IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS, the governor of Wisconsin has reformed
public sector unions so that they can no longer withhold union dues
from every worker’s paycheck; ended teacher tenure; required
government employee unions to be recertified each year; signed
legislation that made Wisconsin the 41st state with “shall issue”
concealed carry; cut over $800 million from the state budget; and
expanded parental choice in education by removing the
22,500-student cap on the Milwaukee Parental Choice program and
extending the program to include the city of Racine. The governor
of Louisiana, elected in 2007 and re-elected last year, has helped
usher Republican majorities into the state house and senate; signed
legislation that gives more than half of the state’s students
(380,000 out of 700,000 total) a voucher for the amount the state
government spends per pupil; signed a strict ethics law; and moved
government worker pensions to a blend of defined contribution and
defined benefit.
But Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal are only two of 29 Republican
governors. They are only two of 24 Republican governors who enjoy
the company of Republican-controlled state legislatures. In theory,
in two dozen states for 2011 and most of 2012, if the Republican
governor, house speaker, and senate leader could agree on any
particular reform, it would be the law of the land now. Why are we
not reading about the groundbreaking Reaganite agendas passing in
24 states? Why are we not hearing the howls of the labor union
bosses and trial lawyers in two dozen states?
The failed recall effort in Wisconsin has demonstrated that the
ice is thick enough for others to follow.Which Republican governor
faces a bluer state with a stronger history of public sector
unionism? And if the entire labor-union structure could not defeat
Walker, it would clearly be overwhelmed if three, six, or 12
governors took it on together. So why are there not more Scott
Walkers and Bobby Jindals?
IT IS TRUE that many red states have passed reforms only
whispered about in 1980 or 1994. Utah passed legislation that
requires every state or local government worker hired after July 1,
2011, to have a defined contribution pension—10 percent of salary
(on top of the worker’s pay) automatically put into a 401(k)
account (12 percent for police and firemen). There will be no more
unfunded liabilities created each time a teacher or fireman is
hired. Pension crisis resolved—in one state.
Indiana passed Right to Work, becoming the 23rd state to give
workers the right to decide not to join a union. Indiana also
expanded school choice (by the third year of the program, there
will be no cap on enrollment) and attached a scholarship of $4,500
that each student can take to any school of his choice.
But Alabama’s legislature refused to expand the number of
charter schools from the present generous limit of zero. Florida’s
legislature refused to pass Paycheck Protection, which would allow
workers to opt out of the portion of forcibly collected union dues
that are used for politics. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell failed
to persuade his legislature to privatize the staterun liquor
stores. Conservative Virginia. In South Dakota, the Republicans
hold 51 out of 70 seats in the house and 30 out of 35 in the
senate. Have you even heard of a Scott Walker/Bobby Jindal-sized
reform from South Dakota? They should be passing Reaganite
legislation every day with the ease of falling out of bed. Ditto
North Dakota, where 69 of 94 House members and 34 of 47 senators
are Republican. North Dakota has been in the news for its shale oil
and fracking, neither accomplished by the legislature. They did,
however, take the Time to vote down defined contribution pension
reform.Again, there are 24 states with Republican governors and
legislatures. Yet only 11 states have significant parental choice
in education; only nine have enacted voter ID laws; only nine have
passed tort reform in the past two years; only four have ended
tenure; and only one state—Utah—has moved to a full
defined-contribution pension system.
THERE ARE THREE DISTINCT PROBLEMS in translating Republican
majorities into Reaganite policy reforms. The first are Lincoln
Republicans, those nominal Republicans who chose to join the Grand
Old Party for the sole reason that their state is located north of
the Mason-Dixon line. The state parties of Connecticut, Illinois,
and New York are Lincoln Republican parties boldly committed to the
Union and opposed to slavery, but a tad flexible on other issues.
Western and now Southern states are often more Reaganite, as they
have fewer politicians whose party affiliation is inherited
tradition.
The converse problem shows up in Southern states, where
opportunistic Democrats—who recognize that increasing numbers of
their constituents no longer voted based on irritation flowing from
Sherman being mean to Atlanta recently—switched parties without
changing their habits on spending or quitting their Huey Long–style
affection for statism.
And a national problem flows from the quick thinking of the
teachers’ unions and trial lawyers, who, from Michigan to Alabama,
have begun to lay down early bets on locally elected Republicans,
ones who view them as donors and friends rather than obstacles to
economic growth and improved education.
Some states, however, have begun the long process of turning
nominal Republican majorities into meaningful Reaganite majorities
that will consistently and relentlessly drive toward greater
liberty.
Rick Perry became governor of Texas when George W. Bush ascended
to the presidency in 2001, and he was elected in his own right in
2002, 2006, and 2010.Republicans won control of the Texas house in
2002 and the senate in 2006.
Perry has enacted some tax reform and a voter ID law,
strengthened Second Amendment rights, held down spending, and made
it transparent online. But his stated top priorities—a hard
spending limit and a constitutional requirement that a two-thirds
majority is necessary to raise taxes—have been stymied by the house
of representatives, where the GOP commands 101 out of 150 total
votes. How in the world can a 101 to 48 partisan majority (and one
in Texas, for crying out loud) fail to hold down spending and enact
Reaganite reforms? In a word, Joe Straus, the “Republican” speaker,
who, despite a Reaganite majority in the GOP caucus, has found that
he can reward 30 “Republicans” with spending and committee
chairmanships and form a coalition with the 48 Democrats. There is
now a campaign to replace Straus’ collaborators.
A similar problem shapes the Kansas senate, which is composed of
32 Republicans and only eight Democrats. Yet there are enough
Republicans who vote with the Democrats against such GOP staples as
lower taxes and spending restraint that Governor Sam Brownback’s
agenda has been largely frustrated. (With the exception of a
significant income tax cut that the senate Republicans were tricked
into voting for, believing it was too radical and the house would
never concur.It did.) The foot-dragging of the Republican senate
leader Stephen Morris and his “moderates” has gone so far as to
turn the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and even the Wichita Chamber of
Commerce into Tea Party rebels that demand a purge of the
chamber.
They might not have much longer to wait in either state. Five of
Straus’s Texas house quislings were defeated in primaries and
general elections in 2010, another six have decided to retire ahead
of justice, and seven face primary challengers in the 2012 cycle.
Governor Perry has broken with “tradition” by supporting many of
these insurgents. This long march has been greatly aided by the
leadership and stamina of Michael Quinn Sullivan, the president of
Texans for Fiscal Responsibility and chair of the state’s
center-right coalition.
In Texas’ primary on July 31, while the focus was understandably
on the Tea Party–driven victory of Senate hopeful Ted Cruz, two of
Straus’s committee chairs were defeated, and pro-Straus candidates
lost contests for three open seats. It may be possible to elect a
true Republican speaker as early as January 2013, in which case
Austin will become as famous as Madison, Wisconsin.
Similarly, 12 of Kansas’ tax-and-spend Republican state senators
are facing August primaries as this magazine goes to press. Five
more primaries are being contested for open seats. A net victory
for Reagan Republicans of six seats would give them Reaganite power
in the senate, to go along with their strong house and governor.
Only if they succeed will Kansas finally be able to respond to the
2004 book praising statism, What’s the Matter with
Kansas?: “There is nothing wrong with Kansas—now.”
