The First Domino Falls

Welcome Back, America!

Last night saw history made in the state of Wisconsin, as Governor Scott Walker easily won an election that could have tossed him on the small pile of governors recalled prior to yesterday. That did not happen though, because Americans have once again awakened from what was perhaps an induced slumber since 2008.

The history made was not as much as the fact that Walker survived the recall as it is that the electorate, by and large, has recognized the measures that will bankrupt them and successfully distinguished them from those that help the state prosper. History remains the station for the only two governors in American history to have been recalled; Gov. Lynn Frazier from North Dakota in 1921 and Gov. Gray Davis from California in 2003.

After watching the chaos created by Big Labor back at the beginning of Walker's term as governor, it is understandable for anyone to believe that the governor's policies were hugely unpopular in Wisconsin. But it should also be remembered that at the time -- mostly because of Big Labor --  the budget deficit was $3.6 billion and the state unemployment rate stood at nearly 9 percent. Since Walker has taken over, the deficit is gone with no additional taxes levied, and the unemployment rate is down to 6.7 percent.

Clearly, the voters in Wisconsin have seen a better direction, and have begun migrating toward it with last night's vote, perhaps signaling a genuine shift in the entire country back toward the right.

The Romney campaign needs to exploit that for all it's worth. Others in America -- those not particularly wired politically -- need to be shown the successes of other governors, like John Kasich of Ohio or Chris Christie of New Jersey, who have also righted their own ships of state, albeit with a bit more panache than Walker. Even though Walker won a recall, and therefore is actually still governor, there was doubt, so Wisconsin could be counted as the lead domino, the one that started it all.

Traditionally a Democrat state, Wisconsin just realized that Democrat policies are not fiscally responsible. The ramifications such a widespread realization would have across the nation portends ill winds for a President representative of disastrous fiscal policies -- and their results. What that means could be tremendous this November.

Republicans currently control 30 states, or 60 percent of the states. Wisconsin could prove a harbinger of defeat for further Democrat governors whose states are in dire financial straits. If people begin to wake up and realize that life could be better under a Republican leader, more states could begin falling like running dominoes.

The last domino sits on Pennsylvania Avenue.

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Wisconsin or Waterloo?

Voice of the Vast Minority

Today, the Wisconsin State Legislature passed a contentious bill curtailing the rights of public servants in collective bargaining after weeks of absence by Democrats, who fled to neighboring Illinois to stall a vote in the Assembly. Apparently, these Democrats did not consult a parliamentarian before they decided to embark on their ill-conceived embargo.

Since their absence prevented the requisite quorum for a vote, the Democrats assumed that avoidance would be sufficient to stop the Republicans from acting. Little did they realize, however,  that the quorum rule applies only to fiscal budgetary votes. The Republicans, tired of waiting for the Democrats to stop holding their collective breath while stomping their feet, stripped that portion of the overall bill, and voted on the collective bargaining aspects thereof.  Call it an "epic fail" on the part of Democrats.

The move caused the simmering pot of union discontent to boil over, and now the angry have become the incensed and violent. Not that their tactics while "merely cross" were much better. In that state of emotion, they carried signs of Governor Walker as Hitler, others that called for the impeachment of the Republicans, and generally accused the governor and the right side of the aisle of lying. Fail, fail, fail.

To begin, it must be pointed out these union thugs make up a paltry eleven percent of the population, and a small portion of the middle class they allege to represent. Most of the middle class are either hard working people who pay the salaries of the union workers through confiscatory taxation, or honest people desperately seeking jobs which will add to the pool of taxpayers.

In Scott Walker's campaign for governor, he telegraphed his intent to do precisely what he is doing, and he won the election by a six-point margin. That is a clear indication that the union folks did not have the votes to stop it. Now they want to force Walker and the Republican legislators out to achieve their goals, all the while claiming the mantel of "Democracy". Sorry, the folks who did get their votes ran away when the battle was brewing.

So the labor movement enlisted Representative Mark Pocan (D- Madison) to "look into" the budget of Wisconsin and, not surprisingly, he "found" that the $3.6 billion deficit cited by Walker was "bogus". Incredibly, Pocan claimed, “For this year’s budget, any shortfalls are a direct result of Walker’s policies." Since Walker has been Governor for exactly nine weeks, that is highly debatable, if not downright absurd.

