Even as the United States fights a “kinetic military action” in Libya, there’s plenty of non-“kinetic” con flict here at home. It’s a war for our economic viability and the validity of our electoral process — and it’s one we can’t afford to lose.
Start in Wisconsin, the proxy battleground pro tem of the intensified national partisan conflict. Democrats there still refuse to accept that elections have consequences: They’re still trying to block and/or roll back Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda by any means.
With the state facing a $3.1 billion shortfall over the next two years, Walker won office on a reform platform, and voters also gave the Republican Party control of both houses of the Legislature. But that hasn’t quailed the opposition.
After weeks of delay thanks to the Democratic walkout, Republicans found a way to pass Walker’s bill to strip some public-employee unions of their collective-bargaining privileges. So then the Democrats took it to court, where a liberal county judge issued a temporary injunction against the law. When the Republicans found a way around the judge’s order and began implementation over the weekend, she issued a new one. Walker’s aides say they’re “evaluating” her decision.
It gets worse. Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is supposed to be nonpartisan. But with conservative Justice David Prosser up for re-election to a new 10-year term in a closely divided court, the left — in the guise of something called the Greater Wisconsin Committee — is preparing to pour up to $3 million into an ad campaign to destroy his reputation and boost his opponent, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, in the hopes of using the state’s highest court to undo Walker’s work. Meanwhile, both sides are busily engaged in gathering signatures for special recall elections for their least favorite legislators.
Who is to be master here? The people, as per Article One of the Constitution — or the lawyers? The battle will soon move to other state capitals — including Columbus, where new Gov. John Kasich’s plans to cut Ohio’s budget in part by restricting its public unions is running into stiff opposition from Democrats.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress seem to have forgotten the last election. Led by the weepy House Speaker John Boehner, they’re bogged down in a small-bore battle over the continuing farce of “continuing resolutions” to fund the federal leviathan for a couple of weeks — instead of engaging in the principal battle over the bloated budget.
The GOP House freshmen elected with Tea Party support are demanding an end to nibbling around the edges of the country’s massive current deficit — $1.3 trillion and counting. And the Tea Party itself has announced a “Continuing Resolution Rally” today on Capitol Hill, to demand that Boehner and the leadership live up to their promise to defund ObamaCare and cut at least $100 billion from the bloated federal budget.
This internecine warfare poses a serious problem for Boehner and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, who’ve resorted to meeting with conservative Democrats in an effort to find “common ground” on the nugatory cuts that would attend passage of another “continuing resolution” on April 8.
Meanwhile, Majority Leader Eric Cantor is edging away from Boehner, saying Tuesday that “time is up here,” that a short-term continuing resolution “without a long-term commitment [to spending cuts] is unacceptable.”
Government “shutdown,” anybody? Maybe that’s exactly what the country needs.
It’s not like the Democrats are going to play nice. That was made clear by Sen. Chuck Schumer the other day, when he inadvertently told reporters listening in on a Senate conference call that the Democrats’ strategy will be to call the budget-cutting Republicans “extreme.” Said Schumer: “I always use the word ‘extreme.’ That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week.”
In other words, it’s not about addressing the country’s real and pressing problems. It’s about parroting talking points to gain partisan advantage.
We’re witnessing an utter lack of real leadership at the top of both parties. Time for somebody to step up.
Michael Walsh, a former associate editor of Time, is the author (as “David Kahane”) of “Rules for Radical Conservatives.”