After days of waiting to hear if JoAnne Kloppenburg would request a recount in her recent loss of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, the news finally arrived late yesterday afternoon.   In Wisconsin, a recount is provided to a candidate at the expense of the taxpayers when the vote difference is less than one half percent of one percent.   The current canvass numbers just make her eligible for the taxpayers to pay yet again for this election.

This is coming at the same time the Government Accountability Board is asking for additional money to help with special elections that are taking place and the recalls occurring across Wisconsin.  It looks as if there might be more holes to fill as the budget process is worked on in Wisconsin to help cover these additional costs.

Summer in Wisconsin is typically spent out by the lake, camping in one of our beautiful state parks or cooking out with the family.  What this summer is going to look like is yet to be determined…don’t book your vacation just yet!

Well, the election of 2010 is now one for the history books.

Six new U.S. Senators now sit in “the world’s most exclusive club”, including political newcomers who finally give Jim DeMint some conservative reinforcements. 87 freshmen representatives were also sworn in, many of them introduced to the process and propelled by the grassroots rallies and groups that formed over the previous two years. It was the biggest wave election since 1948, and it didn’t stop in Washington.

At the state level, 20 legislative bodies previously split or under the control of the Left are neither anymore. There are now 25 states where center-right elected officials hold majorities in both legislative chambers. It was a swing of nearly 700 seats on Election Day, outperforming even the 628-seat record set in 1974, the 472-seat pickup twenty years later, and more than doubling the recent 322-seat gain of 2006.

And here you sit. You sense a true shifting of the political tectonic plates in America, but you’re not sure what it means. You saw the tremendous grassroots uprising of last year:  the Tea Party movement, 9.12 groups, and libertarians focusing and mobilizing like never before. Yet you’re still by turns outraged, inspired, frustrated, compelled and afraid.

Afraid of the fiscal insanity perpetuated by this Administration. Compelled to try and change things, like the number of true small-government adherents actually in office. Frustrated by an archaic political system that has its own set of insular rules and hasn’t adapted to the 21^st century’s information age. But inspired by the very real opportunities for new blood willing to work within that same system. And along with that, outraged that more people like you aren’t paying more attention to things like an unsustainable national debt, or even local and state tax rates where you live, work and raise a family.

You’re not alone.

Many new activists and groups are fuzzy on exactly how to go about becoming the next crop of liberty-minded leaders. Where and how should you begin considering a run for office? When do you decide it’s YOU that should step forward? Putting your name on the ballot involves enormous sacrifice, followed only in magnitude of difficulty by the actual job of becoming a public servant…that is, if you win a campaign.

In the spirit of “stacking the deck” with right-thinking, credible, competent candidates, here are some shortcuts that can allow for a rolling start should you decide to throw your name in the proverbial hat.

First get a political lay of the land. Look for open seats! If you live in a state where there are term limits at the state legislative level, an open seat is the best opportunity for a new, solid candidate. So do your homework in a term-limited state (compile a list of all seats coming open) and find out which seats are up in 2012.

Also look for seats that could be flipped due to the registered partisan make-up of a district, etc. Where’s the low-hanging fruit? Where are the best opportunities for victory (or unexpected wins)? Which incumbents are asleep at the switch? Which districts are long overdue for an upset but haven’t had an effective challenger—perhaps in years?

Occasionally you can find a congressional seat that falls into this category, but not often. And frankly, far too many idealistic individuals sally forth at this level only to have no real impact.

Why not steal the liberals’ mantra:  “think global, act local”?

Many of the best opportunities for newcomers exist at state and local levels. Don’t put your entire focus on Washington—plenty of statist, big-government decisions are made at municipal and county levels. It’s a mistake to ignore the tax-and-spend good ol’ boys at city hall or the state capital when you can de-pollute that compost pile of a political ecosystem right under your nose. And it’s quite appropriate to run for school board, city council, or county board/commission (often multi-million, if not billion-dollar budgetary entities, with plenty of civic responsibility) before running for state legislature—much less Congress.

Then it’s time to ask yourself what makes you a strong candidate. Do you have the “fire in the belly” to persevere through an entire, tough campaign season? Are you a natural leader? Can you inspire other people? Articulate a positive vision? Zero in on voters and their core values?

If you’d rather win the philosophical argument about why your political beliefs are the clearly correct ones than actually go out and meet the people who could become your proud supporters, running for office is probably not for you.

(Still reading? Think you have what it takes to make a difference? Watch for Part 2 of this article on the nuts and bolts of political campaigns in May 2011)

You may never hear me say this again, but I am proud to proclaim that I am more progressive than my peers here at UVA.

When a group of twenty of us were asked whether it was worth making the effort to retain objectivity in the reporting of news, nineteen said yes: reporters and news organizations should strive for objectivity, and we should highly value reportage that we determine to be without bias.

The one dissenter was, as you may have guessed, yours truly.

And really, why should we continue the pursuit of this sham we call objectivity? By objectivity, I mean reporting news in such a way as to remove any preconceived notions or opinions from the selection or documentation of facts, conveying to the reader only the relevant information and allowing him or her to form an opinion.

