Further Those Signs of Hope Among America’s Political Class
A week or two ago, I wrote a brief column about some signs of hope among America’s political class — a perverse undertaking, you might think, given the tawdry, preening, grasping character of most American politicians of both parties today. But there are, thank God, some exceptions.
In that earlier column I mentioned in particular Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey and the Indiana senatorial candidate Richard Mourdock. Today I’d like to mention one other: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.
Thanks to his spectacular victory in Wisconsin’s preposterous recall election, Walker is riding a wave of adulation among the politically mature. He is close to being a household name, at least in households that can spell “socialist depredation.”
I had met the governor briefly several months ago when he was gearing up to meet the challenge of the recall. But yesterday, I had an opportunity to chat with him and a small group of friends before listening to his afternoon speech to a group of citizens concerned about the drift — or is it a gallop? — toward fiscal armageddon in this country.
Governor Walker was extremely impressive, both in the substance of what he said and the style with which he said it.
As for the substance, I’ll simply mention that Wisconsin, thanks to Governor Walker, is the only state whose pension plan is 100% funded. Its neighbor Illinois, by contrast, faces the terrifying prospect of a state pension plan that is some 43% funded. Where’s the money going to come from?
When Governor Walker assumed office, he faced horrendous deficits, but he declined to raise taxes. Illinois, by contrast, raised personal income taxes by 67% and business taxes by 46%.
Fat lot of good it did them. Business and high net-worth individuals are fleeing the state to more welcoming venues, like Wisconsin.
Governor Walker’s chief accomplishment, though — the great thing he did for the state and the thing that drove the Left nationwide into a frenzy of rage — was facing down the public-sector unions. By now, it is obvious to all who have eyes to see that by so doing, Governor Walker did a big favor not only to the ordinary residents and taxpayers of Wisconsin but also to the unions themselves. Had he not instituted his reforms, many, many union jobs would have been lost.
A lot of grateful ink has been expended outlining the substance of Governor Walker’s achievement. I’d like to add just a word or two about the style of that achievement. I am not talking about his diction or other cosmetic attributes, but his character. In my earlier column on bright spots among America’s political elite, I quoted Abraham Lincoln. Most men, said Lincoln, are able to rise to the challenge of adversity. If you want to know a man’s real character, however, give him power and see how he acts.
Most politicians do not present an edifying spectacle. But Scott Walker impresses one with his simple frankness and friendly candor. He exhibits no “side.” There is nothing of the preening, self-infatuated bureaucrat about him. His cynosure is his concern for the future, instantiated in his concern for his two young sons, Matt and Alex. I think everyone at that lunch yesterday was as deeply impressed by Walker’s character as they were by his political accomplishments in Wisconsin. I know I was. The hour, it is said, calls forth the man. The United States is in desperate need of mature, far-sighted, honest, and rhetorically adept political leaders. With Scott Walker, Wisconsin hit a home run, and not a moment too soon.
Lord D’Abernon once observed that “An Englishman’s mind works best when it is almost too late.” Perhaps it is that way for us Americans too. Folks like Scott Walker give me hope.
Also read: Is Obama a Socialist? An Answer to Milos Forman
U Wisc-Madison has been hatching plots on using education especially and the social sciences generally to attack the US and economic freedom for decades. So much unappreciated damage tracks back to various centers and institutes there.
For the NEA to give everything they had to take down Walker and maintain the public unions ability to blackmail politicians and bureaucrats was truly going into the belly of the beast.
If sanity can prevail in Wisconsin, there is hope almost everywhere as soon as the average person begins to appreciate where the social and political poison is coming from. And just how much it has already cost us.
The best leaders do seem to be people who find their life’s joy somewhere other than politics.
Visited Gov. LePage last week. Found him in high good humor about the Wisconsin results—pointed out that now Walker is the only governor in the nation with a double mandate in the same term.
