Posted on 08/15/2013 9:23:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
While “A Tale of Two Cities” focused on London and Paris, if Charles Dickens were writing political novels in the present day, he might choose to examine Wisconsin and Minnesota as “A Tale of Two States.” The historical election results of 2010 have had an undeniable contrasting impact in these two states that both the mainstream media and political prognosticators are beginning to grasp.
In the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans realized unparalleled success, particularly in the Great Lakes states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin where Republican gubernatorial candidates were elected along with Republican majorities in legislative chambers. The result was a number of strong, swing state partnerships that ushered in a conservative response to the decidedly liberal policies pursued by their predecessors and from leaders in Washington, D.C.
However, just next door to Wisconsin, Republicans in Minnesota recaptured both chambers of the state house but fell just short in a contentious, three-way race for the governor’s mansion. This resulted in divided government until the courts drew a new legislative redistricting map unfairly favoring the Democrats. Following the issuance of the court’s map and prior to the 2012 elections, the Pioneer Press conducted an analysis that concluded, “If voters follow traditional partisan voting patterns in the November election, DFLers would pick up one additional state Senate seat … the analysis showed DFLers could regain control of the House.” On Election Day 2012 Democrats took sweeping control of both chambers, returning government to liberal Democrats – and liberal Democratic policies.
During this same period, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the strong Republican majorities in both legislative chambers were implementing fiscally conservative policies. The stark contrast between those reforms and big-government liberal policies passed in neighboring Minnesota since 2010 was the topic of a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, which noted, “Politically speaking, Wisconsin and Minnesota are practically twins. They have voted the same way in the last seven presidential contests. They gave President Obama almost identical victory margins last fall. They share a common border, a common heritage, and the highest election turnouts in America. Yet based on how they are being governed, you would think they were two different planets.”
Whether intentional or not, the Journal Sentinel is aptly making the point that elections have significant consequences.
In Minnesota, a combination of divided and liberal governance has resulted in major tax hikes and expanded union rights. In Wisconsin, four years of conservative governance has led to the largest income tax rate cuts for taxpayers in over a decade, the marginalization of public sector unions and their stranglehold on the state budget and the expansion of school choice and voucher programs.
Minnesota is suffering the consequences of liberal, economically-hostile, anti-business policies while Wisconsin is reaping the benefits of the tough choices made and reforms implemented by Governor Walker and Wisconsin’s legislative leadership.
Since 2010, Minnesota has suffered embarrassing credit downgrades by three of the country’s largest credit ratings agencies, has increased taxes by more than $2 billion and has seen its rankings in CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business index drop nine places since 2009.
Wisconsin’s 6.8 percent unemployment rate is down 2.4 points since January 2010. A full 94 percent of Wisconsin job creators believe the state is headed in the right direction as opposed to 10 percent in 2010, according to Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, and the state has climbed four spots in CNBC’s ranking system.
The Minnesota-Wisconsin story is not over, but the key differences highlighted by the Journal-Sentinel between the two similar, neighboring states once again demonstrates that elections have consequences. And the early but clear success of the bold, fiscally conservative reforms implemented by Governor Walker and the Wisconsin legislative leadership once again demonstrates that free markets and personal freedoms continue to benefit society more than calls for bigger government and more regulation. From our perspective, someday the diverging paths taken by Minnesota and Wisconsin after the 2010 election will make a fascinating political science case study proving the importance of electing Republican representatives to office and demonstrating the effectiveness of commonsense, fiscally-conservative Republican policies.
I hope Walker is resoundingly reelected and Dayton is thrown out!
Unless/until voter ID becomes law in MN, the DFL will run at least most of the state.
Getting Franken (the 60th vote for Barrycare)emboldened the rats.
This is an interesting article. Funny how it seems to rarely if ever noticed that conservative principles work and liberal/progressive principles (contradiction in terms), do not work. Human nature left to its own devices always overdoes everything, spending too much and saving too little and not preserving capital for future improvements, needs. etc. etc.
Wisconsin and Minnesota election results compared.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
WI has the Packers, MN has the Viqueens.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
time and again you usher in the worst....you voted perot and you gave us Clintoon....
and some of you just couldn't vote Romney so you voted for bammmmey again....doesn't matter if you just stayed home or voted third party....a vote NOT for Romney was a vote for the faker in chief....
I see it starting up again...
Christie...Rubio...you think either of these guys would close down the Walter Reed cafeteria to our limbless, or paralyzed warriors ?....
you think they would have refused to help the ambassador and the Seals at Benghazi?..
..you think our Seal Team would have been shot out of the sky suspiciously?...
You know, there's a solution to that. Don't start it.
We said it over and over and over again before the election but I'll say it again. A vote for a candidate is a vote FOR a candidate. Period. When they come up with a column that counts votes against someone in the tally, maybe some people will use it.
The idea behind a third party vote is to attract enough people to make moderates and RINOs the third party through a united conservative voice. Some couldn't do that though, and I respect that.
The last election was the only one of my adult life in which I did not vote for the Republican candidate for President, but without significant change in the party structure and decision-making process, it will not be the last. I didn't vote for Obama; anyone who tries to tell me I did is wrong.
