Recalling Sanity

No Recall - NYTimes.com

The linked column gets it  mostly wrong, but the voters in WI got it right. Recalling a Governor over a matter of policy that was passed and implemented as required is anti-Democratic and would have been a strong message in the direction of even worse partisanship and gridlock. The real winner in WI was "Good Government" or "We the People". Self government can't work if the minority demands constant recalls when things don't go their way after losing regular elections.

There are a lot of "mirrored connections" between BOcare and Walker's Budget:

1. The opposition was energized -- Republicans followed the process and took over the House in 2010. Democrats and Unions in WI protested and did a bunch of recall elections. The politics of division and destruction is primarily a Democrat / MSM approach (look at all the war metaphors in the linked  column alone), it just gets reported as the reverse.
2. Walker's policies generally worked -- the WI budget is in surplus, the state economy is outdoing rival states and there has been no loss of services in the state. BO's policies have generally not worked -- we have massive deficits, a poor economy and healthcare costs continue to rise unabated. All of the claims of BOcare "saving money" to date have proven false. All the claims of "disaster" being caused by Walker's policies have also proven false. 
3. What is missing from the linked article and much of the left is Sanity/Reality. Democrats look at the "growing economy" of much of the post WWII era and believe it was due to "good government". In fact, it was due to "less government" -- less, but perpetually increasing. Like weight, spending, driving fast, gambling, drinking, etc, government is NOT a "universal good". Some is required, but more is definitely not always better.

We live in a looking glass media culture. Having our politics be less divisive is important when it means letting Democrats have the policy their way. But when Walker and enough Republicans are elected to act in WI to solve the budget crisis, suddenly the more divisive the better -- including legislators fleeing, threats of violence and endless recalls.