Maine’s Democrats were all set to run against LePage this year although he isn’t running for anything. Then their polls came back showing that his approval rating has climbed to 52% despite the unrelenting hostility of Maine’s media. They grow a little uncertain about their anti-Lepage strategy, but they have no other. The will make no real attempt to reverse the GOP reforms in Maine.
Scott Walker for President!
Scott Walker is a rare beast. I wonder how he got into politics? I have, myself, frequently been driven to attempt rescues of benighted, hopeless causes. The sheer stupidity and ignorance of even the most experienced and trustworthy of the other board members always astounds me. People who have been passing budgets for twenty years, yet do not understand what the numbers on the page even signify!
It should be no surprise that none of these ventures were saved, even by my most subtle, educational, even humble efforts (I have tried them all). When people fail to acknowledge simple math and reality, all hope is lost. Some continue on, never thriving, just keeping place, merely.
I think that today we are too easily amused by disparaging all good men. Men like Scott Walker are not overly handsome. They are not barnburning speechifiers. They are not brilliant athletes. They haven’t won tons of awards. They are not, in other words, self-absorbed narcissists. They are merely men who wish hat somehow, the venal stupidity and avarice, which truly causes all the world’s pain, can be somewhat tamed, and the most good can flow thereby to the most people. Eventually, even the best become cynical. Truly, P. T. Barnum knew whereof he spoke.
I salute him, as a fellow swimmer upstream, and especially as one who has had some success. Balancing reality and politics is a nice art, and he seems to have mastered it, to a great degree. May God Himself bless him and his efforts.
We need more of his like. Many labor in the fields, but the work is unbelievably tiresome. Arguing with idiots is extremely hard on one, and they never acknowledge that you were ever correct, even after the final destruction, which you predicted all along, takes its toll.
All I can say is, “VIVA WALKER!!!”
May he achieve all he can before the horrible weariness sets in.
“The United States is in desperate need of mature, far-sighted, honest, and rhetorically adept political leaders.”
They also have to believe in fundamental conservative values, such as less spending, smaller government, and a reduction in taxes. Run the state and the country like you would run your own household. In your house, if you owed $100,000, would you solve that problem by borrowing another $100,000, or would you save your money and pay down the original debt? You don’t get out of debt by getting into more debt. Sounds like common sense, right? Yet that is what Washington and socialists like Obama do on a regular basis. If the people in Washington were personally responsible for all of the debt they ran up while in office, I’m sure they would spend the money much more wisely. We need not only a lot more character in Washington, but a lot more common sense as well.
“An Englishman’s mind works best when it is almost too late.” This reminds me of an account I read in a book on the formation of Pakistan. The Hindus and Muslims were hacking apart and slaughtering each other literally by trainloads as they all headed north or south to get to their new respective religious territories. A British officer was riding one of the trains and realized that were his train to stop at the next station one of the groups of maddened religious fanatics(I disremember which one in particular and it doesn’t really matter) would storm the train cars and butcher everyone, so he ordered the engineers to blow through the station without stopping and he saved everyone on board.
I was happy to do my small part to help Gov. Walker & Rebecca Kleefisch. Finally a Republican who actually did what he campaigned on. And he walked thru Hell, but prevailed. Most ordinary people would have folded up the tent a long time ago buckling under the pressure.
It’s nice to hear about an elected official with character, which I’ll assume includes honesty and intgrety.
How many does that make? Two? Three? there’s Walker, and there’s Paul Ryan and there’s Alan West. The list gets real real short real real quick.
I’ld like to add others from the newbie list, but history says that a very high percentage of them will sell out and probably already have.
Suscetabiliy to corruption is in the dna of anybody who has an interest in getting elected. They wouldn’t get into politicas if they didn’t crave wealth and power.
The solution isn’t better politicians, the solution is less money for politicians to spread around.
We have to throw 90% of the government (other than national defense and public safety) away. It’s worse than useless. It’s so dangerous that it will destroy the country unless its blown up first.