I’ll say it as frankly as I can: objectivity in the media is a fruitless and unfulfillable pursuit that only the naive choose to perpetuate. The more realistic and – dare I say it – forward thinking among us have exchanged objectivity for transparency, and I submit to you that transparency is what we should begin looking for in our news. Call me a cynic if you will, but this is where the world is headed.

Why not value objectivity? The idea seems logical. We would love to have the facts packaged and delivered to us, allowing us to judge for ourselves what the best course of action would be in any given situation. For example, if any of us read a news story composed simply of the current federal budget, we would love to think for ourselves and conclude that cutting spending is the best way to go. Or, if you read a short news story telling you that millions of illegal immigrants come over our southern border every year, you would probably conclude that securing the border is the best first step toward solving the problem. Objective reporting sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

The problem is that no news outlet reports just the facts. If they did, we would be bored out of our minds. Take the budget example. Do you really want to read “just the facts” about the federal budget? Of course not. It is much more interesting to hear the two sides of the debate and cheer for whichever side has the best ideas. There is nothing wrong with that. But make no mistake: fair and balanced reporting is not objective. If we were given the option of “just the facts” objectivity, most of us would find it very unappealing.

In addition to being boring, objective reporting is a figment of news editors’ imaginations. If you watch any of the major network news outlets or read any of the major newspapers, all of which claim to be “objective,” “unbiased,” or even “no spin,” you know that unbiased reporting is not practiced anywhere and is, in fact, impossible. We have all heard about the New York Times‘ decline and slow, painful, impending death. I’ve got news for the Times: readers have realized that their claims of objectivity are hollow, and their subscriptions have been steadily cut off as a result.

What I encourage you all to do instead is to embrace and perpetuate a trend of transparency in the media rather than objectivity. Accept bias and subjectivity as par for the course. Watch Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, or Neil Cavuto. Listen to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, or Mark Levin. And, in addition, watch Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric, and Rachel Maddow. If you have some obscure cable package that enables you, find Keith Olbermann’s show and become one of his ten viewers. Read RedState.com, the Drudge Report, the Huffington Post, the Daily Kos, or this very blog.

All of these news sources come with bias, preconceived notions, and opinions. What’s more, they wear their subjectivity on their sleeve. They are by no means objective in the way they report, but they are transparent. If you want conservative news aimed at grassroots activists, read the American Majority blog or RedState.com. If you want a conservative take on your national news, watch FoxNews. If you want to find out what the people on the other side of the debate are thinking, turn on MSNBC and grab some antacids. Regardless of what a reporter’s perspective is, we should value his or her transparency rather than objectivity in reporting.

If we know a news source’s bias before reading, we know how much credence to give it while consuming it. For decades before our current one, Americans bought into heinous stories and philosophies because they received them from what they thought were “objective” news networks reporting the “facts.” We know better now. In this world of new media, social media, blogs, and do-it-yourself reporting, we know that objectivity is impossible and fruitless. What we need is transparency and honesty. May we pursue it, and may we become better armed as a result.

A recount is looming over yesterday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election.  Currently, Incumbent Justice David Prosser is trailing by 206 votes to Prosecutor Joanne Kloppenburg with 100% of the precincts reporting.   With the momentum from the union protests, this election was one that many thought Kloppenburg would win.  But the Tea Party showed up to the polls again to support their candidate and that is why this election is so close.

There is no rest for the weary.  In addition to the likely recount, we are looking at a summer full of special elections in the State Senate due to the many recalls taking place.  One recall committee had already filed its signatures to the Government Accountability Board (GAB) on Friday.  Another recall committee announced it had enough signatures on Monday.  With many recall committees having volunteers outside of polling locations yesterday, it is likely that a handful or more will file their signatures in the next week.

All of this means that the Tea Party and conservatives need to be prepared and organized for these special elections.  Recall committees will have an advantage of organization due to their use of so many recall volunteers that can easily be turned into campaign volunteers.  In addition, the Left is known for their organizational superiority to the Right.

American Majority is partnering with local Tea Party groups to hold 6 April Activist Trainings around the state of Wisconsin.  Our training blitz begins this Saturday, April 9 when we will hold Activist trainings in St. Croix County and La Crosse, WI and continues on Tuesday, April 12 in Eagle River, WI.

American Majority’s April Training Blitz will equip the Tea Party and conservatives to be organized and effective.   These activist trainings will provide the tools and resources to enable activists to accomplish their political goals.

To learn more about and to register for American Majority’s Activist Trainings in Wisconsin, please visit:  http://americanmajority.org/wisconsin/events/.

With the presidential election only about 20 months away, the list of GOP nominees is slowly starting to come into focus as “exploratory committees” and PACs are forming almost on a daily basis.

The names are well known: Gingrich, Palin, Romney, Bachmann, Pawlenty, Daniels, etc.

And while some of these names might not excite all of us (or any of us for that matter), I do have some alternative suggestions for some dark horse GOP candidates that we may want to consider…

Or maybe not.

Regardless, here are the Top 10 Dark Horse Republican Presidential Candidates:

10. Arnold Schwarzenegger…Take our word for it that he was in fact “born in Hawaii”.  And no, you cannot see the birth certificate.

9. Unnamed Crazy Lady in Arizona…I just want her to run for president so that she will stop sending me all of her whacked out, conspiratorial mass e-mails even though I have begged and pleaded to be taken off her list for two years!

