Posted on 03/07/2015 11:45:25 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
In America, you have the right to remain silent, the right to riseand soon the right to work. At least that is if you live in Wisconsin, or one of the other right-to-work states that allow private sector workers to opt out of union membership.
Next week, it is expected that Gov. Scott Walker will sign legislation making Wisconsin the 25th state to pass right-to-work legislation. Interestingly, Walker didn't actively push for this legislation, but his signature will nonetheless guarantee one more feather in the cap of a Republican governor who has helped transform his state in recent years.
You have to marvel at just how lucky Walker is. While some governors have a hard time documenting any accomplishments, Walker seems to have his purple state working on autopilot.
So is this a big deal? Does Walker deserve credit?? And is this the kind of thing that would buttress the resume of a presidential candidate???
I posed these questions to the always quotable Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform. Reached for comment abroad, Norquist emailed me this approving response. (I like to think of it as a kind of Haiku):
Walker led with Act 10 reforming government unions in Wisconsin.
He wisely didn't do Right to Work at the same time.
He has now won three elections. The state has watched Act 10 work.
... Next week he signs Right to Work...in Wisconsin
for heaven sake.
He did public sector labor reform.
Tax cut.
Expanded school choice
Concealed Carry legalized.
Reduced regulation on mining....big deal up north.
Now right to work in private sector.
And...public university reform in this year's budget.
Message: Not a one trick pony. Still reforming in
the middle of a campaign.
Walker can create a news event. Not a speech. Real progress.
The only thing Jeb Bush can sign is a check...
Why can't all sources be like this?
Norquist makes a compelling case for Walker, but this also serves as a reminder of one of the stark contrasts that exists in our nation. And it's not just the right vs. left divide; it's also the national vs. state divide. While some Republicans are (perhaps not unreasonably) worried they might not ever win another national election, they now control more state legislatures than ever (including both houses in the Wisconsin legislature).
And while social conservatives may lament losing the culture war, on the fiscal front, the collapse of organized labor has been nothing short of remarkable. To many conservatives, unions are a symbol of violence, strikes, socialist influence, voter intimidation, and general thuggery. They provided the money and ground troops for Democrats. And even though some conservatives might have hated them, there was a time in the 20th century when to attack unionization was to attack mom, apple pie, the flag, and blue collar America in general.
But times have changed. Dramatically. In 1953, almost a third of American employees were union members. Today, in Wisconsin, only about eight percent of private sector employees are unionized (and one expects that number will begin declining).
As such, Walker didn't so much deliver a coup de grace as he committed a mercy killing. And in this regard, he stands on the shoulder of giants. There are various cultural and economic reasons for the decline of unions in America, but one can't help thinking the political strategy and messaging employed by conservatives has at least been a major contributor.
Language is important, and you know your framing has worked when your opponents use it, too. Right to work is desperately wrong for Wisconsin, Wisconsin's Democratic leader in the Assembly recently complained.
His battle was lost before he finished saying it. Who could be against the right to work?
‘Because the leftist controlled public employee Unionswhat to stop thi? are busting the budgets of government at every level and driving this nation into the ground.’
Hmm. the republicans a have done exactly what to stop this? Illegal immigration is.not a problem? It’s a problem completely in the hands of democrats?
He’s a good manager can be said about anyone. No manages his own priorities and manages to get out on the golf course
‘2.) He is fiscally responsible with the ‘peoples purse.’
3.) He is not in the least intimidated by the thugs looking to transform this nation and destroy the constitution by literally taking us bankrupt. ‘
He has shown this how? By being right about one thing? I’ll be impressed if I ever find out his motivation. He grew up a politician not a conservative. He has a big empathy for the plight of the migrant farm worker with no mention of constitutional principals and conservatism
Not impressed. Not convinced and the snarky abusive offensive put downs are not attracting me to him
The opposite
There is no answer to my simple question I have searched it completely over the past day. And no one here has answered it
A nasty remark you can follow with but it won’t answer the question nor convince me he is a thorough conservative. Which is not enough for me.
That time came and went if there was ever that time
Walker is dismantling the Democrat money and muscle machine in WI - I expect that is what he will also work toward if he's in the WH executive's chair.
Watch what a candidate does, not only what he says.
Haven't we heard farmers talking about all the EPA rules, regulations and paper work that was taking all their time?
Here is ONE example of how Walker loosens their grip.
March 7, 2015 - Farm Bureau, others question Scott Walker's proposed farm research cuts
"Researchers and supporters of a program that helps farmers run cleaner and more efficient operations say they were stunned and blindsided by Gov. Scott Walkers proposal to cut a third of the projects funding.
Discovery Farms, a UW-Extension program that dates to 2001, applies science from a plows-on level, evaluates and monitors efforts by state farmers to control runoff, calibrate fertilizer use and employ techniques to conserve land and water.
It has a $750,000 budget, of which $248,000 would be cut in the governors proposed state budget.
UW-Extension officials noted the loss affects longstanding projects and the ability of the small program to leverage crucial additional grants and funds.
We would have a 1.2-employee reduction of staff and we would pull back some of our sampling efforts, water quality analysis and a project (set) for Rock County, said Amber Radatz, project co-director.
The projects programs include monitoring 20 state farms and educating thousands of farmers on conservation strategies.
This was a big surprise to our agency partners as well as our partners in farm groups and in UW-Extension, she said. We never had an inkling.
The $248,000 comes from a surcharge on farm chemical sales that would be discontinued."..................
NRO [3/9/2015] FR thread: “........The prominent American labor unions mainly are in steep decline, but, because of certain legal privileges, they punch above their weight politically and economically; they are corrupt, sometimes in the formal legal sense and often the more general moral sense; they are an appendage of the Democratic party whose remarkably well-compensated bosses ransack their members paychecks in order to exchange political donations for political favors; and, perhaps most important, they are today a prominent presence mainly in the public sector: The face of the American union member in 2015 is not a working man in a hardhat or Rosie the Riveter, but a bored DMV clerk twiddling his thumbs on a government-mandated break while a taxpayer waits six hours to renew a drivers license. Unions are not a mechanism by which the rights of ordinary workers are secured; they are a mechanism by which the enormous streams of taxpayers dollars shunted into inefficient and criminally wasteful bureaucracies are laundered into campaign donations and political muscle for Democrats......”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3265812/posts
‘expect that is w..
That’s the answer to ‘what motivates him. It’s just not good enough for me to get on board
And it is not a motivation
Walker announced Friday that he will sign the bill at Badger Meter in Brown Deer.
Badger Meters CEO and Chairman Rich Meeusen this week said passing the bill will lead to between 30 and 50 new jobs at his factory. He spoke out after a coalition of more than 400 businesses joined together in opposition to the proposal.
The Assembly passed it Friday morning on a party line vote with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats against.
What we`re gonna be seeing is a weakening of the power of labor over the next couple years and along with that the weakening of the power of the Democratic Party.
It`s almost like what we`re seeing (Monday) is the moment Wisconsin becomes a Republican state, UW-Milwaukee Professor Mordecai Lee said.....
I can't read his mind, but by outside appearances, it looks as if he is motivated by the same things I am. I hate unions and their lying, biased, money-grabbing ways. I worked in a unionized manufacturing facility from the late 80s to the early 2000s, and our union was the victim of a hostile takeover by the Boilermakers. We didn't vote them in or anything like that. Well all of a sudden, the midwest wasn't good enough to have their get-togethers, they had to have their get-togethers in Hawaii. And every month we would get their socialist newsletter saying how the people I voted for in the political elections were bad, and how great the likes of Bill Clinton were. I also hate going deeper and deeper into debt every year to the point of default, to where we spend more on interest than services. This also sucks all the investment money out of the economy. Does any other candidate seem to be motivated by the same things I'm motivated about to the degree Walker is?...No it doesn't appear so. Walker is the only one that took these devils on and won significant victories.
You can’t read his mind is the answer?
Oh I’ll just vote for this guy. Here’s what he’s done. Here’s what he’s written here’s how he grew up here’s what he hasn’t done here’s who he panders to and here’s what he’s promising. He did one thing that a conservative might do I don’t know why he did it he never said why.
I can’t read his mind so I’ll vote for him
I hope he’ll be a conservative. If he turns out to be like nowhere Bush, McCain, McConnell and all the powerful republicans running things but do nothing else that happens to benefit conservatives, I’ll get to have someone else to despise
Pshaw. Can’t read his mind
You want to promote someone for president and you can’t say why you’re saying he’s a conservative other than that he did something once that was conservative ? But he’s conservative because you hope so but you can’t read his mind
You’re going to lose that argument
You’re watching the republican congress give BO what he wants? No? You can see my comments. I am on the record as knowing that would happen a year ago.
