It took me a couple days to shake off the horror of Wisconsin's entire legislature and executive branch flipping to Republican control, but today I'm feeling a-okay about it. Sure, Governor-elect Scott Walker is going to immediately benefit from the job creation policies of out going Governor Jim Doyle, but after the first year in office, he owns the state economy completely. He doesn't have a Democratic legislature to blame for holding up his hopes and dreams. We get to see the Great Republican Experiment at work.
Is it going to be painful? Hell yes. One of my closest friends who works for the state will likely lose the domestic partner benefits Doyle so kindly granted. The smoking ban will likely be overturned. Contraceptives will likely be banned on campuses in the University of Wisconsin system. High speed rail is already rumored to be dead, leaving Minnesota and Illinois without a key component and resulting in a Spanish train car manufacturer that had invested in Milwaukee already planning to leave in 2012. Our slow shift to a green economy is likely stalled. If Walker doesn't finish his first term he'll be replaced by our newly anointed theocratic Lieutenant Governor and as a non-believer I'll start fearing for my life.
But other than that, I'm okay. The sun is out. I live in Madison. I feel good. This is their state now and they have zero excuses. They can't blame the liberals at the Capitol in Madison anymore. The Wisconsin Senate is 19-14 and the Assembly is 60-38. They own the building. Who knows, maybe we'll all be proven wrong and the Great Republican Experiment about to unfold in Wisconsin will work. Maybe they'll create thousands of jobs and business will come flooding into the state.
I'm unbelievably excited to see those words become action.
Forward!