Issue 2 in Ohio has failed. Unions poured a gazillion dollars into Ohio and won.  Despite having a sense of this outcome for some time it still stings.  Believe it or not, a great many felt that these reforms were important steps in bring fiscal and structural sanity to government.  The voters clearly did not get that message.

The media is going to try and play this as horse race politics. Governor John Kasich lost and the Democrats won.  And obviously, in some important sense – even if only in the fact the story and perspective being conventional wisdom – this is true. Kasich and Republicans passed this legislation and it has been rejected.  Fair enough.

But I personally believe there is a simpler explanation.  Voters like their local cops, firefighters, nurses and teachers.  In many ways, they idealize these type of positions even if they don’t like the state of education or public safety, etc.  Thus opponents of reform had a very easy and emotionally effective message: Senate Bill 5 is an attack on the “everyday heroes” who protect our communities.  It doesn’t really matter if this was true or not.  In a 30 second ad it is easy to say and makes an emotional connection. This is a huge advantage in a statewide ballot issue.

Combine this with the huge financial advantage the opponents had (unions could take dues from union members regardless of their political beliefs and spend it on this election) and you have an uphill battle for supporters (and of course there is a minority of voters – public sector and labor unions – who are simply voting their self-interest).  All they had to do was blanket the state with pictures of police and firefighters opposed to the issue and the lasting impression is that the bill is an attack on the people we value the most in our communities.

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Is John Glenn a hero?  Tricky question. First American to orbit the earth and third American in space. A long list of awards and medals to his name.  But also a Senate a career that was less than illustrious (including the Keating Five scandal).  When I think John Glenn I think bland Democratic politician not heroic astronaut. Your mileage may vary.

But the point of this post is not to attack John Glenn or dissect his career – however fun and instructive that may be – but to point out the tricky nature of heroism.  And to highlight the ridiculous bait and switch happening with Ohio’s collective bargaining law ballot issue (Issue 2) debate.

Public sector unions want the public to believe that Senate Bill 5 was a dirty move by power hungry politicians that puts the public at risk. They want you to believe that the “Everyday heroes” in our communities – the public safety forces, nurses, teachers, etc. – are being robbed of the very tools they use to protect us.

As I have posted before, their entire campaign is based on a false sense of moral superiority which is in turn based on misrepresenting the facts and manipulating the public’s emotions.  And it just so happens that the latest ad is a perfect example and it stars John Glenn.

As they used to say, Read On …

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**I am going to try and re-start something I had begun previously: Friday Books. Each Friday I will bring to your attention a book worth reading.  Feel free to leave a comment on books you have read recently or are reading.**

It is easy to lose perspective these days. What with the 2012 campaign, the struggling economy, and the often miss-the-forest-for the-trees nature of social media and 24/7 news cycles. With that in mind, I have some advice:  If you feel sorry for yourself, read this book. If you find American politics depressing, read this book. If you need some inspiration for your faith, read this book. Or if you just need to see the world from a different perspective, read this book.

What book? you ask.  God Is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China

This rather simple book blew me away with stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things and persevering through the most brutal of circumstances. It is a story of faith and determination in the midst of poverty and persecution that makes my complaints and troubles seem laughingly small.

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One of the failings of our public school systems is the lack of basic economic literacy of so many of our students.  I am afraid this has infected our political discourse and policy making to a degree that is frightening and deeply disheartening.  One prime example of this, are attempts to ignore basic things like supply and demand when making public policy.  In my humble opinion, Democrats are guilty of this more than Republicans but a depressing amount of Republicans follow this path as well.

A good example is a hot topic these days: student debt. This is a subject I have some inside knowledge about having acquired far too much student debt in order to achieve an advanced degree from a fancy Ivy League school (fine, a MA from a MAC school, but that is beside the point).

This is also a classic example of politicians blindly declaring something a universal good and then making policy that not only ignores economic reality but undermines the economy and harms people (see, housing policy).  We blithely declare that everyone should go to college and set up a system that allows anyone breathing to borrow large sums of money with no consequences or connection to reality and wonder why the system doesn’t function.  Soon we have millions of people with massive debt and very little to show for it.

The sad thing is that these people are now protesting in the streets and asking for what? More hair of the dog that bit them – more government intrusion and less economic reality.  And it appears President Obama is happy to oblige them.