I watched them get into power knowing they didn’t want to be in the majority unable to blame Dems for their promotion of amnesty common core Benghazi cover up etc
Anyone who doesn’t want absolute record, proof and history including associates, votes, actions, behaviors, education, upbringing and statements of future plans along with any sort of evidence of adherence to the constitution is silly
No you have gotten answers you just don't like the answer so you complain about it. The answer is that it is good for his state.
Unions have long held power in states that lack "right to work" laws. They are accountable to anyone because they hold their members by force and take their dues by force.
They are, sadly, protected by federal laws that makes it legal for them to use violence against people and property.
This is not "union busting". The unions have not been destroyed or outlawed. People are just finally free to decide if they wish to join or not, pay dues or not.
Great. He broke through that pesky federal law and did something that conservatives agree with And he’s the only one who did anything conservative of note. Trey Gowdy is doing what, after a year?
So walker looks good for the moment Conservatives hope he’ll do the same for ever other conservative cause, and for the entire country over the next four years
How silly
The answer to what motivates him? Proving he’s a conservative?
No tgat hasn’t been answered by anyone, including my own research that points to nothing more than a sympathy for the plight of the migrant worker
And YOU won’t like that
Quit wasting my time
This is silly
I guess you can't read. I didn't say I would vote for him because I can't read his mind. I don't know his motivations any more than I knew Reagan's or anyone else's. All we have is results, and Reagan got results, and Walker has results.
Oh Ill just vote for this guy. Heres what hes done. Heres what hes written heres how he grew up heres what he hasnt done heres who he panders to and heres what hes promising. He did one thing that a conservative might do I dont know why he did it he never said why.
Well, he's done a lot more than one thing, but if you want to single out that one thing, that's more than any other conservative has done since Reagan.
I hope hell be a conservative. If he turns out to be like nowhere Bush, McCain, McConnell and all the powerful republicans running things but do nothing else that happens to benefit conservatives, Ill get to have someone else to despise
Bush was a good president considering the window of opportunity he was given. Bush kept America strong, had tax cuts, kept us out of Kyoto, kept us out of the international courts. Those are big.
You want to promote someone for president and you cant say why youre saying hes a conservative other than that he did something once that was conservative ? But hes conservative because you hope so but you cant read his mind
As I said, he did a lot more than one thing but that one thing is the very foundation of fiscal conservatism.
Youre going to lose that argument
So you're a mindreader?
Youre watching the republican congress give BO what he wants? No? You can see my comments. I am on the record as knowing that would happen a year ago.
Well no Shiite Sherlock! We have Boehner and McConnell running things. It doesn't take a genius to see that coming.
Anyone who doesnt want absolute record, proof and history including associates, votes, actions, behaviors, education, upbringing and statements of future plans along with any sort of evidence of adherence to the constitution is silly
Pro-union conservatives are sillier than anyone. lol
Yeah I can’t read. I’m pro union
Because I want to know walkers creds for prez.
It’s like being called a racist for asking re BO.
No I get it
I agree that putting a "kick me" sign on your own back is silly but everyone has their own version of what is fun.
:kick:
You don't like reality and so try to make it something, anything else.
The unions, especially, the public sector unions, but also the private labor unions, as opposed to the trade unions, were the primary bankrollers of the democrats in Wisconsin. They bought and paid for politicians at all levels in Wisconsin.
This was a revolt of the middle class taxpayer against government workers who were controlling local and state government against the will of the people and voting themselves things like “backdrop” pension payments. The Milwaukee County Pension system was a crime — retirees could get “backdrop” payments of six and seven figures, then get a retirement income of more than half their highest three years of pay. ...then they would get re-hired as Consultants for what they once made.
School boards were controlled by the teachers’ union, county boards controlled by the employees’ unions. Campaigns were bankrolled by both unions along with SEIU and the AFL-CIO.
The voters who elected Walker and the strong GOP majorities in Wisconsin were largely middle class workers and small business owners.
If I was going to describe the Wisconsin GOP, it would be a party of guys who own two trucks with ladder racks on top.
McCain was a Commander, not quite so inexperienced I think.
A commander? No. No no no
Bottom of his class at the naval academy daddy’s boy. A few flights into his career he got shot down. Never a commander. Prove me wrong.
I’d be happy
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