Welcome to BadgerPundit. This site just went live on January 10th, and has already attracted some attention due to generous links from Boots & Sabers, Charlie Sykes, and other members of the Wisconsin blogsphere. I thank you all for your warm welcome, and hope that I will be able to contribute some interesting perspectives on issues of concern to Wisconsin and the world at large.
As Admiral James Stockdale once memorably asked, "Who am I? Why am I here?" Fair questions both. I am currently a student at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, who has commited to a career with an investment management firm in the Milwaukee area. Prior to business school, I was employed by a different firm in Milwaukee, so I already know the area well. Although I am not from Wisconsin, I have made a conscious decision to pursue a life in this state, and hopefully to raise a family here. In doing so, I have forgone opportunities in many other states, because I believe Wisconsin has many wonderful virtues and strengths- although the state faces many serious challenges as well.
Having staked my career and my future life in the state, I (like all residents) have a compelling interest in the Wisconsin's prosperity, quality of life, property values, and economic development. This site is an effort to actively participate in the many crucial public policy debates which will shape Wisconsin's future- on taxes, on government, on education, and on the economy. It is my belief that Wisconsin faces an important crossroads in the next decade. Over the past 30 years, Wisconsin has lost considerable ground relative to the rest of the United States. The state was once wealthier, more populous, and more influential than it now is relative to other American states. Population growth is stagnant, political influence is on the wane (as witnessed by the electoral vote lost in the 2000 census), and Milwaukee has slid from from being among the 15 largest cities in the U.S. to barely cracking the top 40. These are trends which should greatly concern every resident in the state. BadgerPundit's grandfather could hardly believe it when the Milwaukee Braves in 1966 moved to Atlanta. Grandfather had lived in Milwaukee in the 1930s, and it was inconceivable to him that a southern cow-town like Atlanta could steal a baseball franchise from the thriving metropolis of his memories. Yet it happened. And today, the metro Atlanta area has grown to nearly three times the size of the Milwaukee MSA, despite Milwaukee's considerable head start at the beginning of the 20th century.
How did this happen, in spite of Milwaukee's attractive location, well-developed economic base, and proximity to the giant urban center of Chicago? It can't be the weather, given Chicago's own growth and the economic dynamism of the Twin Cities area. Although the causes of Milwaukee's relative economic malaise are complicated and diverse, BadgerPundit firmly believes the root of the problem is to be found in an overly-intrusive state and local government, excessively high taxes, and a dysfunctional hostility towards business, free enterprise, and economic realities. All these maladies are unfortunate relics of the famous "progressivism" of LaFollete, a discredited creed of statism, protectionism, and interference with private property to which Wisconsin leftists cling with ferocious and self-destructive tenacity.
Having lived in the LaFollette-ravaged Wisconsin of a century later, I believe it is manifestly obvious that Wisconsin taxpayers are not getting good value with respect to government services. There are too many government employees at every level, who are insufficiently productive and usually overcompensated (particularly with absurdly generous benefit packages) relative to their actual merit or economic utility. High taxes encourage wealthy residents to move to other states (like Florida, which has no income tax), while an overly generous welfare system invites the sick, the lame, and the hopeless to grab a warm coat and come live off the public dole in America's Dairyland. In a country which permits free movement of people and capital, this is a recipe for economic suicide.
For those Wisconsites who are acquainted with the private sector, and who believe in individual rather than collective responsibility, it is well past time to stand up and say "Enough!". I have watched in frustration as Wisconsites complain about their taxes, and yet through indifference or inattention, meekly submit to the ever escalating demands of teachers' unions and public employees. Like the weather, everyone talks about taxes, but nobody does anything about them. BadgerPundit hopes to goad people into action rather than complaint. Republican or Democrat, those who care about the future economic viability of Wisconsin must expel from office legislators who renege on tax promises, and those who refuse to stand up to public sector unions.
This fight is a difficult one, which requires the new weapons of the alternative media such as the blogsphere. In Wisconsin, we confront an iron triangle of a leftist media (e.g. the Journal Sentinel), a radical local academic community, and highly organized, self-interested "public servants." All reinforce the same message, which is essentially the view that Wisconsites would rather have "services" than their own money, that our taxes aren't really that high, that "living wages" aren't an obstacle to economic growth. Labor sponsored outfits such as COWS or the IWF will trot out highly tendentious surveys, based on misleadingly worded questionaires, to support this alternate view of reality. Well, as Groucho Marx once observed "Who are you going to believe- me or your own eyes?"
BadgerPundit therefore hopes to help people get mad, get active, and demand positive reform in the Badger State. Our new friends at Boots & Sabers have done tremendous work on the developing TABOR fight- I firmly believe TABOR will prove to be one of the most critical fights for Wisconsin's future. If we (conservatives, libertarians, the overtaxed, and the just plain fed up) can't win this one, then I fear there is no hope for the state.
Anyway, now you know where I'm coming from. And please keep reading.