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It is not my attention to pile on Herman Cain or to get further into the abortion imbroglio covered in detail here at Redstate.  Instead, I want to take a moment to talk about the concept of “professional politicians.”

People love to hate politicians and often for good reason. And in our hyper-populist mood these days there is a scrambling to be anti-politician, anti-Washington, anti-government, etc.  Conservatives in particular are enamored of businessmen and figures who can plausibly claim to free from beltway and big government thinking.

Obviously, Herman Cain benefits from this dynamic; and Mitt Romney has – awkwardly and unsuccessfully in my opinion – tried to use this to his advantage.  There is one small problem with this idea: it is naive and unrealistic and leads only to problems for candidates and their supporters.

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As you may know, there is a critically important issue being debated here in Ohio that has long term implications for politics, public policy and the health of Ohio’s economy.

Issue 2 is a result of a union led attempt to repeal Senate Bill 5 – legislation which brought much needed reform to Ohio’s collective bargaining laws.  A yes vote allows these important reforms to go into effect which will give much needed flexibility to government at all levels and will remove barriers to merit based management.

But this will not be a detailed and technical examination of the law and its impact. Instead, what I want to do is highlight the fundamentally deceptive and anti-democratic and anti-republican (small r) nature of the opposition forces.

The fundamental problem for the unions is that the vast majority of Ohioans are not members of unions and, as taxpayers, support effective and efficient government.  In a fast paced information based world, and with budgets as tight as they have ever been, this means breaking up the stranglehold unions have had on government.

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There is a tendency by some to look down their noses at politics; viewing it as the grubby fight for power and the inevitable disappointment that results from politicians who promise everything during election years only to deliver hot air and favors for friends once safely ensconced in office.  To be fair, all too often this is what politics actually offers.

But in his biography of founding father James Madison, Richard Brookhiser argues that politics is the working out of our ideals; that for freedom, democracy and republican government to function in the real world requires politics and all the baggage that entails.

We pay much less attention to James Madison, Father of Politics, than we do James Madison, Father of the Constitution. That is because politics embarrasses us. Politics is the spectacle on television and YouTube, the daily perp walk on the Huffington Post and the Drudge Report. Surely our founders and framers lefts us something better, more solid, more inspiring than that? They did. But they all knew - and Madison understood better than any of them – that ideals come to life in dozens of political transactions every day. Some of these transactions aren’t pretty. You can understand this and try to work with this knowledge, or you can look away. But ignoring politics will not make it stop. It will simply go on without you – and sooner or later will happen to you.

Madison is one of, if not the, smartest of the founders but he lacked the stature of Washington, or the eloquence of a Thomas Jefferson or a Patrick Henry, and so his intelligence is sometimes overlooked. Madison may not have been an eloquent speaker – he often spoke so quietly that the audience couldn’t hear him – or writer but he learned to master many of the important skills necessary to move public opinion, pass legislation and build coalitions.

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Implementation of something called E-Verify is bringing out opposition from a group that the GOP counts on: farmers.  Georgia farmers are upset:

Georgia farmers are suffering from the state’s new immigration law. HB 87 was partially blocked by the courts, but other parts took effect July 1. Even without fully becoming law, the legislation had a chilling effect on migrant workers essential to agriculture, according to George Hall, executive director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association.

And I know a bill has been introduced here in Ohio. And the legislation has been supported by conservatives in the past (see this Matt Mayer Op-Ed).

But as this New York Times article points out, this is a budding area of conflict between Republicans and an important part of the coalition:

Farmers across the country are rallying to fight a Republican-sponsored bill that would force them and all other employers to verify the legal immigration status of their workers, a move some say could imperil not only future harvests but also the agricultural community’s traditional support for conservative candidates.

The bill was proposed by Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It would require farmers — who have long relied on a labor force of immigrants, a majority here without legal documents — to check all new hires through E-Verify, a federal database run by the Department of Homeland Security devised to ferret out illegal immigrants.

I don’t bring this up because I am an expert at e-verify or to start a flame war on immigration. Instead, I raise the issue to caution against making the perfect the enemy of the good; to caution against rushing to pass legislation without thinking of unintended consequences.

