Governor Walker and Cartoonist Phil Hands

Political Cartoonist Phil Hands has published an intriguing cartoon about embattled, though hardly cowed-down, gubernatorial incumbent Scott Walker.

In contrast to the paltry takings of his Democratic challengers, Walkers has amassed a considerable fortune: $13 million and counting. He deserves every penny, even if he has culled the majority of his war chest from out-of-state donors. If politics is the most public example of accountability, choice, and competition, then by all accounts Walker has deservedly commanded a great deal of wealth and respect.

From the beginning of his term, Governor Walker and his Republican colleagues engaged in a political fight which must eventually be waged across the country: ending lavish expenditures handed out during previous administrations to politically entrenched public sector unions. These benefits benefited the political class and the public workers at the expense of the overwhelmed and impoverished tax payers.

Curbing the collective bargaining rights of these interest groups, a growing liability in the state, Walker demonstrated a mature tenacity for difficult decision-making, even if the cost-cutting and budget-balancing which ensued would damage his party in the mainstream media.

Responsible governance includes the mandate of taking on the mantle of fiscal responsibility, and the greatest obstacle to this high expectation of state government has been the public sector union monopoly, which recently has served neither the state nor the citizen, but the small cabal of union leaders.

Nationally recognized for his political courage, Walker ended this profligacy. I hope that the governor finishes his four years in office.