I can only speak for myself and why I feel Walker should be recalled. He simply decided he wanted to save the state of Wisconsin money by ending collective bargaining for state employees who were in unions.
So, he ended collective bargaining. Took away a group of employees rights to bargain a fair contract without a vote. He violated the same Declaration of Independence you quoted. His quest to balance the states budget is going to make young students in urban areas life's much more difficult. Cuts to art, gym, special needs. Those who need education the most will suffer the most.
He is corrupt, and has big business at his best interest, not the citizens of Wisconsin.
Originally Posted by: dhpackr
Again, you are risking confusing constitutional issues with political ones here.
By definition state politics involve great disagreements about the appropriate solutions. Especially so during economic times perceived as "tight." And because political decisions get made on majoritarian principles, this means that there are always significant minorities who are going to be pissed off, dissed, harmed more than others.
You feel the way you have just described. Other Wisconsin voters wanted him to end that same collective bargaining. Other Wisconsin voters are willing to absorb the very painful costs of a balanced budget. Those people elected him.
A recall is not just another election. A recall is an extraordinary remedy, one to be called on when the usual elections cannot be relied upon. A remedy used because the constitutional separation and balance of powers cannot be trusted.
There are times when extraordinary remedies are necessary. I presume that's why the provision is in the Wisconsin Constitution in the first place. Perhaps this is just such a time. I don't know. It's your state, not mine. The people of Wisconsin have to decide when to pursue an extraordinary remedy and when not to.
What I do know is that each time one resorts to an extraordinary remedy, it becomes easier to resort to it again. Until it becomes less an extraordinary choice, and more a part of the everyday toolbox of politics. And that is dangerous. Very dangerous.
Because that way ignores Jefferson's point that "altering or abolishing" demands
systematic tyranny. Those who signed in 1776 didn't sign because George III and the British state crossed the line of fairness and justice once or twice, or because they gored this or that group interest during two years in office following a constitutional elecdtion. They signed because of a "long train of abuses and usurpations" occurring over decades. The enumeration of the types of offenses runs twenty-some paragraphs.
The Declaration was not just a response to the individual called George III, it was a response to a "Form of Government" (the British monarchy) that was destructive of the ends of life, liberty, etc. A recall election, even one provided in the constitution, is not merely an action taken because of an individual official; it is an action taken against the primary electoral institutions provided for in that same constitution.
A recall may be a political strategy. But it is a strategy with inevitably serious constitutional implications. And one allows the political strategy to govern over the constitutional constraints at one's peril.
A central part of what distinguishes the American approach to constitutional change c. 1776-1789 from, say, the French c. 1789-1848, is that the American founders recognized that revolution had to be accompanied by forbearance. Rights were fundamental and had to be protected, but they could not be protected to the last decimal point. The system only works if the members of society are willing to NOT press claims for perfect justice. Only if they are willing to accept the messiness of law and governance. Only if they are willing to suffer a significant amount of wrongs which they consider unfair.
Because majoritarianism is always going to yield minorities who are going to see themselves as unfairly treated.
Always.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)