You know, they told me that if I voted for Mitt Romney we’d never get card check and the rights of organized labor would be eroded — and they were right!
The vote in Michigan is simply huge, huge, news. The cultural significance really can’t be exaggerated and the fact that the unions have opted to take defeat like a bunch of no-neck goons is a pr disaster.
I agree with pretty much everything in NR’s editorial on the matter, but I think it’s worth adding two points. First, this conservative success in Michigan is, according to all reports, largely the result of liberal overreach. If the Dems and organized labor hadn’t been so greedy in the election (and so disgusting over the last decade or so, trying to “unionize” parents of disabled kids to collect the dues), this probably wouldn’t have happened, or at least not so fast. When the left goes too far it creates a counter-reaction from the right. That’s what the 2010 midterms were about (but, alas, not the 2012 election). The fear that Obama is free to do as he pleases over the next four years leaves out the fact that the American people are not nearly so committed to his presidency as many liberals are claiming these days. Remember, Romney was more trusted on leadership, the economy etc. Obama’s excesses will create conservative opportunities that hard to foresee right now, but no less inevitable for it. The expression “careful what you wish for” applies to your opponents, too.
Second, and perhaps more important, facts will always drive public policy — eventually. The plight of certain states will naturally lead to homegrown reforms. And it’s worth noting that conservative institutions are thick on the ground to advocate and argue for free market policies. Enormous progress has been made with state-based think tanks (By the way: Congrats to the Mackinac Center in Michigan!) over the last couple decades. The fight in Washington may be bogged down, but the fights on the ground in the various states are going better than we might of hoped.
Except of course in California, where you people are doomed.