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Branding and the Cheesehead summer: Wisconsin recall fails
Stephan Helgesen
The opponents of Walker forgot that no matter how well organized you are or how fat your checkbook may be, there is nothing, repeat nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.
Never thought I’d see the day when my beloved Wisconsin was branded! Last year we were living in what was called the Recovery Summer. This year we’re living in one that’s started out with the Cheesehead Revolution and the failure of Wisconsin’s Democrats to unseat and recall their controversial governor, Scott Walker.
We’re pretty accustomed to branding in the West. Without our brands we’d be rustling and feeding on each other’s livestock. So, from a practical point of view, the identification aspect of branding makes sense, but the brands have to mean something and stand for something of value.
Rebranding America’s dairyland
Nothing is immune from branding, not even our states or our state representatives. I don’t want a brand representing me in Congress, or anywhere else, for that matter. Nor do I think that states should be branded. I want representatives with slightly rough edges who actually say something rather than rolling out a sound bite, and I certainly don’t want any of our fabulous 50 states straying too far from their beaten paths, creating whole new identities for themselves, either.
Walker of Wisconsin survived an intense recall effort designed to unseat him. The normally understated laissez-faire, cool-as-cucumbers Wisconsinites spent $17 million of their hard-earned tax dollars for the pleasure of airing their dirty laundry in public, only to confirm the validity of their initial vote. Walker stays. Status quo wins.
Millions more dollars were spent by the organized labor movement in their propaganda campaign leading up to the vote in the hopes of branding Walker as a union-buster and the Republicans as cold-hearted, callous, anti-democratic storm troopers armed with cattle prods on a search-and-destroy mission bound for Local Firefighters’ 36.
Way before that the contest was branded as an epic confrontation between good and evil. It was the forces of darkness (Walker and his gang) against the people (organized labor) – the prize being the power to chart the Dairy State’s fiscal and political course for the future. The only thing the branders seemed to leave out of their argument were the facts, facts like Wisconsin’s dire economic straits due to escalating public-sector union benefits that were bankrupting the state when Walker took office.
An idea whose time has come
But last winter the branders didn’t let those facts get in the way. Instead, they mobilized both in-state and out-of-state and headed for the Wisconsin Capital Building and occupied it, illegally. They shouted, screamed and in general threw a tantrum in the public square. The real victim, though, was decorum that they successfully trounced during days of heated protests with authorities.
Their actions were act II of the Cheesehead street theatre play, which started with 11 of Wisconsin’s Democrat legislators fleeing the state for neighboring Rockford, Illinois to avoid doing their elected duty (voting on the legislation that would enable communities to negotiate pension benefits, locally).
After the legislation passed without their vote, the floodgates were opened. The recall petition drive that followed was impressive (garnering 900,000 signatures), and it revealed the strength of the Democrat Party apparatus and of labor unions’ organizational skills.
The opponents of Walker forgot one thing in their zeal to brand him and his supporters of fiscal responsibility as radicals, however.
They forgot that no matter how well organized you are or how fat your checkbook may be, there is nothing, repeat nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come. Maybe the Cheesehead Summer in the State of Wisconsin has come just in time for the rest of us to have a serious discussion about what path we want our country to travel going forward.
Wisconsin does prove one thing, however – that where there’s the whey there’s the will.
Stephan Helgesen is a former diplomat and CEO of his own export consulting company. He is also honorary German consul in New Mexico. He can be reached at helgesen@2ndopinionmarketing.com.
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Michael, I’m disinclined to get into a link war with someone who’s always “right”. I doubt you’ve paid much attention to the Wisconsin situation going back to Feb 2011 on through the Supreme Court election and Senate recalls but by quoting the $12 million vs $6 million numbers you’re missing a lot. The money issue was the explanation for why Walker won, not the actual issues involved, nor the way the Democratic establishment mishandled it (really Tom Barrett?)
In any case http://www.wifr.com/news/headlines/Total_Spending_on_Recall_Races_Tops_125_Million_158006355.html
I have to agree with Mister Helgesen that the time has come to let Americans choose their destiny, and the unions to back away from the desire to capture all minds and hearts in Wisconsin, as well as the rest of the country.
At long last, have you no sense of history?
The normally understated laissez-faire, cool-as-cucumbers Wisconsinites … The real victim, though, was decorum …
Have you forgotten names like McCarthy, Proxmire, Feingold, and LaFollette? Their senate service could hardly be considered understated or cool-as-cucumbers, nor always decorous. As for laissez-faire, consider this:
During its heyday the Progressive Party usually did not run candidates in Milwaukee as there was a tacit agreement with the city’s Socialists that progressive third parties should not fight each other (despite strong ideological differences between the two movements), when both faced opposition from the conservative major parties.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Progressive_Party
Michael, it may make you feel better to cherry pick the numbers
If you have any actual facts or evidence, please share the citations.
Michael, it may make you feel better to cherry pick the numbers to make it seem like the only relevant factor in the recall vote was one particular brand of spending, but you’re leaving a lot of things out of the equation, I suspect your letting Chris Matthews do the math.
This claim isn’t the whole truth, either:
facts like Wisconsin’s dire economic straits due to escalating public-sector union benefits that were bankrupting the state when Walker took office.
On the contrary:
Let’s be clear: Whatever fiscal problems Wisconsin is — or is not — facing at the moment, they’re not caused by labor unions.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/02/unions_arent_to_blame_for_wisc.html
see also: http://www.fair.org/blog/2012/06/06/can-we-recall-bad-reporting-on-wisconsin-budget-deficit/
If only the facts supported your claim.
They forgot that no matter how well organized you are or how fat your checkbook may be, …
In fact, the Republicans’ check book was twice as fat as the challengers’:
The Republican advantage in ad spending is not just a one-week phenomenon. Dating back to November 1, Walker and his Republican allies have spent $12.3 million to run ads, more than double the $5.6 million spent by Barrett and his Democratic allies. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/04/walker-and-gop-win-wisconsin-recall-ad-spending-war/
It might be more accurate to say: no matter how righteous your cause, when the forces of evil can outspend you $12 million to $6 million you’ve got a problem. Unless, of course, your X-wing can drop a bomb into the exhaust vent of the anti-union forces.
Considering this fantastic outcome of a very heavy voter turnout, I may have to rethink my stereotype and boycott of Wisconsin as one of the most left wing states in the nation and finally visit it. Well done Wisconsin.