As the dimensions of Tuesday’s political wave emerge, this election wasn’t merely a rebuke to President Obama. It was also a referendum on the blue and red state models of state governance, and the Republican reformers won a resounding vindication.Walker has prevailed to the bitter, bitter consternation of the radical left.
Scott Walker (Wisconsin), Rick Scott (Florida), Rick Snyder (Michigan), Brian Sandoval (Nevada) and others entered office confronting economic decline and a seemingly intractable status quo. Against raucous liberal opposition, they disciplined government; deregulated to boost competitiveness, investment and job creation; and reduced the tax burden—even, in the case of Sam Brownback of Kansas and John Kasich of Ohio, cutting income-tax rates.
They also defied entrenched government union power that is the greatest obstacle to reform. The alliance between Democrats and public workers has increasingly tapped out taxpayers, creating liabilities like union pensions that are too large to afford but too politically privileged to reform. The Republicans tried to break this cycle of decline.
The leading drama was Wisconsin, where unions spent millions in a bid to show that limiting collective bargaining, mandatory dues collection and health and retirement benefits will end a political career. Mr. Obama campaigned for Democrat Mary Burke, and the liberal revanchism included occupying the legislature, multiple recall elections, and an abusive John Doe investigation against Mr. Walker’s allies.
Mr. Walker nonetheless won his third victory in four years by a larger margin than the recall. State unemployment has fallen to its lowest level since 2008, even if the 111,000 jobs created in his first term are short of his promise of 250,000. He overhauled the budget to improve the business climate and collapsed tax brackets, while the flexibility for local school districts to renegotiate labor contracts has provided property tax relief and avoided teacher layoffs...
But keep reading.