But let's use your own argument here. What did your vote for Romney mean, since you feel you can define my vote?
It meant your endorsement for a gun-grabber and the father of both Obamacare and state-sanctioned gay marriage. That's what you voted FOR, because that's how the votes were counted. Some of us couldn't do that.
Your vote also helped ensure iron-grip control over the GOP party apparatus for the moderates and liberals like Mitt Romney, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who are complicit in advancing Obama's agenda and stifling conservative opinion. Some of us left the Grand Old Plantation. You evidently chose not to, and I respect that, more than you seem to respect our choices.
With all due respect, I'll listen to no more lectures on who I MUST vote for, or what my vote for conservatism "really meant". That's how liberals work. I'll vote for the conservative.
Why don’t you take your sycophantic garbage and shove it? Because that’s about the only answer you will understand. Your repeating the same tired crap a 3hird grader could disprove is old, boring and does nothing but encourage. people to stay on the lib voting plantation.
Nope. You and your fellow travelers are not going to get your traditional free pass. When you act and vote for conservatives, you will be treated like one. When you act like a lib and demand we keep the liberal GOP in power, you get what you deserve.
Funny how as more people come to the right side of reality, you and your crew scream louder. Not ha ha funny...pathetic funny. Hit dog howls.
So tell us Oracle of DU, when exactly can we stop voting for libs and have it be OK with you?
I am with you totally on this now. I have HAD it with RINOs.
They GAVE the election to obama. I have learned a valuable lesson especially for the sake of my self respect. :)
I understand and respect what your decision was in the last election.
“But let’s use your own argument here. What did your vote for Romney mean, since you feel you can define my vote?”
It meant that she wants us to empower people like Gonsel kill more children in exchange for an almighty win.
Bottom line. Many people that voted Romney were scared and in hindsight see it was a horrendous mistake that further pushed the GOP leftward. But some people want us to keep doing it. At the expense of everything. Children included.
Over the top rethoric? No actual truth. Because actions like electing liberals that personally fund planned parenthood have consequences...dead children. Simple cause and effect. And hindsight is 20 20. Not one conservative or person claiming the mantle has an excuse now.
I’m give you a state example. In 2010, the TEA Party was a force to be reckoned with in Michigan, and it enjoyed Notable success on election day. I don’t recall then republican candidate for governor, Jenni....er, uh Rick Snyder claiming any allegiance to the TEA Party, but I voted for him anyway. He couldn’t possibly be worse than outgoing governor Clueless Jenny Granholm.
The jobless rate has remained much higher than the national average thruout his term. His very first act was to impose taxes on pensions where there had never been such a thing. His next act was to lower the amount of a planned reduction in the overall state income tax. He was embarrassed into signing Right to Work legislation when his goonion buddy UAW President Boob King betrayed him with a ballot proposal in ‘12 designed to lock goonion control over Michigan forever. Now he is working with the democrap fuhrer Wretched Witmer to raise taxes for road repair and the education aristocracy.
Vote for him again in ‘12’ he’ll no, nor will I be voting for the commu....er, uh democrap candidate. Why waste a vote?
Ping
Ping
Virgil Goode ?
Best post of the month
Whoa! Wait a minute:
StarTrib (Jun): Red v Blue in WI-MN rivalry http://is.gd/zfgKeM
“Best for Bsns”: Chamber of Commerce: MN 14, WI 42
“Best for Bsns”: Forbes: MN 20, WI 44
MN Housing Starts (adj annual thru Q1 2013): up 7.5%
WI Housing Starts (adj annual thru Q1 2013): down 26.7%
MN Foreclosures: 1.6% (incl 5.8% subprime) thru Q1 2013
MN Foreclosures: 2.7% (incl 10.1% subprime) thru Q1 2013
MN: Since Feb 2010, private sector employment has grown by 6.8%.
WI: Since Feb 2010, private sector employment has grown by 4.5%.
MN Unemployment Rate: 2010, 7.3%; 2013, 5.2% || -2.1%
WI Unemployment Rate: 2010, 8.4%; 2013, 6.8% || -1.6%
MN Poverty Rate: 2007, 9.3%; 2011, 10.0% || +.7%
WI Poverty Rate: 2007, 11%; 2011, 13.1% || +2.1%
MN Uninsured: 2007, 8.0%; 2011, 9.2% || +1.2%
WI Uninsured: 2007, 8.0%; 2011, 10.4% || +2.4%
Census QuickStats http://is.gd/zqFHLG Select-A-State
Congress Joint Economic Committee State-by-State http://is.gd/hEqqv6
JULY Update: MN v WI: JULY Jobs Estimates: Unempl: MN 5.2%, WI, 6.8%, US 7.4%; Added: MN 4300; WI 1800; Growth Rate: MN 2.6%; WI 1.4%; US 1.7%
DirigoBlue: Why Data & Perspective Matters: MN v WI, A tale of two realities http://is.gd/rVi1zT how Jankowski (”Why Elections Matter: A Tale of Two States”) gets it wrong
Go Vikings!
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