By: Dale Weckbacher
Isaiah 54:17
17 No weapon formed
against you shall prosper,
And every tongue
which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage
of the servants of the LORD,
And their
righteousness is from Me,"
Says the LORD.
NKJV
If there is a verse of scripture placing a Biblical
perspective on the life of Scott Walker since becoming Governor of Wisconsin,
the above scripture from Isaiah is in my opinion the most appropriate. His term as governor began with protestors
taking over and trashing the capitol in Madison. The protests all revolved around his desire
to bring government spending under control.
One of the major reasons for budget deficits in Wisconsin was the state
having to support overly generous pensions for government employees.
This prompted teachers and social workers to show up at the
capitol in protest. As Tim Stanley,
writing for the Telegraph put it, “He wanted
to reform the unions and bring spending under control – and the public sector
came out onto the streets to stop him. It
was a kind of velvet revolution led by teachers and social workers and the
folks who shoot bears when they start eating out of trash cans.” (1)
When the protests failed to change Governor Walker’s agenda, they
started a recall effort. Not
surprisingly the well-organized union petition drive collected the required
number of signatures but was unable to win the recall election resulting in
Governor Walker becoming the first governor in U.S. history to win a recall
election. (2) The many weapons formed to destroy Governor
Walker failed and he remained in office.
The good news is that Governor Walker’s policies succeeded in
saving the State of Wisconsin. As Mr. Stanley
wrote in his article,
In 2011, Wisconsin had a
whopping deficit of $3.6 billion dollars.
But a corporate tax cut and collective bargaining reforms invigorated
the state economy. Now, the state is
boasting a $911 million surplus, credited to “good stewardship of the
taxpayers’ money.” (1)
Governor Walker, a
pastor’s son, grew up in Delavan Wisconsin where he was involved in sports,
band, church, and he also achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He entered politics in 1993 with election to
the state assembly of Wisconsin where he chaired several committees. He authored several pieces of legislation
including Truth-in-Sentencing, photo identification requirements to vote, and
the elimination of the statute of limitations in sexual assault cases. In 2002, he was elected Milwaukee County
Executive in order to reform the scandal-ridden county government, a scandal that
cost the county millions in pension obligations. As county executive, he vowed to spend the
county’s money as if it were his own resulting in a 30% reduction in county
debt. He was inaugurated Governor of
Wisconsin on January 3, 2011. (3)
Using our established
matrix of vision, courage, integrity, and a servant’s heart, let us assess
Governor Walker’s leadership qualities.
1) Vision - Governor Walker ran for office vowing
to end ballooning budget deficits and creating jobs for the State of Wisconsin. As we saw from Mr. Stanley’s article, he
succeeded in converting a $3.2 billion budget deficit into a $911 million
surplus (1)
plus he succeeded after six months in office, restoring a quarter of the jobs
lost in the state due to the recession. (4) In an interview in August 19, 2013, Governor
Walker provided a glimpse of his vision for America when he said that, "You
don't just sit back and nick the other side -- you've got to lay out a
plan," (5) Governor Walker’s vision is a plan of action
and not just passive resistance
2) Courage – Governor Walker came into office and
immediately began implementing the changes he promised when running for
office. Implementation of these policies
met with strong resistance mainly from unions in the state and resulted in a
recall election, which Governor Walker won.
(2) A weaker leader might have buckled at this
level of resistance but Governor Walker persisted, surviving the recall and his
policies have saved the State of Wisconsin from going over the fiscal and
economic cliff.
3) Integrity – Governor Walker did exactly what he
promised to do when running for office and in spite of strong resistance,
maintained his integrity by implementing his promised policies.
4) Servants Heart – As the son of a pastor,
Governor Walker was raised in an atmosphere of serving others. As governor, Mr. Walker has demonstrated a servant’s
heart by not buckling to pressure and sticking the principles he believed,
would benefit the people of Wisconsin that elected him. On March 13, 2014, he tweeted Philippians
4:13, which says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This led to a demand by the Freedom from
Religion organization claiming that, “To say, ‘I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me,’ seems more like a threat-or the utterance of a
theocratic dictator-than a duly elected civil servant.” (6) However, as a Christian I interpret this to
mean Governor Walker derives his strength from Christ something I share. In fact, I wear a ring with the same
scripture on it to remind me of the source of my strength.
I give Governor Walker a resounding A on his leadership assessment. However, we must ponder whether he would be
able to maintain his vision, courage, integrity, and servant’s heart on a
national level. However, if he continues
to lead according to Philippians 4:13, he will be able to maintain his excellent
leadership qualities knowing that no weapon formed against him will
prosper.
1. Stanley, Tim. How Scott Walker and the
conservatives saved Wisconsin. America, take note. blogs.telegraph.co.uk. [Online]
The Telegraph, 27 January, 2014. [Cited: April 25, 2014.]
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timstanley/100256645/how-scott-walker-and-the-conservatives-saved-wisconsin-america-take-note/.
2. Terkel, Amanda.
Scott Walker Defeats Tom Barrett In Wisconsin Recall Election (UPDATE). www.huffingtonpost.com.
[Online] The Huffington Post, June 5, 2012. [Cited: April 25, 2014.]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/05/scott-walker-recall-election-results_n_1572532.html.
3. Office of the
Governor of Wisconsin. About Governor Walker. walker.wi.gov. [Online]
State of Wisconsin. [Cited: April 26, 2014.]
http://walker.wi.gov/governor-office/about-governor-walker.
4. Editor Scott
Walker Vision. Wisconsin: Getting Back to Work. scottwalkervision.com. [Online]
Scott Walker vision, August 3, 2011. [Cited: April 26, 2014.]
http://scottwalkervision.com/?p=24.
5. Sullivan, Sean.
Scott Walker’s GOP vision: ‘No’ is not good enough. www.washingtonpost.com. [Online]
The Washington Post, August 20, 2013. [Cited: April 26, 2014.]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2013/08/20/scott-walkers-gop-vision-no-is-not-good-enough/.
6. Snyder, