More on the Meaning of the Vote in Wisconsin

What's Changed After Wisconsin sums up the voters' message this way:

"What happened in Wisconsin signals a shift in political mood and assumption. Public employee unions were beaten back and defeated in a state with a long progressive tradition. The unions and their allies put everything they had into "one of their most aggressive grass-roots campaigns ever," . . . . Fifty thousand volunteers made phone calls and knocked on 1.4 million doors to get out the vote against Gov. Scott Walker. Mr. Walker's supporters, less deeply organized on the ground, had a considerable advantage in money.

But organization and money aren't the headline. The shift in mood and assumption is. The vote was a blow to the power and prestige not only of the unions but of the blue-state budgetary model, which for two generations has been: Public-employee unions with their manpower, money and clout, get what they want. If you move against them, you will be crushed.

Mr. Walker was not crushed. He was buoyed, winning by a solid seven points in a high-turnout race.

Governors and local leaders will now have help in controlling budgets. Down the road there will be fewer contracts in which you work for, say, 23 years for a city, then retire with full salary and free health care for the rest of your life—paid for by taxpayers who cannot afford such plans for themselves, and who sometimes have no pension at all. The big meaning of Wisconsin is that a public injustice is in the process of being righted because a public mood is changing."

Summing Up

Right is right and wrong is wrong.

That's what 53% of the Wisconsin voters were saying.

The problem now for public sector unions and the Democratic party is that Wisconsinites said that what these joined-at-the-hip political allies have been doing these past several decades is just plain wrong.

As a result, We the "mad-as-hell" People are taking control. In the future, we will remain vigilant and require openness, accountability and equity throughout the public sector when compared to private sector workers.

And if, as and when the public sector unions lose their clout, which they will when public sector workers discover that the emperor has no clothes, the unions' coercive ability to extract dues from public sector workers will cease, and the unions will cease to be a political force nationally as well.

That day will help hasten the end of spending OPM that we don't have on things that we don't need and can't afford.

And at some point in the future, crony capitalism and big government spending will come to a stop as well. And the Democrats will regroup out of necessity as they strive to remain a viable political force nationally.

When all that happens, We the People will have scored a clear-cut non-partisan victory for the benefit of future generations, and our position as the most prosperous, compassionate and strongest nation on earth will once again be secure.

That's my prediction as to what's ahead for us. I'm just not sure how long it will take.

In the meantime, we'll make humongous progress in the cities, states and at the national level, too.

I've always been bullish on America, and I always will be.

American exceptionalism is real, very much alive and well. May it always be that way.

Thanks. Bob.