Quite under the radar to many people across America is an election, of sorts, happening this next Tuesday in Wisconsin.
In truth, it is an anti-election - a recall attempt against Wisconsin's Governor and Lt. Governor as a result of their education reform measures. Though recalling the Executive Officer team in the Badger state is the goal of this recall rebellion, the focus of the badgering is Wisconsin's Governor, Scott Walker.
It has devolved down to a "get Scotty" campaign.
Walker was recently elected by a respectable margin and with a fully expressed plan to shake up the education system in his state. The teachers association of that state recoiled in utter disbelief when Walker was not only elected but even more so when he started implementing the educational reforms about which he had so clearly communicated during his race for office.
The high-brow education low-life then came out in thug-step to dishonor him, to bring Wisconsin's government to a complete stop. You probably remember the national drive-by news accounts of the capitol rotunda being taken over by union organizers whipping Wisconsin's teachers into an unbelievable froth and furry.
It was insane.
And now, the rational voters and thoughtful citizens of Wisconsin go to the polls on Tuesday June 6th to either embrace the Governor and Lt. Governor OR to reject them and select an education union-backed replacement hack whose name will also be on the ballot.
And the Badger state is not buying the union badgering.
Poll numbers show Scott Walker in a double digit lead, allowing him to withstand the recall and continue on in his education reform ways. The union thugs must be apoplectic and enraged. It's as though these political bomb-throwers, sitting at their workbenches in the dimply lit basements, inadvertently just triggered an explosive and - BLAM - suddenly they're laying on the ground screaming "Where are my legs! Where's the rest of me?" And the smell of their political gunpowder wafts out into the clean air of daylight.
Though this is a state-level local issue, do not kid yourself that Tuesday's outcome will not have national repercussions. It will. President Obama's team sees this for what it is: a virtual recall on his administration and his policies.
If education can be reformed in this state (and others like Idaho) and the power of the most "acceptable" union (in that it deals with every family's local school teacher) can be derailed, then America's vote in November may well follow behind such a rational pattern of thought in one of the most liberal states in the union. Conservative and liberal parents want what works for their children. Always remember that these are parents of kids and they want the best for their offspring - and in Wisconsin that desire may just not be what the education unions espouse. How refreshing....
On Wisconsin! is a song that may be the clarion call for the states, in that it may make or break Mr. Obama's chances in November.
We must all pay attention to Tuesday's anti-election, because the results may be more "anti" than the proponents even understood. Apparently the old expression "You live by the gun, you die by the gun" has a political application to the damage intended by recall elections - even nationally.
Den
Tom and Stu,
Thanks for your comments. I always appreciate both of your visits (and comments).
Was my terminology over the top? Probably. I'll watch my mouth. Was I inaccurate about the chaos devised by those organizers to bring the state of Wisconsin to its knees. Nope. The type of uncivil response by those folks in the Capitol and as they broke items in the government buildings was completely unacceptable.
The trash that they left for others to pick up and dispose of was disgusting and in some ways mirrored their entitlement mentalities, ie: "Someone else will clean up after me..."
Is Scott Walker someone many people do not like? I suppose so, (I don;t know him personally) but that ought not to be the issue in this debate. Did he do something worthy of being recalled? Absolutely not. He did what he said he would do. And the unions could not/would not allow that to happen.
I'll take the hit on incendiary rhetoric, please take the hit on the baseless faux-recall.
Den
Posted by: Dennis Mansfield | June 01, 2012 at 05:35 PM
Union "Thug" Union "Hack" Dennis, you favorite president was also president of a labor union as well. We would never call him a thug or hack, would we? Scott Walker's problem is simple, he is an asshole.
Posted by: Stuart | May 31, 2012 at 10:55 PM
You're certainly entitled to your strongly-held opinions, but the whole "union thug" trope is tiresome, and suggests you lack effective support for your argument and are being swept along by jerking knees.
Consider the possibility that union members care about more than just their self-interest, even as they work to maintain it, as is their right. Your rhetoric about "political bomb-throwers" is over the top, all the way to embarrassing.
Furthermore, whatever it once was, Wisconsin is most certainly not "one of the most liberal states in the union." It does have one of the finest traditions of progressive politics, from which the whole nation has benefited. Scott Walker seems to have "fixed" that.
Posted by: Tom von Alten | May 31, 2012 at 05:20 PM