Milwaukee Mayor and Democratic challenger Tom Barrett kept trying to tag the
label of "Rock Star to the Far Right" to Governor Walker, yet nothing
could be further from the truth.
Governor Walker is the rock star for the Tax Payers, for the Tea Party, for
every Tom and Patty taxpayer, including California residents such as myself,
who are tired of one class or workers bullying and prodding legislators to vote
them benefits, perks, and largesse at the expense of the state and the
taxpayer.
Our schools suffer because of union stone-walling. Our public works programs
are losing countless millions in underfunded liabilities which are benefitting
a limited section of individuals at the expense of everyone else.
A new breed of executive is taking shape across the country. From Chris
Christie in New Jersey to Chris Cuomo in New York, and even reluctantly
Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, governors in bankrupt statehouses
are forcing massive cuts in spending, entitlements, and future benefits. Even liberal
politicians are preaching and practicing austerity, and they are not suffering
a massive backlash from their base or the middle-class voters. Even Governor
Luis Fortuno of Puerto Rico, a nation whose government employed one third of
the country's working population, had to cut spending and institute massive
lay-offs just to ensure that the state had enough money to cover the next
month's payroll.
The tide is turning against big government and easy payouts. We prize and
respect the role of public workers, but not to the degree that they receive
massive salaries while making minuscule contributions. These cozy relationships
between union hall and statehouse are no longer sustainable.
Wisconsin is shifting into a red state. What are the Wisconsin values that
Tom Barrett has been braying on about? In this new era of limited government,
the true progressives are the libertarian, limited government, and the respecters
of constitutional rule who demand that local, state, and federal governments
serve everyone, not just a political linked class of unions who spend money
that is not theirs to get more money that is also not theirs.
I do not dispute at all that workers have the right to organize, but the power
of collective bargaining belongs not to the public sector, because the state
simply cannot stop the assembly line, the way that private corporations can
without severely disrupting commerce.
Congratulations to Governor Walker, his Republican core, and the voters of
Wisconsin who have refused to permit the static progressivism of years past to stall
the future of the Dairy State.