There is a lesson in this saga, which I think our community might want to contemplate. Granted it is late and no one reads community diaries anymore, but I'll pull out my soap box anyway. I would like everyone to consider two events.
January 3rd, 2011 - Scott Walker is sworn in as governor of Wisconsin
February 17th, 2011 - Scott Walker becomes a lame duck governor
In less than two months Walker has managed to alienate the opposition to the point where a quorum no longer exists in the state legislature. We aren't talking about hard core progressives either. These are just mainstream Democrats, who were left with no choice, but to leave the state.
So what did Scott Walker do wrong?
Government is not Ideological. Government is not Philosophical.
Forget all the back and forth on cable TV. Ignore the political blogs. Ninety Nine percent of government is making sure the trains run on time.
It is often lost on most people, that government is simply a collection of jobs deemed in the public interest. Whether it is riding on a garbage truck or sitting in the Oval Office, we as a society need someone to fulfill public functions. The ideological stuff is just for the interview.
After all is said and done, most Americans will evaluate whether the job given is being performed well.
Bipartisanship is not an ideological position. It is a requirement of any divided government. If common solutions to public problems can't be found, then government has failed to do its job.
Scott Walker has started an ideological war inside the Wisconsin state house, by putting Democrats in a position they can't abide. Ignore the moral or functional questions surrounding attacks on collective bargaining rights. Scott Walker's party believes unions are ideologically a bad thing, and they have a right to believe that.
But this isn't about what Walker or Democrats think about unions. It is about whether an ideological fight with unions helps Wisconsin's state government do its job. That answer is obviously, NO.
So every time I read a statement here blasting President Obama for cozying up to the right, I want people to think about the example occurring in Wisconsin of putting ideology first. Walker is a god damned folk hero to his ideological base, and he is tearing his state asunder.
What happens next for Wisconsin? What happens when something hard comes along?
Walker has put Democratic legislators in a must fight mentality. He has also put moderate Republican legislators in serious jeopardy. A Republican can win in Wisconsin without support of the unions, but they can't be tagged as anti labor. The state like many other blue collar states won't abide it.
Two months in office and Scott Walker has spent every dollar of political capital he had. His poll numbers are tanking, and with them the Wisconsin Republican Party's numbers. So when Wisconsin is faced with another challenge (which all states constantly are), who will Scott Walker look to for support?
I'm not telling anyone to abandon their ideology. Just consider that ideology will never make sure a train gets to the station when it is supposed to.