With the Wisconsin Senate Democrats fleeing the state last Thursday to prevent the passage of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill, most of the Dems’ constituents applauded their senators for taking such a radical stand in support of public sector workers’ rights.

It’s the tyranny of the majority, an “Attack on UW,” and a real-life remake of Emperor Palpatine’s Empire, the pro-labor protesters, flu-ridden teachers and run-of-the-mill hippies have shouted for days at the capitol.

But while everyone was busy celebrating a return to the ’60s-like political climate in Madison, some very real ramifications of the Senate Democrats’ out-of-state strike will take place if the bill isn’t passed.

Whatever you think of Walker, he is clearly a man of his word in the most literal sense.

He said the high-speed rail would not be built and he kept the promise despite similar opposition and several drawn plans to help ease the state operating costs Walker wanted to avoid. He said he would cut taxes to help business and he did – despite some conservative economists cautioning that tax cuts during economic decline may just increase the problem.

Now Walker has promised he will balance the budget for the fiscal year that runs through June 30.

There are two options for how this will go down. To appease you angry students, we can call them the First Death Star and the Second Death Star. Except this time there is no convenient destruction tunnel that a practiced womp-rat shooter can nail.

The First Death Star you already know. A Senate Democrat or two comes back to the state, and the budget repair bill passes. If this happens, public sector unions will have to pay more for benefits, which they are mostly okay with, but also lose collective bargaining, which no one who leans left is okay with.

With Walker in charge, this is the only way the bill passes. Not to be too dramatic, but let me insert a theatric period in here. Walker will not compromise. Now, Senate Dems can rage about that all they want – and they have good reason to – but it doesn’t change the fact that Walker has stated the bill would pass with the collective bargaining amendment along for the ride or not at all, and Walker does not break his word.

Senate Democrats, of course, can boycott the entire state until after Friday, at which time it will be too late for Walker’s bill to pass.

A victory for liberals everywhere, right?

Simply put, no, not at all. Just like the Emperor he has been compared to so many times, Walker has a back-up plan in case the First Death Star goes down.

And the Second Death Star may be more destructive.

While precise details haven’t come out, Walker and his team have said they will need to cut “10,000 to 12,000” state jobs, along with making major cuts to Medicaid and other healthcare programs to balance the budget if the repair bill isn’t passed.

Further, a Republican-only congress can pass a host of non-fiscal related bills this week while their Democrat opponents sit uselessly in Illinois hotels. According to Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, likely the first bill to be forced through without Democrat opinion will be the voter ID bill, which could hit the floor Wednesday. As a bill that disincentives many poor people and out-of-state students from showing up to vote at all – two groups that largely vote Democrat – it would appear to be in the liberal Senators’ best interests to have a some say in a bill for personal reasons as well as any grander social justice motivation.

Regardless of your feelings on Walker, he has put the Senate Democrats into a lesser-of-two-evils position. And right now they are choosing wrongly.

Losing collective bargaining rights hurts in an ideological sense. Losing jobs, healthcare and whatever else the Republicans push through will hurt Democrat supporters in a very real sense.

Just remember that as you toast the solidarity victory of the Senate Democrats Saturday night. About 10,000 to 12,000 people may disagree with you.