Speaking to an overcrowded room in Waukesha, Wisconsin, embattled and victorious Gov. Scott Walker told the state and the nation that his decisive victory over a government union-driven recall campaign – and the meaning of proper government – is all about “faith, family and freedom.” Therein lies the problem with the prospect of a coming electoral repudiation of New Left nihilist President Obama.
The proper purpose of government is not faith and it is not family. It is the protection of individual rights, period. Unfortunately, Gov. Walker, who was right to stand up against government unions and seek to end the tyranny of so-called collective bargaining agreements, spent the first half of tonight’s speech hailing faith, family and tradition, rendering the vaguely magnanimous second half utterly incoherent, making it sound as if his primary gubernatorial goal is to improve the lives of his two children.
He prattled on about his lieutenant governor’s children, too, which also has nothing to do with his victory, his governorship or the government of Wisconsin.
He did not mention taking on Big Government and huge public spending, taxes and regulations, which are destroying the Midwest and America, let alone capitalism and individual rights, which are what we desperately need and are everywhere under siege.
He did not mention any principles.
He started on God, faith and family and trailed off into a nebulous message about nothing in particular, squandering a moment in history which should have been seized upon for a triumphant call for an end to the welfare state.
I’m glad Scott Walker defeated his opponent and did what he did to kill collective bargaining. His single-minded action ought to set the standard for how to govern, especially in the face of lawless thugs, anarchists and Big Labor types. His victory may be an indication of what’s to come in the November election just when America needs to stop bleeding with Big Government. But his bankrupt words are a sobering reminder that, in victory, today’s Republicans – who were founded in America’s Dairyland as a political party to end slavery over 150 years ago – will not stand for capitalism, individual rights and the pursuit of happiness. They may buy us more time by ending the reign of the New Left and stalling the rise of dictatorship in the United States, but they do not offer a principled political argument for a return to a nation founded on reason.
The slogan beneath Gov. Walker’s victory podium tonight emphasized the word FORWARD, underscoring that he apparently aims to take Wisconsin forward toward a state based on faith, family and freedom and the third idea is impossible in a government predicated on the first two ideas. Forward, it turns out, is also the campaign theme of Re-Elect Obama. Neither candidate’s slogan properly answers the question: forward … toward what? Nothing less than a nation based on rights will do.