8. Rand Paul / Les Paul / Chris Paul / RuPaul…The assorted candidates with the last name of Paul break down like this:

The first is probably still a few years away from becoming a serious candidate though he is rightly beloved by the Tea Party. The second Paul on the list is an entrepreneur who created some of the most well known guitars on the planet…but he is also dead. Next comes a well known NBA basketball player who has no chance because he just so happens to be a massive Obama fan.  The last Paul on the list is best known for being  ABSOLUTELY FAB-U-LOUS…

7. Chuck Norris…His campaign will focus on threatening roundhouse kicks to the face to those who refuse to vote for him.

6. Seabiscuit…If we are making a Top Ten up of dark horses, we have to include Seabiscuit, right?  I mean that movie that came out about this horse a few years ago with the dude from Spiderman was awesome. I think I even cried at the end.

(And including him on this list just shows you how damn hard it was to come up with names for it.)

5. Colin Powell…No, really, just hear me out: He is still a Republican. And he is a brilliant military mind. He is also a former Secretary of State. Plus, he has great name ID.  And…

Okay, screw it.

He is nothing but a RINO liberal who still publically supports the man he would have to run against for the presidency. He knows it and we know it, too, Colin!

4. Steve King…He would have to take time off from writing his new novel which revolves a small town in Iowa where Muslim teenagers turn into bloodthirsty devil-clowns every night at sundown.

Wait, is that the wrong guy?

Oh yeah, that is Stephen King.  My bad.

3. Tom Selleck…Sure, he is a registered Independent, but he fancies himself a Libertarian. Plus, he is big on gun rights and plays a character with the last name of Reagan on his current CBS show Blue Bloods.

And I’ll be honest with you: I would work my butt off to see that mustache behind the desk in the Oval Office.

2. Ron Paul…Love him or hate him, let’s be honest in the fact that his chances are not very good. Sort of like the chances that I will not receive hate mail for the next one on this list…

1. Glenn Beck…If nothing else he would usher in a new era in politics by brining on Gold Line and Food Insurance as his official campaign sponsors, he could help finance the campaign by charging even more exorbitant fees for people to become “The Insiders of Insiders Extreme”, and he could eventually make piles upon piles of money by writing and selling a book about his campaign experiences!  Makes me wonder if Glenn is all about the money, money, money!?!?

What do you think about the list?  And do you have any other better ideas?

Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi has issued another temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking further implementation of the budget repair bill (Act 10), which Governor Scott Walker signed into law on March 11.  See if you can follow me on this legal mess.

Last Monday, the Department of Justice appealed Judge Sumi’s original TRO delaying publication of Act 10.  The appeals court; however, punted on March 24 to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on determining if the TRO was valid.  The Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has one of its Justices up for re-election next Tuesday, would then need to determine if they will take the case.

Then on Friday, March 25, the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) published Act 10 because they were not enjoined from doing so in Judge Sumi’s original TRO.  On Monday, Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch announced he believed the law took effect Saturday, so the state began charging employees more for their benefits and ended collecting dues on behalf of unions.

Judge Sumi held a hearing yesterday and then ruled that further implementation of the act is enjoined, while stopping short of declaring whether Act 10 is in effect. That will have to wait for the next hearing, which will not take place until Friday.  Judge Sumi also appointed an attorney for Secretary of State Doug La Follette rather than having the Department of Justice represent him. So on Friday, there will be even more attorneys convoluting this mess further.

Did you follow all of that? If you did, then you should probably go to law school. If not, don’t worry, the main points are that the Supreme Court election on Tuesday will be monumental and the Left will stop at nothing to slow down the implementation of Act 10.

Tuesday’s election has Michael Barone questioning whether the Tea Party movement is going through a hangover.  Will the Tea Party show up in mass on Tuesday as they did last November? In a week we’ll know.  With many possible special elections on the horizon this summer, the Tea Party needs to continue its momentum and stay engaged.

What can you do to help? First of all, make sure you vote on Tuesday.  Also, communicate with your friends and family who you will be voting for and why.  Media Trackers has been doing great work in covering the Supreme Court race.  Share their articles with other voters and on Facebook and Twitter.  Get out and help with a campaign to make phone calls or go door to door.  Do all that you can to help your candidate win.  The Tea Party must continue to be heard!

This past week I started packing away all of my winter items and getting ready for spring in Wisconsin.  I was looking forward to a new beginning, snow finally melting, the robins returning and buds appearing.  It seems to me a breath of freshness is needed in Wisconsin, winter is always tough here and I don’t know many Wisconsinites who don’t look forward to spring.  In my neck of the woods we were hit with yet another winter storm yesterday and it has continued today.  Who knows how long it will be before this clears up.

That’s the same way many taxpayers  feel about the Budget Repair Bill (Act 10).  Just when we thought the vote was taken and the law would eventually be published, the process was put on hold again.  Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi issued a temporary restraining order on March 18^th that has held up the publication of the Budget Repair Bill.  However, there is so much more to this story than just a temporary restraining order.

It seems Judge Sumi should have thought more about her role in this process.  We expect judges to take appropriate actions and recuse themselves when they might have a conflict of interest in a case that comes before them.  Judges are meant not to be activists, but rule on the law.

Prior to the temporary restraining order, the law was scheduled to be published on March 25^th.  Since the time Governor Scott Walker signed the law, all sorts of communities are rushing to extend their contracts.  Green Bay is the latest.  If the process continues to drag out, how many more communities will pass an extension of contracts and what will be the outcome to the taxpayer?

Just like winter, it seems some things just aren’t going away here in Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin Attorney General has filed an appeal and we will wait patiently, just like I will wait patiently to see the ground again here in Wisconsin.

With our president AWOL on most every domestic and worldwide issue (with the exception being Michelle Obama’s war against really tasty food), we’ve come up with some potential jobs for the president to consider.   If nothing else, he can file these jobs under the “created” category as he talks about the debacle that is the stimulus.

Furthermore, we will gladly give him all of these ideas because it really is starting to appear as if he does not even want to be president anymore.  It is sort of our way of saying, “Here is the door, Mr. President.  Do not let it hit you on the way out, sir.”

So in the spirit of wanting to help Mr. Obama reach his fullest potential, here is the list of  jobs for the president to do instead of, well, being the president:

10. “Mom Jeans” Model: Yep, this is our mighty president. Be proud, America, be proud.

9. IRS Special Agent in Charge of Healthcare Enforcement: American Citizen! Where are your healthcare papers!?!?

8. Stranded Car Pusher: I’d bet a Slurpee that the car stuck in the ditch is of the Government Motors variety.

7. Boyfriend to United Nations/Foreign Leaders: The term “Escort” or “Gigolo” could easily apply as well.

6. Advocate for All Outdated, Inefficient, and Vastly Too Expensive Technologies: But Green Technology will win the future! Promise!

5. Professional Sports Watcher: What does the American Public need in these troubled times?  A strong and firm leader?  Nope. Distractions, that’s what!

4. Natural Disaster/International Incident Photography Coordinator: International crises in Japan and Libya? I’m so oblivious that I’ll go to Brazil and play soccer with a bunch of kids instead!

3. A Danseur (Which is a male ballet dancer – I had to Google it): Because he is such a dainty and delicate man, beloved the world over.

2. Kenyan Ambassador to the United States: Did you really think we could put a list like this together without a Birther joke?

1. Co-President of China: No words…No words at all.

What did you think of the list?  Any other ideas for us to pass along to him?

By far the coolest facet of my job is daily interaction with grassroots patriots. Like our Founding Fathers and patriots of every era since then, these people work hard all day, take care of their families, fulfill their obligations, etc. What truly makes them stand with those former generations of patriots is that whether it’s big or small, they refuse to let a day go by where they don’t do something to promote liberty. The future of their country and her freedom is simply too important for them to not take up that banner every day.

As I’ve been working for American Majority in our Texas office for the last two years, one of the people and groups who I’ve spent the most time working with and come closest to is Toby Marie Walker (@TobyMarie) and the Waco Tea Party (@WacoTEAParty)

With the advent of the TEA Party movement, things went from zero to sixty pretty fast in Waco. It’s not an area friendly to political newcomers but the Waco TEA Party wasn’t about to ask somebody’s permission to promote liberty. When asked to define the TEA Party in an interview on NPR, Toby said:

Well, we focus around three main issues…constitutionally limited government, free markets and fiscal responsibility. A litmus test that we use is about taxes or spending, and we focus on those issues because that’s what we were founded under.

When it came time for the 2010 election cycle, Waco TEA Party activists were ready to make things happen. Even though their Congressman, Chet Edwards, had voted against the Health Care Reform bill, they knew that his record was far from fiscally responsible. When asked by the BBC why they would work to fire somebody who had voted against the HCR, Toby responded: “If they don’t have a really good record of being fiscally responsible, and following the constitution, nobody’s safe.”

For anybody who thought the Waco TEA Party was just a GOP front group, they’ve been proven wrong on more than one occasion. Not only have they gone after fiscally irresponsible Republicans but their members worked in force to elect 9/11 survivor and American Majority alumni Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell to the Texas Senate over the establishment favorite, David Sibley. Toby also served as campaign manager for Marva Beck in her successful campaign against longtime liberal incumbent, Jim Dunam in the Texas State House.

This upcoming municipal election cycle, the Waco TEA Party is cheering on one of their members and AM Alumni, Tony Abad, in his bid for the Waco School Board!

Since helping start the Waco TEA Party, Toby has worked to make it a force for liberty (as well as a force to be reckoned with) in the region. They haven’t just waved signs and protested. It was clear to Toby and the rest of the TEA Party that if they wanted to make a real political impact that solid political training was very important. Through that realization came the genesis of their relationship with American Majority. Since then we’ve worked with the Waco TEA Party and trained nearly 200 of their members! They have also signed the New Leaders Pledge, promising to identify and help train a new wave of conservative elected officials.

The Sam Adams Alliance has recently named Toby as one of the finalists for their “Rookie of The Year” award. SAA describes the award: “In 2010, newcomers to the political scene accomplished what professional politicians couldn’t. The Rookie is someone who engaged in politics for the first time.” When I called to congratulate Toby on the award her response was, “I’m honored to have been chosen as a finalist for the “Rookie” Sammie this year, but while the nomination has only my name on it, I believe that it is an honor for the whole Waco TEA Party team.”

