Recapping 2012: Scott Walker wins in Wisconsin








Scott Walker wins Wisconsin recall


Here are the results:

  • Walker (R): 53.2
  • Barrett (D): 46.3%
  • Trivedi (I): 0.6%



Should a libertarian support voter ID laws?

Since 2003 a number of states have passed laws requiring some sort of ID to be shown when a person goes to vote.  Proponents of the laws present them as a way to stamp out voter fraud; opponents decry the laws as a way to prevent minorities or the poor from voting, as they are most likely to not have acceptable ID.  The battles have waged not only in legislatures but in courthouses as well.  Wisconsin’s law was just struck down by a judge and Texas’ law is being challenged by the DOJ.

For a libertarian, it seems like both sides of the argument have been a little disingenuous.  Voter fraud has yet to be shown to be anywhere near as widespread as Republicans would like us to think, though this could be because it has heretofore gone undetected.  And showing a form of basic ID, often provided at no cost to the voter, is a very low bar and one that is gladly accepted when doing numerous other activities - even buying alcohol or getting into a bar.

So we are left to sit outside and try to figure out which side to take.  On one hand, for those libertarians who believe in voting, the integrity of elections is very important.  We need to ensure that elections accurately represent the will of voters.  On the other hand, though, it is important that no one is prevented from voting for illegitimate reasons.  If the laws are an underhanded attempt to disenfranchise certain groups, as opponents say, they are problematic.

Catching up on Wisconsin

The protests in Wisconsin against Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal that would require public-sector workers to pay more for benefits and pensions, though they’ll still be better off than private-sector workers, and reforms that would limit collective bargaining by public-sector unions are still receiving an incredible amount of attention.

In case you haven’t seen it, here is video a speech Gov. Walker gave last night explaining the reasons for the proposal. You can read the transcript here:

Walker, who has been falsely accused of favoring certain public-sector unions, has warned that unless the measures are passed to help ensure that the $3 billion budget deficit over the next two years can be cut, 6,000 public workers could lose their jobs.

I’m Mad. I’m Really Mad!

See Video

A man in the crowd tells McCain how it is…

Today in Liberty: NSA collecting photos for facial recognition, Senate GOP targets Obama EPA’s anti-coal regulations

“We all know from our own experience that a hallmark of bureaucracy is the waiting list. Waiting lists at the post office and the DMV are merely annoying and inconvenient. Waiting lists at our doctor’s offices and hospitals can be fatal.” — Congressman Tom McClintock

Disgusting: Democrat campaign against Scott Walker planned to distribute KKK masks

Confederate Brett Hulsey

Wisconsin Democrat state representative and candidate for Governor Brett Hulsey planned to distribute homemade Ku Klux Klan masks at the Wisconsin Republican Party Convention last Friday.

Representative Hulsey (D-Madison), who has a history of outlandish behavior according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, backed off the plan but received considerable media attention.

Hulsey made a white hood using his daughter’s sewing machine and a bit of cloth. ”It’s a Wisconsin Republican Party hat,” Hulsey said last Thursday in the press room at the state capitol in Madison. “And people can interpret it any way they want.”

In the same week, Hulsey issued a request for Confederate Civil War reenactors through his Blogger-hosted gubernatorial campaign site in an effort to raise awareness to the Wisconsin GOP’s resolution to affirm the state’s right to secede, which failed overwhelmingly.

Milkwaukee Journal Sentinel Captiol reporter Jason Stein tweeted a picture of Hulsey dressed in mock Confederate garb Friday (pictured above).

This isn’t the first time Hulsey has garnered media attention for his outrageous beavior. Reports the Star Tribune:

Wisconsin governor refuses Park Service order to shutdown state parks

Hoping to capitalize on the government shutdown by making the American public feel the effects of the government shutdown, the Obama Administration — through the National Park Service — has closed the most popular parks, memorials and monuments around the country. The World War II Memorial has became ground zero for this particular part of the narrative last week when veterans visiting Washington were temporarily barred from visiting the memorial built in their honor.

But Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), who is known for his strong stand in 2011 against public-sector unions, has refused the order and will keep state parks that receive some federal funding open to the public:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is defying orders from Washington, D.C., to close down several state parks that receive federal funding.

Despite receiving a closure directive from the National Park Service, Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has decided instead that parks partly funded by the federal government would stay open to the public.

In the wake of this week’s federal government shutdown, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also placed barricades by a boat launch on the Mississippi River because it was on federal land. Wisconsin’s natural resources agency reopened it. 
Wisconsin has also decided to not fully follow a Fish and Wildlife agency’s directive that hunting and fishing be prohibited on federal lands during the shutdown. Hunting access would be allowed in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, state officials said.

Federal judge upholds Wisconsin’s collective bargaining reforms

2011 Wisconsin labor protest

The 2011 law that reformed Wisconsin’s collective bargaining statutes has, once again, been upheld by a federal judge.

In a ruling issued on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge William Conley determined that the collective bargaining reform law for public sector workers did not infringe upon their right to organize or voice their concerned to their government employers:

A federal judge threw out a lawsuit Wednesday challenging Wisconsin’s tight restrictions on collective bargaining for public employees.


But Conley ruled that the law does not infringe on employees’ rights.

“This difference is likely of no comfort to plaintiffs, but the First Amendment does not require an affirmative response from governmental entities; it simply requires the absence of a negative restriction,” Conley wrote. “Under Act 10, general employees remain free to associate and represent employees and their unions remain free to speak; municipal employers are simply not allowed to listen.”
