Lynch Pen: Political columnist on the money

— There are not many political columnists that can get my attention on a regular basis. Most of the “regulars” are too politically biased to be worth a search of the newspapers to follow them. And, with too many television networks now vying for our attention, the list of experts seems to grow daily. Occasionally a panel of experts on one network or another will have some meaningful debate, but most of the time it is purely political bashing of the president or his opponent, or trashing the Tea Party or .... Seldom is there anything so noteworthy that you feel bad if you should miss it.

There is one individual, however, an occasional columnist in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette editorial section and occasionally a member of a television panel that carries a lot of weight in my thinking. He probably got my attention first because of his credentials in various fields of education, but the physical obstacles heovercomes to appear on television have impressed me even further. These physical limitations - wheelchair bound, partially paralyzed from a swimming accident - are not limiting his mind nor keeping him from sharing his views on various issues that are also of interest to me. His name is Charles Krauthammer.

One of his recent articles (ADG, Saturday, June 9, 2012) concerned the recall election of the governor in my former home state of Wisconsin. Mr.

Krauthammer expressed the view that several historical precedents were established after the recall of Gov. Walker failed. He notes it is the first time a recall of a governor has failed, and as the news media has been reporting, the governor got a higher percent of the votes onthe recall balloting than he had when he got elected, and it was the same person running against him. He notes also that the date will be remembered as the beginning of the long decline of the public-sector unions. Mr.

Krauthammer summed up the attempt to recall Gov.

Walker as a “classic case of reactionary liberalism.” The unions, founded to protect the membership, tried to use their size, wealth and power in an arrogant attempt to regain control of the state’s functioning legislative offices.

It is interesting that at a time when our economy can no longer assure a growing population that tomorrow they will be financially better off (than they are today), the teacher’s union tried to force its will on school boards in various communities (districts) across the state. My youngest son was in the middle of one of the districts’ struggles which involved closing schools and laying off teachers to accommodatethe increased wages and health care benefits of their area. It is interesting that Gov. Walker did exactly what he claimed he would do if elected. My son had taken me into the Walker family’s neighborhood several years ago during the political campaign and told me there were numerous threats against the would-be governor because of his campaign promises.

The event has much interest for me because the governor made some promises and then actually delivered on them.

That is unique in the world of politics. What political party one belongs to should not be an issue if we are looking for integrity in our political leadership. What I would hope to see come out of this whole nationally publicized recall is some changes in attitude of both current and wouldbe elected officials. If we as voters can use this as a rally point and start expecting - demanding - more from ourcandidates, we can hope to see a direction change for our nation. I am not impressed by candidates who are afraid to risk losing by giving details of how they will function in office if elected. And, that seems to be where the two party candidates - President Obama and Mitt Romney are now. A lot of smoke and mirrors, but no actual working platform of change.

For our future, I hope to see change - away from government intervention and our failed economic policy. Whoever we elect I hope they will follow the lead of Gov. Walker and keep some meaningful promises. (And, if you aren’t a reader of Charles Krauthammer, you might find him interesting.)◊◊◊

Editor’s note: Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 4 on 06/20/2012