Toby went on to describe some of the contributions made by her fellow Waco TEA partiers and their relationship with American Majority:

Our whole team are American Majority Alumni and we credit many of our accomplishments to the training we have received. We have implemented many of the techniques and tools provided by AM. Our social media presence has double this year, we have many modern day pamphleteers in the group who blog, tweet and post all over the internet spreading the conservative message. Michael Simon, our co-founder, Carol Waddell, Becky Kodrin and Greg Jones have worked tirelessly with me to make the Waco Tea Party one of the best grassroots activist/watchdog groups in the country. Other volunteers, such as Lisa Dickison, who has put together our voter guide, creates great graphics, and is also our City Watchdog. Bobby Keith has done an awesome job as our WTP Watchdog Radio host, due to his efforts and his weekly appearance on 94.5 he was offered a live one hour show each week for the Waco Tea Party. David Saucedo has toured the country singing his political rap and energizing people to be more involved in the political process. I can’t think of one person on our volunteer team who didn’t get involved in the elections in 2010, either through a candidate, group, club or individually helped out at the polls.

We also are proud of other AM Alumni like Tony Abad, who was one of the first people to support the WTP and now works very hard with GOPisforme in Stepping Stone project. Janet Jackson, who was at the first AM training in Waco is now our SREC rep for SD 22 and sings praises about AM far and wide. Duke Machado, I believe another AM Alumni has started GOPisforme and the Hispanic Club. Tom Bratcher was at the first Waco AM training and is now the GOP county chair for Bosque County. And the Baylor YCT students have also been to the AM training.

The Waco TEA Party has established a record of doing it right. They protest, they GOTV, they train, they identify conservative candidates. They stand up and get things done for liberty! It’s been a real honor to get to work so closely with them and I’m excited about their growth moving forward.

Last month I talked about a few things elected officials would probably rather you didn’t know. And since we here at American Majority are all about stripping the political process down, it’s time to do the same for that modern-day priesthood: political consultants. Now, some of my friends make their living in this arena, but I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you both they and I get pretty disgusted with many aspects of their field. So let’s dig in and suss out 7 of their secrets:

1) It’s said the best trick the devil ever pulled was convincing folks he didn’t exist. This is kind of the reverse of Elected Official Syndrome, where a lawmaker wants you to believe in their godlike qualities. Instead, political consultants tend to vanish like gorillas in the mist between campaigns (especially ones like last year’s—where “insiders” are considered persona non grata). But just like that mosquito you can hear buzzing about in a dark room, you know they’re still there.

2) And not only are they still around, they’re calling most of the shots. Lobbyists get all the bad press, but political consultants have created a cottage industry for themselves. That permanent campaign you’re sick to death of? The negative campaigning you hate? Their baby. A political “military-industrial complex” means endless job security for them. Think of them as those walkers just out of camera sight, directing the gigantic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons around every twist and turn on 34^th Street.

3) Which leads me to the money they make. I’d never say you can win anything except the most local, grassroots races without both an air and a ground war, but you can take it to the bank that no political consultant ever got rich off volunteers or door-knocking. Oddly, these free things rarely end up in a consultant’s campaign plan. Hmm. Consultants get cuts of media buys (mail, too), which is why by the time an election rolls around you can’t even walk to your mailbox or watch Jersey Shore without seeing a gazillion political ads. Some firms in Washington or state capitols even seek out longshot candidates against Nancy Pelosi or her equal every two years, raising millions of dollars by nationalizing the contest, but, mysteriously ensuring 99% (I’m not exaggerating here) of the funds raised get spent on “consulting services”. Can you say “Madoff”?

4) Here’s another dirty little one: sometimes politics is rigged. Meaning the possible outcomes are managed by political consultants before an issue ever goes public. Trial balloons floated in the press, hearings where cherry-picked citizens testify…they can all be part of the game, and one great big last Kabuki dance before a gavel gets slammed down just like it was always going to.

5) This next one drives me nuts. It’s the Inverse Theory of Political Consulting. Or what I call “Failing Upward”. Right this second I can name you six to ten talking heads who haven’t won a race in years, if not decades. Mike Murphy and Robert Shrum come to mind. You see them every week on the nightly and Sunday news shows. And as long as they continue to be a go-to source for reporters and endless quote machines, they’ll find work (and appearances on cable TV).

6) Political consultants are also at times much more interested in padding their own personal creative portfolio (and profits) than in actually doing the right thing to win the race. Take the director behind the famous Christine O’Donnell “I’m not a witch” commercial. The absolute last thing that campaign needed at that moment was more attention drawn to something eccentric the candidate had uttered. Yet say it in a 30-second spot she did, because a political consultant was more concerned with making news and raising his profile than in, as Charlie Sheen would say “winning, duh”, the campaign.

7) And finally, the ultimate secret of political consultants: you can win a race without them. We can argue about if politics is more art than a science, whether “cometh the hour, cometh the man” (or woman) is true, or how much time, talent and treasure gets squandered every single election. But American Majority exists so that you too can cut out this middle man of American politics, just like you do in every other area of your current lives (Web M.D. anyone?) And in the end, especially in our Information Age, there’s just no excuse for not getting trained and cracking the political consultants’ code.

