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California Governor Jerry Brown

Moonbeams and Wisconsin

By: Bill Colley

Posted: June 5th, 2012

California Governor Jerry Brown wants to hopscotch several environmental regulations in order to quickly build a high-speed choo-choo train.  Nicknamed “Governor Moonbeam” by the late newspaper columnist, Mike Royko, the Governor is in reality a cafeteria environmentalist.  While you’re told you must walk, bike and exercise to save the planet and yourself the rules are for bending if you’re the smartest guy in the room, in other words a liberal politician.  You just never know, as you’re reading this the Mayor of New York City could be guzzling a 44 ounce Cherry Coke.  He must because otherwise it might fall into your hands.  Service to our fellow men (and women) carries a heavy burden, albeit in this case it’s likely described as just a big-boned burden.  Governor Brown needs to suspend the rules right now because the latest polls show support for the rail project flagging.  It appears the public has heard something about a massive state budget deficit plus the expected expense for building the railroad.  Factor in the costs government ignores (union labor sleeping through shifts, the mafia stealing concrete and work stoppages for celebrity photo shoots) and we’ve got the little train that couldn’t.

As I write this on Tuesday morning there are people going to the polls in Wisconsin to determine the future of Western Civilization.  A win for Governor Scott Walker and his allies likely delays the inevitable for a few more years.  A Walker loss is a victory for the dark forces and very shortly Wisconsin will resemble California but only colder.  On really cold days, Sarah Jessica Parker would hide her face behind a knit face mask to keep warm.  Ah, there is possibly a silver lining!

For all the hyperbole it’s quite clear Wisconsin remains important.  I’ve spent all but a couple of my adult years working in media in markets of varied sizes and in a variety of jobs from reporting to budgeting to offering opinions.  A poll released just this week explains Americans have closed old divides over race, ethnicity and education.  There are only a couple of places where the divide is growing wider.  Fans of the Dallas Cowboys are increasingly marginalized.  No, seriously, there aren’t many Americans left in the political middle.  People who tell pollsters that politicians need to stop squabbling and all just get along really mean they want disagreeable opponents to come in from the cold and not always the chill associated with Wisconsin.

The divide is quite stark.  On one side you have labor leaders, entertainers and mainstream media insisting we can keep printing money, borrowing money and confiscating other people’s money to feed the social welfare state.  They can’t see any consequences or illogic in their position.  Try and explain the flaws and you’re accused of being mean-spirited, un-Christian and an agent of greedy industrialists.  Then when the torrent has been hurled and the liberal quiver is empty the next step from the left is to plug ears, close eyes and stamp away.  For full disclosure I’m on the other side of the great divide.  While I also enjoy a free lunch, spending other people’s money and drinking my neighbor’s beer I realize it’s not a consistent track for success.  The longer I freeload it appears I create resentment and while I enjoy freeloading I don’t think I’m entitled to an easy ride.

During one interruption in my personal media history I spent one year working inside a postal sorting plant.  It’s no different than any other workplace.  Some people work gangbusters.  Others are slow but steady.  The last third bragged about the best secret places in the plant for taking naps and not getting caught sleeping.  There was also honor among the lazy.  Like nearly every work environment the other slackers were impressed by creative efforts at avoiding work.  “Man, they owe it to us,” is how one man explained it for me.  My state’s senior U.S. Senator promises to save the jobs of these people by constructing offshore wind farms to power the land bound postal fleet.  As a liberal Democrat I’m sure he’ll rationalize skirting environmental regulations to speed construction.  The next time you see Tom Carper you need ask him if they’ve got really good dope in the Senate cloakroom.

Meanwhile, back in Wisconsin and perhaps the outcome won’t create its own momentum, however.  The California poll numbers raise serious doubts about the Moonbeam Express.  Even the kookiest liberals appear to be losing confidence in promises of a socialist paradise-on-the-Pacific.  Wisconsin may not be quite yet so evolved and it may have to get much worse before it gets better and, yet.  Liberalism and its Marxist siblings simply can’t survive when the treasury is bare.