Indeed. It’s nearly provable that, in the absence of invasion by a hostile foreign power, a country is always in more danger from its own government than from any other actual or potential threat. After all, what armed-to-the-teeth predatory force is nearest to it?
Mitt Romney could do much worse than choose Governor Walker as his Vice Presidential candidate….
What a horrible thought.
Why would you want to tarnish a man like Walker by associating him with that RINO Romney?
That would want to make me throw up!
Goodby, John Boehner. Hello, Speaker Scott Walker. Wouldn’t that be something wonderful to behold? (Yes, the Constitution would permit it.)
“Lord D’Abernon once observed that “An Englishman’s mind works best when it is almost too late.” Perhaps it is that way for us Americans too.”
Apparently there are too few minds working in California. Gov. Moonbeam is about to – or has just signed a bill allowing that state to begin selling bonds for construction of a $68B high speed rail project linking northern and southern California. Some of the money will come from Federal Transportation grants – great – I get to help fund their boondoggle.
You just have to wonder what dumb investors will be buying those bonds. And who thinks the $68B figure will be ‘on budget’? Double it – or more and you’ll be closer to the final tally.
The list of competent and, so far as one knows, honorable and even modest Republicans is quite long. Walker is high on the list. The central problem remains the current Congressional leadership and all the troughers and toadies who tag along. That ain’t going away after November. Walker, one hopes, is too smart to agree to be Romney’s running mate.
Yes, there’s plenty of hope for the future especially for those open to the idea of quitting the GOP for better pastures. The clamor for reform will reach a crescendo after the election.
The best and brightest have nothing to fear. The country needs them near the top of the tree, running things instead of accepting crumbs from denizens permanently identified with the mess (Pelosi, Boehner, e.g. — the list is long).
The failure of our two major parties is now complete. A few Democrats, a shorter list, are also part of the solution. Example (maybe): CO Gov. John Hickenlooper has an attractive background and, to this outsider, seems worthy. Do voters in CO hate him?
No doubt that Mr. Walker is a fine governor and survived the attack against fiscal sanity. However, in modern demographics he is still old white bread, male, and not photogenic.
Nikki Haley could take away the Obama sway with the woman’s vote, and still make populist sense with her fiscal austerity. Finally there could be a female V.P. since Palin isn’t running.
Allen West is everything that Obama is not, and puts another face on the self inflicted racial stereotyping of black America. There is nothing but straight talk and honor in West’s opinions.
Romney has got to get in the game to win. His VP has got to counterpoint his niceness. Romney has to have his own plan, and, undoing Obama’s mess will be a four year slog.
Scott Walker had no part in making the state’s public employee pensions 100% funded. They were 100% funded when he arrived. Unlike many public employees, the ones in Wisconsin pay 11% of each paycheck into an investment fund and the amount they get in retirement is directly tied to how much they contributed over the years, how much the account grew, and how old they are when they retire. It is a model for the rest of the governments in this country and others. It would be an excellent replacement for Social Security.
All Scott Walker did in regards to the pension was force employees back to paying for half their annual contribution on the taxable side of the ledger. Over time, what had happened was various government agencies, when negotiating with employees, offered to pay part of their pension contribution instead of offering them a pay increase. Eventually all of the contribution was paid by the employer. This was because of the way the tax structure subsidizes employer contributions to both retirement and health plans. Basically, giving an employee a dollar that way is tax free, while giving them a dollar in their paycheck is taxed and they get about 65 cents. If you understand accounting and business, you realize that there are no “employer contributions” to anything, they just pay the employee part of their compensation on the tax free side of the ledger.
To all Californians, where’s our Scott Walker?
He moved to Texas.
In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. (Mark Twain, Notebook, 1904)
I hope nobody thinks it is over in WI. The unions NEVER forgive or forget. They’ll move to the legislative races and make reinstitution of the union/agency shop the litmus test for endorsements. They’ll even find stupid Republicans who still think unions will like Republicans if they’re just nice to them, and next session or the next or the next there’ll be innocuous, seemingly fair legislation to make all those “free riders” pay a “fair share” of the costs of collective bargaining and it will seem ever so reasonable when it quietly passes with no media notice at all and legislative opposition, if there is any, won’t be able to get the slightest media notice.
