health inspections, yet she manages to have an apparently loyal clientele. There was an actual line of people waiting for her to bring the fresh eggs. She works to get by and she is full of pride, flags of Costa Rica painted on her deteriorating porch.

Thinking again of lack of regulation, I saw two veterinarians who work from their home. Half the house is a vet center, the other half is a residence. I walked past an orthodontist practicing from her home, as well as mechanics, car painters, a body shop, convenience stores, a butcher, and a vegetable market. There was an older lady who has quite a following for her meat patties, handmade and ready to eat, right next to the bus stop. And all this is done from their homes, without mountains of regulations or government agencies to get in the way.

Did you know that they cook with SALT here (yikes), PORK FAT (double yikes), real SUGAR (oh Lord), whole milk (fatty, fatty) and pretty much only drink water when mixed with coffee. Yet, the lack of obese people everywhere is amazing. Somehow, I don’t think it’s the salt, the meat, the pork fat or the sugar.

It is hard for me to explain what freedom feels like, but this place has it. These people are proud of what they are, who they are and what they’ve accomplished for themselves, what little or much it may be. This is all visible in the way they comport themselves with dignity. Though not highly educated, they don’t need thousands of pages of rules to tell them how to run a business, what foods to eat, where the bathroom needs to be, how large the door needs to be, how to establish bus transportation, or even how to drive up and down a mountain.

When people receive welfare, free food, free housing, free medicine, free babies, free education – now the US government has a program to provide free cell phones to people – people stop having drive and determination. People stop being proud in what they are and what they’ve done; productivity and creativity stop. Why bother creating when everything comes to you with no effort from a magical government fairy?

The entitlement mentality also makes you less caring about others. Why worry about them, since they can get everything for free just as well as you can?  These people have not been ruined in that fashion, and it is so refreshing to breathe in the freedom.  In fact, it is so foreign to us that have lived in highly regulated societies that we have lost the concept that people can, and do, fend for themselves. The people here in Costa Rica know that every day is a challenge and every day is a gift, they respect that double-edged sword, respect the others around them and strive to do something that will earn and sustain their personal pride.

By the way, there are no unions here.  Malpractice insurance does not exist.  And if you bring a ridiculous case to court, you lose your law license.

Are there downsides?  Sure.

Super-low income taxes (11% corporate, ZERO percent personals).

Flat consumption tax on everything, no exceptions…but no IRS, either.

Very little government, which means few cops and firemen.

Few cops means  the Second Amendment is alive and real here!

Few firemen, but in earthquake country, all the houses here are built of solid concrete.

There is no military, so no defense.

Bumpy roads, since the gas tax is so low.  Then again, America has potholes, too.

Court system is slow, but so is ours, and we have tons of taxes.

Crappy jails, but then again, jail should suck.

No road signs, but GPS is cheap.

No sidewalks, but no one cares.

It’s hard to point to truly “bad” things about Costa Rica.  Unless you think it’s “bad” that it doesn’t have these things:

No welfare

No unemployment compensation

No Social Security or Disability

No food stamps

No free housing

No free anything

Poor people go to school in church schools, which run off donations, and people help each other here.

I’d close with some kind of profound comment, but why spoil it?