This past Saturday the 14 Democratic Senators from Wisconsin who had brazenly shirked their responsibilities to the people of Wisconsin by opting for a cowardly month long escapade across the border in Illinois, finally came back to their rightful place – Wisconsin.

And while the labor union and other assorted leftists gave them a “hero’s welcome” when they “bravely” (think storming the beaches at Normandy) made their way back to the capital in Madison, evidently the welcome they received from their spouses at home was not so welcoming.

Here is just a sampling of what might have been said to them by their spouses:

(And for full disclosure, the list presented above is for entertainment – i.e. humor – purposes only.  None of the quotes or situations presented are true…as far as we know.)

14. “What’s that, Tim?  Did you just ask me what that smell was?  That’s the damn garbage I let pile up during the month you were not here to take it out!  It looked like to me that when you left you were running from all of your responsibilities – one of which is to take out our trash!”

13. “Why yes, Spencer, I did take the liberty to relocate you to the living room for an indefinite period seeing as how you decided a month ago to take the liberty to relocate to Illinois for an indefinite period.”

12. “Oh, no, Timothy, I did miss you.  But when you said you were leaving for a while and didn’t know when you would be back, I decided to move on.  You remember our pool boy, Kevin, right?”

11. “No, Jon, what that letter says is that we have 30 days to vacate the premises not vacation from the premises.  It’s called foreclosure, and it’s what happens in the real world when people massively overspend, miss work for a month, and can’t pay their bills, you idiot!”

10. “All your suits are at the dry cleaners, Dave.  Oh, wait, never mind.  They are all at Goodwill because I threw them out after you left me all alone for a month, you jerk.”

9. “Well, Jim, I couldn’t exactly let the Lego Millennium Falcon sit completed on the kitchen table for God knows how long after you ran off to Illinois.  But don’t cry.  You can put it back together, dear.  Surely it won’t take that long.”

8. “Were you not in Civics class that day, Robert?  A recall is when the people decide to remove or replace an elected official before their term is up because they were doing a crappy job.  Sound familiar?”

7. “You were gone for one month, Chris, and all you brought back was this shirt that says ‘I holed up in a motel just across the border from Wisconsin like a scared little girl for an entire month because I refused to do my job, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt’?  Really!?!?”

6. “Sure I ate out every night, Julie!  Did you really expect me to cook for the entire month you were gone?”

5. “No, Mark, those UAW fellas you know didn’t drop off an envelope full of cash while you were gone.  And even if they had, I wouldn’t tell you!  You left me all alone for a month and accomplished absolutely nothing with your stupid publicity stunt!”

4. “Yes, Fred, I saw you on the TV.  And I heard what you said about doing the right thing.  But let me tell you something, buster, the right thing was to come home, do the job you were elected to do, and take care of your damn family.”

3. “I have no idea how long it is going to take to do a month’s worth of laundry, Lena.  But you’ll have plenty of time to do it in the next couple of weeks while I am out partying with my buddies every night.”

2.  “It’s not like I can return it, Kathleen!  Do you know how many miles I have put on this Harley in the month you gone hanging out in Illinois and not doing your job?”

1. “Oh, are you looking for your Dom Perignon, Robert?  I’m so sorry but I drank it and replaced it with some Pabst Blue Ribbon now that you are all about representing the Working Man, you hypocrite fleebagger.”

What do you think of the list?  And what would you say to these men and women if you had the chance to meet them?

What we are seeing in Wisconsin underscores why local government matters and why we need a new generation of local government leaders.

The Left, particularly the Labor Movement is readjusting its focus to the local level.  Labor already has control of many school boards and other local government bodies across the nation. That’s why there are so many collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) being rushed through and passed at the local level here in Wisconsin.

The Budget Repair Bill, which was signed into law last week, provides local governments with the tools they need to cut spending.  The Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) just released estimates of the savings available to local governments through utilizing the employee contribution component of the bill.  The LFB found the City of Sheboygan, for instance, would save $987,600 just from having the public employees contribute 5.8% to their pensions.  The Milwaukee Public Schools would save over $24 million dollars.

Yet locality after locality, from Chippewa Falls to Madison, are rushing through agreements that preempt the application of the Budget Repair Bill (which is helped by Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette’s delay in publishing the law until March 25 to allow local governments more time to pass these measures).  The result of these contracts being rushed through is that local governments will have significant gaps between their expenses and revenues, as state aid will be decreased under the Budget Bill.  Then these governments will be forced to lay off workers or raise property taxes (Gov. Walker’s Budget Bill could limit this option).

The Left even had a bill passed in December 2009 to train teachers how to brain wash children about collective bargaining.  Here is a video discussing how this law will help the Labor Movement in the future:

In places where CBAs are not being rushed through, the unions are going to find candidates of their own to run for local office.  The Left understands that they can control the process if they have ”their” candidates on your local school board, city council, county board, etc.

Conservatives can make a difference if we engage at the local level.  In Wauwautosa, hundreds of taxpayers attended the Common Council meeting and voiced their opinions that new union contracts should not be rushed through.  Their voices were heard and the Common Council voted against a new collective bargaining agreement.  It is amazing what an organized group of taxpayers can accomplish if they coordinate their efforts.

But reforming local government goes beyond attending meetings when a big issue comes up, which I should add is absolutely necessary.  We need a new generation of liberty-minded leaders to run for local office.  We need to replace the elected officials who simply do what the unions tell them to do. We need leaders who will stand up for fiscal responsibility, less government spending, and lower taxes!

