PrintApril 8, 2011
What Wisconsin's Judicial Election Means
The ballots in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race show a relatively small difference between Justice David Prosser, the "conservative" incumbent, and JoAnne Kloppenburg, the leftist challenger. Yesterday, previously uncounted votes in Waukesha County swung the victory to Prosser by over 7,000 votes (out of almost a million and a half cast), though Kloppenburg earlier claimed victory by a much smaller margin.
In this case, of course, the term "conservative" means an impartial jurist who follow
s the rule of law without political bias. As for the "liberal" candidate, Ann Althouse, a University of Wisconsin law professor, noted Kloppenburg's lawn signs indicating that the latter had made up her mind about the state's new collective bargaining law.
Regardless of the ultimate result, there are vital lessons we should take from the race.
In this case, of course, the term "conservative" means an impartial jurist who follow
s the rule of law without political bias. As for the "liberal" candidate, Ann Althouse, a University of Wisconsin law professor, noted Kloppenburg's lawn signs indicating that the latter had made up her mind about the state's new collective bargaining law. Regardless of the ultimate result, there are vital lessons we should take from the race.
First, the machine of leftism, even operating in a structurally leftist state like Wisconsin, is a paper tiger. Unions long ruled Great Lakes states with an iron hand and a rubber truncheon. The well-paid army of union operatives, the dull armies of whipped members, and the timidity of possible opponents has meant that unions were able to drive the economy of the industrial heartland of the world's greatest economy into poverty and despair.
This judicial election, however, dispels the notion of omnipotent unions. Voter turnout in these elections is ordinarily light. Incumbent judges seeking reelection do not have huge organizations and vast pots of campaign funds to support them. In this race, the leftist challenger Kloppenburg had all the advantages. She should have walked away with this race, but she did not. Even if Kloppenburg somehow "discovers" her own trove of uncounted votes, the left will only win the battle and lose the war.
Second, elections that once were trivial have become crucial. Who would have imagined, a decade ago, that the state level secretaries of state, a ministerial office which records business incorporation documents and similar tasks, would become an ideological office and an instrument of political warfare by the left? Most voters in the 39 states which elect these officers did not even know who their secretary of state was (just as they could not name the members of their state's supreme court).
Yet the Secretary of State Project, a Soros-funded venture, has made those elected officials -- who in many states certify elections -- into key players in an ideological jihad. The SoS Project's website asks folks to "help us stop right-wing voter suppression." What about left-wing voter intimidation? What about elections stolen by Democrat goons? What about corrupt organizations like ACORN, which registered critters like Huckleberry Hound to vote? The project always supports Democrats (you know, the party associated with clean elections).
Third, everything is political. Everything is ideological. This is not what we want. We want a society in which the monster of government is confined to his proper cage, but the left demands that everything be political and everything be ideological. Include specifically state-based court judges, teachers, government clerks like the secretary of state, library systems, and pseudo-charitable organizations like Planned Parenthood. Whether we like it or not, we have to consider the political agenda of every aspect of our lives.
Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor are under constant assault by totalitarians who view all life as part of an ideological conflict. These slaves see their holy mission as twisting every part of our lives into their vision of political correctness. They are no different in their thinking from Marxists or Fascists. We must prevail, or everything we cherish in life will be lost.
Fourth, we are awake. The turnout in this normally humdrum judicial race was 70% higher than expected. Part of that, of course, was the mass carting of union drones to polling booths. The other part, though, was the turnout of conservative voters who now understand that in a total war like this, passivity and indifference are not an option.
We grasp what is happening. We have stopped listening to the chatterbox phonies of the leftist establishment media. We see the inner workings of the left and its minions. We know now that a senator who votes for cloture on a bad bill but votes against the bill on the Senate floor (where it passes easily) is trying to trick us -- but we will no longer be tricked. We comprehend that the dreaded "government shutdown" means nothing when Congress and the White House before the election never even passed a budget. We see from our children's textbooks and the unruly behavior of their teachers that the regime of public school reeducation must be defeated and reformed.
The left has been winning because we have not fought the battles which we must fight. Now, we are fighting back. That ultimately is the key. We were unwilling soldiers at first, preferring to live in a civil society in which we could live in friendly peace. The Wisconsin judicial election, which forces the highest notions of impartiality -- judges -- into the war of ideology, and our response to players like Kloppenburg show that we are now fighting the war that we must fight, and the fight which we shall win.
Bruce Walker is the author of several books, including his latest: Poor Lenin's Almanac: Perverse Leftists Proverbs for Modern Life.