The economics of immigration are complex as are the politics. But I am not sure we want to be angering the farmers in key states like Ohio, Georgia, Texas and Florida heading into the 2012.  And I am also not sure we should be harming agricultural in this economy. I know in Ohio agriculture is huge and has a vast economic impact.  Food prices are high enough do we want to add to that?

I have seen figures that indicate that 30% to 50% of Georgia’s agricultural workforce didn’t show up after the passage of E-Verify. This resulted in $300 million in reduced productivity and failed crops.

Before all of you immigration hard liners (and I am not exactly an open boarder type) go crazy on me, I am simply pointing out the conflict and traps inherent in this issue and advising caution. Is this a fight we need to pick now? Are we sure we know the program works and the likely actions and reactions that are to follow?

Surely, we can take the time to make sure that we can enforce the law and provide order without significant distribution to our food chain and/or angering an important ally. 2012 is going to be a critical election in terms of getting American government back on track and the economy growing again. Focus is going to be critical. Proceed with caution.

There is of course a coalition fighting for legislation that better takes agricultural concerns into consideration. There arguments makes some sense to me, but your mileage may vary.  Food for thought at least.

Budget showdowns in DC, battles with government unions in the Midwest, tragedy in Japan, war in the Near East, unemployment frustratingly high and gas prices disturbingly so. There is much to worry about and debate these days. One suspects, however, that there aren't many Americans who are worried about the upcoming Sarawak elections in Malaysia. And yet, even amongst all the headlines above, they should. Why? I will try to explain.

*This is the second edition of my idea to post about books every Friday. This time a review.

I have been reading Tony Woodlief for some time and I would guess many of you have as well. First at this blog, Sand in the Gears, and then in places like the Wall Street Journal, World Magazine and National Review Online.

Tony is the kind of writer I enjoy: honest, intelligent and always interesting. I don’t always agree with him but I almost always come away appreciating his perspective. He has a sense of humor and an awareness of his own limitations that I find refreshing.

For this week’s Friday book post I wanted to take a moment to recommend you read Tony’s book Somewhere More Holy if you haven’t already.  It is a great read and would make a great gift for the holidays.

Andre Malraux wrote of Whitaker Chambers that he “had not come back from hell empty-handed.” I think the same can be said of Woodlief.

For more on why, read below.

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I am an admitted bibliophile and thought it might be interesting and useful to post some thoughts on books/authors every Friday. So here is the first post. Let me know if you think this is something worth continuing.

William F. Buckley (Christian Encounters Series) by Jeremy Lott is an excellent introduction to one of the central figures of the post-war conservative movement. But it is important to keep in mind that it is just that: an introduction.

You can’t do justice to a man like Buckley in less than 150 pages. But this book does what this type of book should do: give an interesting overview of the life and times of the subject and prompt the reader to seek out more.

Given my interest in the subject, and the relevance of the topic, I thought it would be good to do a Q&A with the author. Jeremy graciously agreed to answer a few questions via email. His answers, and a little bit more about the book are below.

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Does he have a sense of humor about it? Yes, he does:

Another after the jump

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Some real smart analyst/blogger recently said that Ted Strickland was in trouble because unemployment was high – and likely to stay that way – the larger political environment was trending against him and he faced a credible opponent who would take advantage of these factors. While I try to remember who that was, please take a moment to look at some number that back that argument up:

Despite continuing to be relatively unknown Republican challenger John Kasich leads Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland 42-37 in his quest to be the state’s next Governor.

The numbers seem to be much more a referendum on Strickland than Kasich. 50% of voters in the state say they don’t know enough about Kasich to have an opinion, and those who do are pretty much split on him with 25% holding a favorable opinion and 24% seeing him negatively. Those usually aren’t the kinds of popularity numbers we see for someone leading an incumbent.

Strickland though is an unusually unpopular incumbent. Just 33% of voters in the state approve of the job he’s doing, with 47% disapproving. His own party is not enthusiastic about him with 53% approving, 23% disapproving, and 23% with no opinion. He has poor numbers with independents at 28/54 and with Republicans at 14/69.

The technical term for this sort of position for a sitting governor is I believe SOL:

Right now the Ohio Governor’s race is shaping up as a referendum on Ted Strickland and that’s not going to work out too well for the Democrats,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “Strickland’s either going to have to change people’s minds about him or convince them that Kasich’s worse.

Um, yeah, good luck with that …

A look at the US Senate race below.

