Despite national aspirations, Scott Perry is merely a creation of schizophrenic Wisconsin voters

Although I “grew-up” in the state of Wisconsin, looking back I wonder what exactly I learned there. I admit that I encountered many people who one might define as socially “liberal,” at least in the way they interacted with me; but most of the time I just seemed to be in a different world than most people I knew.  It wouldn’t be for many years that I discovered where this square hole society had determined this round peg would “fit” into, and how I would respond to it. 

In any case, Wisconsin is another one of those states that tends to be schizophrenic in its voting patterns--voting  “blue” on the presidential level, but often conservative on the state level. How can a state that was in the forefront of progressive social policies vote for a far-right extremist like Scott Perry for governor, whose policies are in direct opposition of what this state allegedly stands for? But then again, this is the same state that elected an uncompromising “socialist” like Robert La Follette for the U.S. Senate, and then rejected his son in favor of that embarrassing red-baiter Joseph McCarthy. 

Perry, who allegedly is exploring a presidential run in 2016, recently spoke at some breakfast function sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor, in which he made the expected inane comments about Barack Obama and his foreign policy, while praising his “role model,” Ronald Reagan.

I’m afraid I don’t have a strong stomach for this sort of mendacity. First of all, Obama’s foreign policy needed a competent hand, and he finally has that in John Kerry. Whether or not the recent “deal” with Iran over its nuclear capabilities is successful in its aims remains to be seen, but at least it is a beginning. But for what reason does Perry think he could do “better”? Because he wasn’t “intimidated” by the public sector unions that he and his Republican majorities in the Wisconsin legislature trampled on like an elephant mindlessly rampaging in the china shop? This after they managed to con the electorate into voting them into office after they cowardly “forgot” to mention what their plans would be? This wasn’t a “budget-cutting” project as they claimed, either; it was just part of an on-going effort to weaken unions who are one of few organizations with the funding clout to off-set that of the corporations that bankroll Republicans.

Perry also pointed to Reagan “standing up” to the air traffic controller union, firing all those who went on strike in 1981—just the beginning of a long trail of corruption in his administration that culminated in the Iran-Contra scandal that in any previous era would have been regarded as treason. Again, this was “easy” and required no moral or ethical forethought; Reagan had the power to act unilaterally, and his extremism was still concealed by the actor’s façade. 

Perry went on to suggest that Reagan’s “toughness” against unions—like his own—was enough to cow the international foe (huh?) and keep military engagements to a minimum. Unlike Perry, I happened to be “there” when all of this was going on. Reagan’s “foreign policy” was basically cutting and running after the Beirut barracks bombing, making stupid statements like that at the Bitburg military cemetery where Waffen SS soldiers were buried, invading the tiny island Grenada (which proved to be an embarrassment for the mighty U.S. military), out-spending the Russians (and rolling-up a huge federal deficit in the process), and of course the Iran-Contra law-breaking. In the years to come, I expect that the reality of the Reagan administration will prevail over the fairy tale. 

Despite beating back a recall effort, Perry might not be long for this political world. There is still the 2014 governor’s race to consider, and he appears to have a fight on his hands despite the fact that expected Democratic challenger Mary Burke is largely unknown. However, it speaks much to the way the individual Wisconsin voters is more narcissistic in outlook on the local level than they are on the national level in that Burke is in fact little differentiated politically than Perry in her background, and she has refused to commit to rolling back Perry’s most obnoxious initiatives if elected.