Happy 100th Blog! ...Now, Get Over Yerself!

I knew this day was coming, but I almost missed it. Had I not had to send my mother yet another copy of the blog (she doesn't do links in email) I might not have noticed that this week is my 100th blog entry.

Now, if Ziggy was here, he would throw his hands up for the happy dance and shout, "It's time for HOW TO TELL A JOKE!" and rerun that warhorse. People still write to me about that column...so if you're of a mind, you can read it for yourself. 

However, these days there are bigger jokes to fry, and you can start with the Wisconsin recall election. To be sure, Governor Walker spit on a good chunk of Wisconsin's population and probably deserves not to be re-elected, and the process of getting the recall was pretty intense. But the recall failed and I can’t say I’m too surprised.

Recalls are for criminal actions, not for political disagreements, and had the recall succeeded, it may have set a precedent for "no confidence" elections, something we don't have in the States. In an exit interview, a woman from Madison said she was about as leftist as they came, and that she detested Governor Walker's politics and policies, but she was compelled to vote to keep him in office because she was afraid of the consequences. “If this thing succeeds, we will have one recall after another." The Republicans, she asserted, will make it frivolous, "like law suits."

Which brings me to the second item of interest: why a recall? Why not impeachment? Wouldn't that at least bring the topic of malfeasance to the table? Malfeasance is a serious charge, one that requires hostile actions with the intent to injure, if not the client in this case, the constituency. The crime currently under investigation has to do with the governor's pre-election campaign fundraising where he is not the target of the investigation, but his reluctance to release possibly damaging emails has created an atmosphere of mistrust. But is that an impeachable offense?

Now all things considered, I'm pretty much left of center myself. Not nearly as left as certain children would like to believe, but left enough to still believe in social justice. And no, I don't like Scott Walker and his underhanded policies. For the record, I do not live, vote, or work in Wisconsin, but they are the next door neighbors and what happens in their state inevitably impacts what happens here. (That and I have a kid in Milwaukee who can't get health insurance even though he works full time...but that's a whole 'nother blog.) 

I am not surprised Governor Walker survived the recall; while it was a passionate outcry, it was not well thought out. It was started in the heat of the moment, and the reality of what a disagreement recall would yield was not well considered. Still, the movement had merit. It rattled more than a few birdcages. And, just one seat changed hands in the legislature and that totally changed the balance of power to the Dems.

The success of the recall process was a strong indicator that the public is not standing idly by. Even if he was not unseated, there was a very clear message sent: that this is not the last time this will be tried. It behooves guys like Governor Walker to take that new conciliatory tone a bit more to heart.  Not that he will.

The Winkle In Wisconsin stands in stark and scary contrast to what is happening in Egypt. The Tahrir Square revolutionaries toppled the government...as many would've liked to have done in Wisconsin… but unlike Wisconsin, they did not have a plan of succession. And now that election day has come, they have put forward no viable candidates...at least no viable enough to survive the preliminary rounds. Tom Friedman's June 8th column in the New York Times indicates that he's surprised by what's happening now, but I find that disingenuous. How could he be surprised? The Kids in the Square were too busy tweeting to Google instructions for How To Run A County....which got me over 572,000 results.

It wasn't that they didn't know how to ask the question; it was that they didn't know how to think beyond the question.

Perhaps equally important: do we?

The Wifely Person’s Tip o’the Week

If you happen to be an incoming freshman at Hudson High School

Shock your teachers ~ come prepared to think OUTSIDE the box ~

prove that if you were going to topple a government, 
you’d know how to replace it.