I’m convinced that there is no way to successfully “reform” public sector collective bargaining. Walker won this one because the recall was so noticeable and nationalized the election; the unions/left overplayed their hand as they are wont to do. They won’t make the same mistake twice. Money wont pour into obscure state house races and one day, we’ll look around and a Democrat majority will have given it all back to the unions.
So long as there is a legal duty to bargain and the union/agency shop is legal, or where public employees have unlimited political rights, public sector unions are an existential threat to good government. Walker did away with the union/agency shop and the dues checkoff for all but police and fire – itself a mistake, but the duty to bargain remains so the union is more than just a voluntary association. Even in right to work states that don’t countenance public employee bargaining public employees have enormous electoral power. The Hatch Act has been gutted and federal employees are like an occupying army in many western states. Show me a capital city even in Southern RTW states and I’ll show you a liberal city. We need to return to the days when public employees, especially teachers, gave up all political rights other than an individual right to vote as a condition of their employment.
Well said.
Now, let me fix it:
Unions, in principle, are contra liberty. Always have been, always will be.
No, that isn’t the fix, or at best only half the fix. The necessary fix is that the price of being a public employee is having no say in public affairs beyond your individual vote; you can’t give money, you can’t express an opinion, at least not under color of office, you can’t act in concert, and to your point, no agent of public employees, either a voluntary association or a true union can do any of those things on behalf of public employees. Public employees acting in concert as the Hatch Act and its state law analogs began to erode are what brought you public employee unions.
And this isn’t an easy position for me and many others who are or have been involved in public employee bargaining from the employer or neutral side; it has been or is our livelihood, but the system doesn’t work if employees have both union rights and political rights and it may not work even if they don’t have union rights but still have political rights, see, e.g., Southern RTW states and the political power the “voluntary” teachers associations have.
Unions are the only avenue open to the heavy hand of government administrators. Unions have lone played a good hand for workers in Wisconsin.
“Lord D’Abernon once observed that “An Englishman’s mind works best when it is almost too late.”
That is a GREAT quote that I have never heard before. I wonder why it never grew the legs that Churchill’s quote about its friend/nemesis America: ‘Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing…after they have exhausted all other possibilities.’ Is it possible he had D’Albernon’s quote in mind, adapting it to his own WWII situation?
Governor Walker employed a basic principle, Public Sector Union workers do not get early retirement compared to private sector workers, Public sector union workers need to contribute to their own health care costs just like private sector workers, and public sector union workers need to receive pensions in amounts congruent with private sector workers.
Egalitarianism for public and private sector workers is the rule, not favoritism.
Take heart Teavangelicals, TeaPartiers and Americans. Las Vegas “oddsmakers” predict a landslide for Romney, read the story. A bit long, but worth it:
Wayne Allyn Root
May 30, 2012
Townhall Alerts
Most political predictions are made by biased pollsters, pundits, or prognosticators who are either rooting for Republicans or Democrats. I am neither. I am a former Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee, and a well-known Vegas oddsmaker with one of the most accurate records of predicting political races.
But as an oddsmaker with a pretty remarkable track record of picking political races, I play no favorites. I simply use common sense to call them as I see them. Back in late December I released my New Years Predictions. I predicted back then- before a single GOP primary had been held, with Romney trailing for months to almost every GOP competitor from Rick Perry to Herman Cain to Newt- that Romney would easily rout his competition to win the GOP nomination by a landslide. I also predicted that the Presidential race between Obama and Romney would be very close until election day. But that on election day Romney would win by a landslide similar to Reagan-Carter in 1980.
Understanding history, today I am even more convinced of a resounding Romney victory. 32 years ago at this moment in time, Reagan was losing by 9 points to Carter. Romney is right now running even in polls. So why do most pollsters give Obama the edge?