I am just going to come out say it: I loathe MSNBC.  I really do.  I cannot stand that network.  At all.

And because of this, I LOVE the fact that they consistently get beat down in the ratings by Fox News.  Seriously, I delight in their misery.

So it is that I came up with some ideas for MSNBC in order to try in an attempt to raise their normal viewership (somewhere in the neighborhood of 87-92 folks nightly) to at least the lower triple digits.

In fact, I would be so proud of them if they hit 100 viewers.  I am getting choked up just thinking about it.

Thus, here are the “Top 10 Ideas for MSNBC to Try In Order to Increase their Ratings”

10. Integrate a multi-colored “Chris Matthews Tingle Meter” (with suggestive musical soundtrack) into the telecasts of Hardball for those moments when President Obama really gets Chris going.

Bow chick a bow wow.

9. You know what?  Forget it.  From now on have Chris Matthews host the show in. the. nude.

8. Bring “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” back as a 3-D show.

Because there is nothing like watching an overbearing, condescending, snarky, and maniacal liar in 3-D.  Nothing.

7. Quietly change the name of the network to MSNB-FOX.

6. Introduce yet another primetime show with a screaming, white, balding, middle aged, liberal male as the host…

What’s that?

They did that already?

Well, hello Lawrence O’Donnell and Ed Schultz.  Nice to see you both.  Thanks for coming.  Good to have you on board.

5. Six Words to Ratings Gold: Air Lockup 24 hours a day.

4. Highlight the fact that Maddow is a lesbian…If you know what I am saying.

3. All MSNBC shows will have one conservative guest each night.  However, said conservative guest MUST BE personally attacked and berated to the point of the show’s host utterly and awkwardly embarrassing themselves and the network.

Because you know, that has been such a ratings bonanza in the past.

2. Present a week-long expose on the Koch Brothers in which each MSNBC host magically connects them to the conspiracy to cover up the following stories:

A. The overwhelming evidence of the Loch Ness Monster (JUST REPLACE THE L IN “LOCH” WITH A K!).

B. How William Howard Taft’s failed economic policies massively benefited Koch Industries during the year 1912 even though Koch Industries wasn’t actually founded until 1940.  Whatever.

C. The role the Koch Brothers played in the slow and agonizing death of the Hollywood career of the dude who played Screech on Saved by the Bell.

D. How the Kochs knew about and failed to stop the framing of my cousin Jerry who got fired from McDonald’s after he allegedly got caught smoking doobies in the walk-in freezer at the back of the kitchen during the summer of 1989.

1. Say goodbye to the MSNBC slogan of Lean Forward…

Say hello to the new MSNBC slogan:  Bend Over.

—

So, what do you think of the list?  You got any other ideas?

Last evening brought a whole new resurgence to the battle in Wisconsin.  Finally, some of the stalemate was going to be overcome.  The consequences of these actions are still somewhat unknown, but we are sure to be witnessing more history happening in Wisconsin.

After weeks of 14 AWOL Senators refusing to come back to the state to debate the issues, the leadership in the State Senate did the last option they had at their disposal.  Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald had decided enough was enough, particularly after receiving a letter from Senate Minority Leader Miller.

A conference committee was called, a new bill was put together and sent to the Senate for a vote.  This movement all happened in a matter of hours.  Where were the 14 AWOL Senators?  Apparently still in Illinois.  Immediately following the vote, protestors in the area stormed the Capitol.  After weeks of protestors being able to stay in the Capitol overnight, it seemed there was return to normalcy but control by the police was lost last night.  The Assembly was to go into session at 11 am this morning to vote on this bill, but was delayed due to security concerns within the building.  Was this another stall tactic from the liberals?  I am beginning to wonder how many more ways can they ensure session cannot take place.

As I write, the situation continues to change and quite frankly I am uncertain of how the day will go.  However, being on the ground to be able to see this continued craziness is almost more than a person can take in.  Death threats have been put out on the Senators who voted last night, staffers and members were trapped inside the building today and other members couldn’t get into the Capitol even if they wanted to.

After all of this is said and done, and there are the votes in support of this conference committee bill, what is going to happen?  After AWOL Senators went missing, recall efforts were put underway to recall them.  The other side responded with recall efforts of their own against those supporting the bill.  Does this mean the results of our last election in November don’t mean anything?  Will this issue even be resolved before the next election cycle?

What I do know is that this is just the beginning of the fight in Wisconsin.  The budget bill debate is yet to come.  If people are unhappy with what was in the Budget Repair Bill, they certainly won’t be happy with the cuts and changes that will be coming forth in the budget.  We are breaking years of unruly spending when the funds simply weren’t there.  The idea of taxing the rich to continue this spending spree is no longer an option.  The people in Wisconsin spoke last November and now those they elected are doing what the electors asked them to do.

We need to have those in Wisconsin who supported these elected officials keep pushing them to stand strong and let them know they are not alone out there.  The Tea Party movement helped make this change in Wisconsin.  Now is the time for us to step up like never before.  People need to make sure the correct message is being sent out and stay active.  The silent voice is the broken voice.