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There are a great many conservative journalists, a seemingly endless array of pundits and a gazillion bloggers opining this days. No offense, and present company excluded, but few rise above the occasionally interesting and far too few are able to bring the desired combination of detailed and useful facts and a talent for writing to their craft.  The editors (past and present), however, have a quip that highlights our respect for one such writer who does achieve this skill level: “Don’t Mess with Ramesh.”

I am not sure there is a more devastating or more succinct political polemicist on the Right than Ramesh Ponnuru. When the foolish leftists rise up to question something he has written or a point of debate I sit back and enjoy the ruthless and yet witty way in which he counters leaving the debate settled in his favor (and me frequently wincing a bit thinking: that’s gonna leave a mark.)

All of this long winded introduction is simply to point you to another must read from Ramesh. This one is from NRODT (although it can be found in the digital version if you have a subscription). If you are looking for a calm and deadly explanation of the failures of modern liberal governance, look no further.

Since it is subscription only, allow me to point out two paragraphs that should cause you to go out and get a copy for yourselves:

Contemporary liberalism both presupposes and desires a government that is flexible, competent, energetic. It wants and needs a government that can mobilize society’s resources to accomplish a long list of difficult tasks, including the reduction of economic inequality, the education of children, the protection of the environment, the elimination of unjust discrimination, and the safeguarding of consumers — to name just a few. Yet in operation, it weighs down the government with interest groups that first make it inefficient and inflexible and then make it impossible to reform.

Another one after the break.

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Ohio Representatives, I suggest you think deep and hard about how you vote on health care “reform” because the numbers are ugly. First, Susan B. Anthony List:

OH-01 Steve Driehaus

• 73% oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions (61% strongly oppose)
• 72% oppose taxpayer funding of abortions as part of healthcare reform (62% strongly oppose)
• 64% agree that abortion and abortion funding have no place in healthcare legislation (52% strongly agree)
• 55% would be less likely to vote to re-elect Congressman Driehaus if he votes for healthcare legislation that includes federal government funding of abortion (45% would be much less likely)

OH-06 Charlie Wilson

• 80% oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions (65% strongly oppose)
• 79% oppose taxpayer funding of abortions as part of healthcare reform (66% strongly oppose)
• 74% agree that abortion and abortion funding have no place in healthcare legislation (61% strongly agree)
• 64% would be less likely to vote to re-elect Congressman Wilson if he votes for healthcare legislation that includes federal government funding of abortion (51% would be much less likely)

OH-09 Marcy Kaptur

• 67% oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions (52% strongly oppose)
• 66% oppose taxpayer funding of abortions as part of healthcare reform (52% strongly oppose)
• 61% agree that abortion and abortion funding have no place in healthcare legislation (45% strongly agree)
• 47% would be less likely to vote to re-elect Congresswoman Kaptur if he votes for healthcare legislation that includes federal government funding of abortion (38% would be much less likely)

OH-16 John Boccieri

• 80% oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions (67% strongly oppose)
• 79% oppose taxpayer funding of abortions as part of healthcare reform (67% strongly oppose)
• 71% agree that abortion and abortion funding have no place in healthcare legislation (60% strongly agree)

62% would be less likely to vote to re-elect Congressman Boccieri if he votes for healthcare legislation that includes federal government funding of abortion (50% would be much less likely)

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So what exactly is going on with Lee Fisher and Jennifer Brunner in the Democratic primary for the US Senate seat in Ohio? The two candidates seem intent on ignoring each other and the party and its interest groups seem to have sworn an oath to avoid talking about the primary (the biggest in this important state in a critical year).

First, there was some confusion over whether Brunner was or was not at the President’s visit to Strongsville yesterday. It turns out she was there but President Obama apparently snubbed her! As I noted on Twitter, Obama snubs a women but praises the men? Good thing the president doesn’t have a history of belittling women …

We do know that Lee Fisher was definitely not at the rally. Why? Well, he said he had to attend the meeting with the Plain Dealer. But obviously Secretary of State Brunner was able to attend both while the former jobs czar used it as an excuse to miss it. Interesting. What is Lee up to?