Before the vote, Democratic Assemblymen predicted that the bill would ultimately be overturned because it violated the state's open-meetings law, which requires 24 hours notice before meetings. Republicans countered that they had waited long enough for the missing Democratic Senators to return. Seriously, to whine about not being present for a vote when you've fled to another state altogether - and for weeks - is an embarrassing fail.

Add to the ineptitude of the elected in this drama the machinations of the peripheral cast, and things get uglier. As union protesters became more frustrated, they became more rambunctious, storming the Capitol building and climbing through windows, prompting a temporary lock-down of the Capitol. Others, inside the building's rotunda, chanted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, Scott Walker has got to go," and, "This is what democracy looks like."

No. Democracy looks like elected representatives who bother to show up for work casting their votes on behalf of their constituents. Those who opt out have no business complaining. For the Left in this case to believe that they have engaged in the democratic process and, by extension, won any level of sympathy have succeeded in nothing more than...say it with me..."failure".

As long as the mainstream media doesn't recognize the losing aspects of this play and drop the coverage like a radioactive isotope, what the progressives believed was a winner for the cause will turn into their undoing, just as Napoleon found at Waterloo.

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Wisconsin Like Egypt? Not at All

Scott Walker Targeted?

There are several glaring ironies at play in Wisconsin these days, as union members flood the streets in protest against Governor Scott Walker's plans to fiscally stabilize that state's economy. Some in the media have attempted to compare those protests to the recent ones in Egypt, as people there took to the streets demanding the ouster of dictator Hosni Mubarek, and democratic freedoms.

The comparison doesn't hold water, however, since Mubarek wasn't elected by the people in the first place. Walker, on the other hand, won that state's election with a five point margin and over fifty percent of the vote, giving him a clear mandate to do the very things he promised in the campaign. Perhaps the losers never believed Walker would be true to his word once in office, as is often the case with politicians.

While the Egyptian protests were about democracy and the will of the people, the Wisconsin union thuggery is more about ignoring the will of the people in favor of their own demands. Since Wisconsin was the first state to approve collective bargaining rights in municipal jobs in 1959, the irony here is rich in that the detrimental effects of union greed have necessitated such a move there. The willingness of the unions, in this case, to further exacerbate the budget woes by calling in sick to protest should speak volumes to their priorities.

Then there are the duly elected Democratic legislators who, in clear violation of their sworn duties, mirrored the antics of the unions. In order to have a quorum for a vote, the Wisconsin legislature needs 20 of its members to participate. The Republicans hold the edge in that body, 19-14. Curiously, all 14 Democratic members hid out in another state to avoid their responsibilities to the people of Wisconsin. Is that what some would call "democracy"?

There were signs in the Wisconsin protest crowds calling for the impeachment of Governor Walker. Someone should remind these folks that impeachment is for high crimes, misdemeanors and clear dereliction of duty. Scott Walker is not guilty - much less accused - of any of those. He merely bucked the trend and did exactly what he said he would once elected.

Wisconsin Union Protest Sign

But the signs were worse than that, and herein lies yet another irony. In the wake of the Tucson shootings, in which Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was seriously wounded, the media and the Left (redundant, I know) were all over the rhetoric and the tone of the right, demanding that people like Sarah Palin "explain herself". They complained about rare or non-existent Nazi signs at Tea Party rallies, complained about imaginary racial epithets allegedly hurled at black Congressman, and called for a "change in the tone".

How quickly that has all changed, with signs bearing cross hairs over Governor Walker's face and others comparing him to Hitler. And these signs are much more prevalent in Wisconsin than they ever were at any Tea Party rally. Suddenly it is alright by the media and the Democrats who support the unions because this is viewed by them as a "people's movement". Perhaps if unions respected the wishes of those who did not want to join a union, that assessment might have some merit, but that is not the case. Often, resistors to membership are ostracized, terrorized and sometimes beaten by union bosses and "consiglieres".

The unions knew full well what Scott Walker had planned. He told them in his campaign. They lost and now have four years to properly challenge his actions through the democratic process, as is our wont in America. Is Wisconsin the same as Egypt? No, it is not, unless Egypt falls into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood. Then, if the unions succeed in their overturning of a fair election in Wisconsin, there may be an accurate similarity.

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