It’s time to step up and write letters to the editor, start talking to your friends and family who aren’t politically involved and get them the facts of what is going on in Wisconsin, do research to find the correct information and don’t let the liberal media continue to spread misinformation.  Email or call your representatives and tell them you are standing behind them and encourage others to do the same.  When there is an opportunity to rally, do so, but keep in mind the loud voices need to do more.  We have seen that the thousands of protestors who oppose Governor Walker did not make a change in the legislation.

As I am writing this blog, I am sitting in a coffee shop in our lovely liberal Capitol of Wisconsin just a few blocks from the activity.  Listening to people who are telling why free markets and capitalism are so bad for our future.  If we didn’t have free markets and limited government, do you think America would be a leader in the world?  If we didn’t have free markets and capitalism would there even be a class of rich to tax?

The coffee shop has a pink slip sign for Governor Walker, thanks for the free Wi-Fi, but I didn’t spend any money at your shop!  Stay tuned, the story isn’t finished.

I keep hearing the narrative that somehow, as though it were written in stone, collective bargaining is a right for public sector unions. I would disagree entirely: collective bargaining is a privilege, not a right, for public sector unions. And you know what? About 50 years ago, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. agreed with me. The union’s Executive Council in 1959 said: “In terms of accepted collective bargaining procedures, government workers have no right beyond the authority to petition Congress — a right available to every citizen.”

And it is a privilege that has been badly abused for years; U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics show that public sector employees, many of them unionized, make nearly $40 an hour in combined wages and benefits versus roughly $27.50 for those in the private sector.

So I applaud what Scott Walker is doing in Wisconsin, but I actually feel he didn’t go far enough. All his Budget Repair Bill is doing is addressing the public sector unions’ right to collectively bargain over pensions and health care. I think it would have been nice to address the right to collectively bargain for wages, and here’s why: at the end of the day, the public sector unions are not collectively bargaining for a greater share of earnings, as do the private sector unions. They are bargaining to get a bigger slice of the pie of tax dollars, which the government has taken from the American taxpayer.

Now to be clear: paying a certain amount of taxes is a part of being involved in an organized civilization. If you want to make sure you have roads and national defense, you’re going to have to pay taxes. But that being said, taxes are removed through a threat of force from the taxpayers by the government (yes, I mean force. Try not paying property or income taxes and see what happens). So the government is run off of money earned in the private sector. Government does not create jobs; when there are reports of more jobs, but they’re all government jobs, the government is not creating anything: it is merely funding even more government jobs off the backs of the private sector. Which compounds the problem because by taking capital from the private sector to create government jobs, you’re not creating jobs that create more capital, as private sector jobs do.

So, public sector unions, unlike their private sector union counterparts, are not creating more capital. Do they provide services for the public good? Absolutely. Are they creating capital? Absolutely not.

So here you have public sector unions negotiating for more pay in tough times, soaking more from the already overburdened American taxpayer. I keep hearing this drivel of, “Well if Walker is expecting the unions to make sacrifices, is he going to ask others to make sacrifices by increasing taxes?” Memo to those saying that (Mika Brzezinski, I’m thinking of you): The American taxpayer has been gouged for years, and years, and years, by higher taxes, and I’m not talking just income taxes. I’m talking the hidden taxes on gas, food, etc. Yeah, add up all your taxes sometime and you’ll realize you’re probably paying well over 50%, sometimes 60% or more of your wages, in taxes. So you’ve kind of already done your part.

I’m at the point where I feel like the public sector unions, and their partners in crime, their allied elected officials, are like vampires on the American public, sucking the very blood out of them. Worse, they are dumb vampires.

Smart vampires suck just enough blood out to satiate themselves and then leave the victim alive so they can hit them again for a quick infusion down the road. The public sector unions and elected officials haven’t quite learned that lesson and keep sucking the blood out of the American people. At some point, there ain’t going to be any more blood to suck, and then everyone is dead.

And a word on the unions allied officials. These officials, standing between the taxpayer and the public sector unions, are supposed to serve the American taxpayer. It’s a little something called a government of “We the People,” with power originating from the people. But in fact the elected officials are serving the public sector unions because the unions collect millions off the forced-dues from government employees and then reward the officials, their “bosses,” by funding their reelection campaigns. This is precisely backward from how this country was meant to work. It was originally meant to work like this: power originates from the American people, is given to elected officials, who then manage the bureaucrats and federal employees, on behalf of the people, i.e. taxpayers.

Now we have this bizarre scenario where the public sector unions have the power to dictate to the elected officials, who then dictate to the American people. The only way any of that last scenario makes sense is if you detach yourself from reality and enter a land of unicorns and pixie dust.

Now I know for most, none of this is a revelation at all. But it does defy logic: ultimately what we’re doing by increasing benefits and pay for public sector unions is removing capital from the private sector (i.e. us) via taxes and crushing our economy in a time when we actually need the private sector to create more jobs.

What Scott Walker, and many others are doing is appealing to common sense, especially in tough economic times. I have no problem at all with public sector unions making the equivalent wages and benefits that their private sector counterparts do. Of course that means a shaving down by about 30% on the combined wages and benefits of the public sector unions, but it has to be done. And I applaud those officials who are willing to step up to the plate and do it. The American people are applauding and cheering you on.

[Crossposted on BigGovernment.com]