But then Fisher was supposed to be on WFIN in Findley to discuss the health care debate. But it turns out he was a no-show. Let’s go to the transcript:

Not sure exactly what happened to Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher. Of course we mentioned not only the current Lieutenant Governor and candidate for US Senate seat now being held by Sen. George Voinovich was scheduled to be with us on the program in this half hour. [HE] scheduled to be with us to talk about his campaign hand the key issues he saw in terms of the important stuff for Ohio moving forward especially in this period of economic recovery .

We were planning on talking to him about that in this half hour but nothing, not sure what happened. We did confirm yesterday that he was supposed to be with us and then this morning nothing.

So not sure exactly what’s going on there. Hopefully we can reschedule and maybe get the Lieutenant Governor on the program yet this week because one of the things I wanted to ask him about was this health care vote in Washington. He wants to go to the Senate so wanted to ask where he stood on this whole healthcare debate that seems to be coming to a head this week.

Wow, that’s embarrassing!

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A few days ago I posted on how the Democrats were attacking US Senate Candidate Rob Portman for supposedly supporting the “status-quo” on health care (instead of the health care monstrosity currently being debate in Washington).

The ODP rolled out some nonsensical attack quotes that missed the whole point. Portman has been saying since the beginning that a bill that raises costs and hurts business is the last thing we need right now. He has been calling for reform that reduces costs and allows for greater access. But Democrats insist on ramming their plan down our throats even if they have to ignore the constitution to do it.

Anyone who knows him knows that Portman is no raging populist – nor is he in the pocket of big insurance companies like the Democrats insist – but he is an intelligent politician and he knows his public policy. So he knows the public doesn’t want a government take over of health care that leads to higher costs and more bureaucracy.  And he knows that the proposal the Democrats are pushing will lead to just that. So he opposes it.

This is neither trolling for campaign donations nor mere campaign rhetoric. And you know what? He is right.

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Remember Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) in 2009 who opposed the House version of ObamaCare containing a public option, because the House bill “put the government in the role of accelerating the privatization of health care.”  He argued that ObamaCare solution is ”within the current structure of a predatory, for-profit insurance system which makes money not providing health care.”  Well, that same Congressman Kucinich has changed and now supports a bill without an explicit public option.  Today Congressn Kucinich announced that he will vote for a bill without a public option.  Dennis Kucinich has shifted from principled leftist to run of the mill Democrat hack.

Kucinch announced that he is going to be a deciding and critical vote for a bill that “the redistribution of wealth to Wall Street at the expense of America’s manufacturing and service economies which suffer from costs other countries do not have to bear, especially the cost of health care.”  According to 2009 Kucinich, “the insurance companies are the problem, not the solution,” yet the 2010 version of Kucinich is going going to vote yes on a health care bill that will empower health care insurers.  Kucinich will vote in favor of a bill to provide “even greater favors for insurance companies.”

To paraprhase liberals media icon, the unhinged and a bit crazy Keith Olbermann of MSDNC - “Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) you are the worst hypocrite in the world.”

Sources below.

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This story from the Dayton Daily News is revealing in so many ways:

On a day that brought President Barack Obama to Ohio to make a final appeal for congressional approval of his health care overhaul plan, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Portman had a different message.

“I pray that it will not pass,” Portman said on Monday, March 15. His comments came in a meeting with members of the Dayton Daily News editorial board.

Portman said the plan that Obama is trying to get the Democratic-controlled Congress to approve would increase costs.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Portman. “…We’re going to have higher, not lower costs.”

[emphasis mine - KH]

Now, for those of you slow on the uptake Rob Portman is saying he is opposed to the current health care proposal because it will lead to the opposite of what is needed: higher not lower costs. With me so far? Good.

Enter Seth Bringman and the Ohio Democratic Party who apparently struggle with these basic concepts.

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Yes, I just claimed that John Kasich is going to be Ohio’s next governor. This is not meant as hyperbole. I really believe Kasich is going to beat Governor Strickland in November.

This is not based on deep study of the polls or a county-by-county analysis or anything of that sort. It is more of a gut feeling based on how I see the campaign playing out. Now, of course, a great deal could change in the intervening months: scandals, gaffes, the political environment, etc. But right now I don’t see any of that happening in such a way to change the underlying landscape.

I have begun to think that elections are determined in many ways by some pretty basic elements. What is the mood, what is the central issue or issues, how the candidates are perceived and what are their one sentence arguments for running.

On these basics Kasich is simply better situated to win than Strickland.

Details – such as they are – below.

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