Tuesday’s Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election is much more than a local contest between Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett; it’s the climax of a prolonged guerrilla war against Walker’s vital reforms.
Facing a huge budget deficit when he took office in January 2011, Walker made good on his campaign promises and curtailed collective-bargaining privileges for public-employee unions. Ever since, the dead-enders have sought to restore the old, unsustainable status quo.
There were weeks of huge, union-fueled protests in Madison, a physical occupation of the state Capitol building, scorched-earth legislative delaying tactics, (partly successful) efforts to recall Republican state senators and a failed bid to shift the state Supreme Court to the liberal camp. Now we’ve arrived at the end game.
The Democrats finally have their wish: the chance to unseat a sitting governor — not for any malfeasance, but for implementing his campaign promises. They’re likely to regret it.
Despite the left’s apocalyptic warnings, Walker’s reforms have helped turn the state’s ruinous finances around. His rollback of union “rights” — which started the whole mess — isn’t even being discussed anymore. Job creation is up and public education’s finances have been dramatically reformed and stabilized.
Polls show Walker heading into the do-over (he beat Barrett in 2010) with a lead of up to eight points. Sensing defeat, national Democrats have withdrawn support for the recall, infuriating local party functionaries.
But the unions at least want some scalps, if only to discourage those looking to support Walker-style reforms elsewhere. They don’t much care whom they take down: Four more state senators face recall next Tuesday, as does Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch — collateral damage in the ongoing Battle of Wisconsin.
Obama-tested slogans such as the bogus “war on women” and the hate-the-rich meme have popped up on yard signs across Wisconsin, but the local party’s sagging fortunes mirror the president’s. A big Walker win will send an unmistakable message to Washington: Stop spending, and start reforming.
For Wisconsin has always been one front in a larger civil struggle. On one side are the forces of take: the greedy public-service unions, with their sweetheart salaries and gold-plated retirement and health-care packages, “bargaining” with the same Democratic politicians they support with their union dues.
On the other, the tapped-out private-sector taxpayers who are bearing the brunt of the recession and have been seeking a champion.
As President Franklin Roosevelt famously warned, public-employee collective bargaining is incompatible with fairness. More to the point, FDR said: “Militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees [who have] the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of government activities. This obligation is paramount.”
The unions have long denied that duty and gotten away with it — and Democrats have prospered by helping them. Walker’s success threatens that corrupt bargain.
On Tuesday night, all right-thinking Wisconsinites will have a chance to say no to threats and bullying and to take a stand — not for a party, but for the American Way. The other way lies anarchy.