Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's 53-46 percent victory over Milwaukee's Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett in last Tuesday's recall election is the Proposition 13 of the 21st Century. In 1978, California's famous property-tax-cut referendum ignited the supply-side tax-relief movement. Similarly, Walker's win will encourage elected officials to demand that taxpayer-funded government employees earn realistic wages and pay their fair share for benefits. Likewise, Walker's triumph should stiffen politicians' spines so that they insist that government union bosses live by the same rules as the rest of us.

Leaders who are inspired by Walker's mix of principled policy and prize-winning politics should enact these proposals:

-- Government workers should sacrifice, just as taxpayers have. In 2011, the U.S. Labor Department reports, private-sector employees in establishments of 100 or more typically cost employers $19.93 per hour. Among state and local government employees, the equivalent figure was $26.57 — one third higher.

-- Government workers should pay their fair share for health and pension benefits. On an hourly basis, private-sector employees cost their companies $2.15. State and local government workers cost taxpayers $4.72 per hour — 219 percent more. For retirement, the private sector figure was $1.02 per hour. The state and local sum: $3.37 per hour — a 330 percent premium.

These figures also are staggering in Washington. In 2009, according to USA Today, total wages and benefits among private-sector employees stood at $61,051. Among federal civilian employees: $123,049 — almost precisely double.

-- Government workers should stop pension spiking. Their retirement payments often are based on their last two or three years of earnings. So, many work maximum overtime to send those amounts sky high. Public pensions should be based on career-long compensation. Period.

-- Government workers should be fired for inefficiency, incompetence, and criminality. Short of raping or killing someone on camera, it seems nearly impossible to fire government employees. New York City's government-school teachers repeatedly and credibly accused of child molestation remain on paid leave for years while administrators struggle to dismiss them. Enough! If private-sector workers can get sacked in seconds, so should those who serve taxpayers.

-- Government workers should trade defined-benefit retirement plans, with artificially guaranteed returns, for defined-contribution plans, like 401(k)s. True, private-sector employees face the potential gains and losses of the financial markets. But if those who pay taxes confront such risks in their own pensions, so should those who consume their taxes.

-- Government workers' retirement ages should rise to match those in the private sector, especially as life expectancy grows. As the Manhattan Institute's PublicSectorInc.org website observes, some truly brave California cops and firefighters can retire after 20 years of service while earning 90 percent of their salaries. Average taxpayers in their 40s do not see such sweetheart deals, nor should average tax consumers.

-- Government workers should pay unions dues only if they wish, and only after unions bill them directly. Gov. Walker stopped the state's automatic dues collection on behalf of SEIU, AFSCME, the Wisconsin Educators' Association, and other unions. Private bosses do not collect rent for their employees' landlords. They do not subtract auto dealers' car payments from their staffers' paychecks, nor do they deduct workers' credit card obligations from their wages and transfer them to Visa or American Express. So, why should unions grab dues money even before workers see their paychecks? Unions should bill members for their services, without their employers' assistance, just as every other vendor does.

-- Government workers only should belong to unions voluntarily. AFSCME's Wisconsin chapter, for instance, has plunged from 62,818 members pre-Walker to 28,745 today. This strongly suggests that 34,073 or 54.2 percent of AFSCME's previous headcount were hostages rather than members. Like unlocking the doors at a rap concert, those who feel like guests can remain. Those who feel like captives can leave. This is called freedom. Government-union bosses should look into it.

As Gov. Scott Walker shows the way, official and candidates should follow in his path. Here again, step one is leadership.

Deroy Murdock is a nationally syndicated columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.