First, most pollsters are missing one ingredient- common sense. Here is my gut instinct. Not one American who voted for McCain 4 years ago will switch to Obama. Not one in all the land. But many millions of people who voted for an unknown Obama 4 years ago are angry, disillusioned, turned off, or scared about the future. Voters know Obama now- and that is a bad harbinger.
Now to an analysis of the voting blocks that matter in U.S. politics:
*Black voters. Obama has nowhere to go but down among this group. His endorsement of gay marriage has alienated many black church-going Christians. He may get 88% of their vote instead of the 96% he got in 2008. This is not good news for Obama.
*Hispanic voters. Obama has nowhere to go but down among this group. If Romney picks Rubio as his VP running-mate the GOP may pick up an extra 10% to 15% of Hispanic voters (plus lock down Florida). This is not good news for Obama.
*Jewish voters. Obama has been weak in his support of Israel. Many Jewish voters and big donors are angry and disappointed. I predict Obama’s Jewish support drops from 78% in 2008 to the low 60′s. This is not good news for Obama.
*Youth voters. Obama’s biggest and most enthusiastic believers from 4 years ago have graduated into a job market from hell. Young people are disillusioned, frightened, and broke- a bad combination. The enthusiasm is long gone. Turnout will be much lower among young voters, as will actual voting percentages. This not good news for Obama.
*Catholic voters. Obama won a majority of Catholics in 2008. That won’t happen again. Out of desperation to please women, Obama went to war with the Catholic Church over contraception. Now he is being sued by the Catholic Church. Majority lost. This is not good news for Obama.
*Small Business owners.Because I ran for Vice President last time around, and I’m a small businessman myself, I know literally thousands of small business owners. At least 40% of them in my circle of friends, fans and supporters voted for Obama 4 years ago to ‘give someone different a chance.’ I warned them that he would pursue a war on capitalism and demonize anyone who owned a business…that he’d support unions over the private sector in a big way…that he’d overwhelm the economy with spending and debt. My friends didn’t listen. Four years later, I can’t find one person in my circle of small business owner friends voting for Obama. Not one. This is not good news for Obama.
*Blue collar working class whites. Do I need to say a thing? White working class voters are about as happy with Obama as Boston Red Sox fans feel about the New York Yankees. This is not good news for Obama.
*Suburban moms. The issue isn’t contraception it’s having a job to pay for contraception. Obama’s economy frightens these moms. They are worried about putting food on the table. They fear for their children’s future. This is not good news for Obama.
*Military Veterans. McCain won this group by 10 points. Romney is winning by 24 points. The more our military vets got to see of Obama, the more they disliked him. This is not good news for Obama.
Add it up. Is there one major group where Obama has gained since 2008? Will anyone in America wake up on election day saying ‘I didn’t vote for Obama 4 years ago. But he’s done such a fantastic job, I can’t wait to vote for him today.’� Does anyone feel that a vote for Obama makes their job more secure?
Forget the polls. My gut instincts as a Vegas oddsmaker and common sense small businessman tell me this will be a historic landslide and a world-class repudiation of Obama’s radical and risky socialist agenda. It’s Reagan-Carter all over again.
But I’ll give Obama credit for one thing- he is living proof that familiarity breeds contempt.
Don’t forget, take five of your good friends along with you to your polling precincts this November 6. God Save America. Amen.
All you fellows seem to believe that public sector employees should have no right to unionize based on the fact that most private sector workers have no unions. But I say let ‘em all have unions – the more the better; if that happens, public sector workers will no longer have the advantage that you perceive over private workers. There! I just solved your problem! The only problem that you fellows will have left is that you’ll no longer be able to exploit both sectors quite as effecticvely as you do now. Thus, you’ll become a little less rich, and the middle class will become a little less poor.
“Most men, said Lincoln, are able to rise to the challenge of adversity. If you want to know a man’s real character, however, give him power and see how he acts.”
I wish someone would.
“Then you can wish again!”–Uglúk