“To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making,” Otto von Bismarck, the first chancellor of the German Empire, once said. So have been the past few weeks in Madison and we’ve not been able to look away. The behavior of the state’s Republican leadership and legislature, both elected and appointed, over the past few weeks has been repugnant and insulting.

We’ve sat transfixed everyday as both sides of the argument attempt to score political points on their opponent like petulant children.

It began with the arrogance of the introduction of a budget repair bill, at a late morning press conference held on Feb. 11, just before a Badger game possibly in the hope it would be buried. It wasn’t.

The bill, known as the budget repair bill or Senate and Assembly Bill 11, is perceived by some to be a minor piece of legislation but it actually affects a broad and sweeping section of the Wisconsin middle class.

Hundreds of thousands of public employees face what amounted to pay cuts and the loss of almost all collective bargaining rights. Limited-term-employees could lose all of their benefits. An untold number of state residents might lose their Medicaid and BadgerCare benefits. Still, Republican Gov. Scott Walker felt it necessary to crack jokes at the news conference introducing the bill. Apparently, he felt no pain.

Such odious behavior wasn’t limited to the governor.

When the powerful Legislative Finance Committee began public hearings on the bill, those testifying in favor got preferential treatment. Despite a line several hundred people long, 20 to 30 pro-Walker-t-shirt-wearing individuals were escorted to the front of the line.

Allison Sorg, a nurse at Meriter Hospital, was one of those forced to wait for hours. When she reached the hearing room, Sorg found reserved signs on empty seats.

“One of the men who got up to speak said he had counted 40 chairs that had reserved signs on them,” she said.

He then asked the committee chairman why these people were allowed to speak first and got no response from the Chairman, Sorg said. Democratic Sen. Lena Taylor demanded that Assemblyman Robin Vos, the Republican Chairman, answer the question and got no response, either. Aaron Collins of the Senator’s office confirmed this altercation.

Then there’s the Assembly’s 17-second vote in the early morning hours of Feb. 25. After 60 hours of debate, Republicans sprung a planned and coordinated surprise vote on sleep-deprived Democrats. Fifteen Democrats were still in line to debate when the vote was called. It caught the Democrats so completely off guard that less than half were able to vote.

Bad behavior wasn’t even limited to Republicans during the Assembly vote. In the ensuing chaos and flaring tempers following the vote, Democratic Representative Gordon Hintz shouted remarks, which included an obscenity and the words “you’re dead” at Republican Representative Michelle Litjens. He has since apologized.

However, additional incidents of distasteful behavior have mounted at an ever-increasing tempo and the Republicans are the undeniable victors of contemptible and detestable behavior.

There’s the infamous “Koch call” to the governor from a New York blogger.

First there are the obvious ethical concerns with the call: planting troublemakers, tricking Democratic senators into returning, odd references to a baseball bat, and promises of a trip to California. There’s also the troubling fact that the governor would spend 20 minutes talking to a supposed wealthy out-of-state donor while ignoring the tens of thousands of state taxpayers outside his office.

Finally, the Senate Republicans are trying to bully 14 Senate Democrats into returning to the state, so they can pass this bill without further debate. This is where the Republican’s claim the moral high-ground.

Senate Republicans have revoked access to Capitol copy machines and parking passes for Democratic Senate staffers, discontinued the Senators’ direct deposit pay, and declared the 14 senators (among other things) in contempt. If they enter the state, they could be taken into custody.

While some consider the actions of the “Wisconsin 14,” or “Fab 14,” to be heroic, there are perhaps a number of people who have found their flight to avoid the rushed vote as objectionable as the actions of the Republicans. However, there is a difference.

The Republican majority sought to push this legislation through before an opposition campaign could be mounted. There is little a minority can do when faced with the certainty of a bill passing the legislature. These 14 senators, however, saw damage this would do and that the people were willing to fight and pursued the only option open to them.

These Democratic senators were elected, not to obediently do the bidding of the ruling party, but to act in and preserve the best interests of their constituents. By evading the vote they slowed the process and enabled people to exercise their Constitutional right to “peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The Republican legislature’s behavior has been the epitome of the vile politics of division, while the Democrat’s behavior has been an attempt to preserve the speech and negotiation abilities of the political minority. Which cause seems more just?

While there has been objectionable behavior on both sides of this issue, we’ve seen the worst character flaws and questionable ethics of the current Republican majority. They have lost our respect and our trust. As Chancellor Bismarck cautioned, we’ve seen it being made and no longer care for the sausage.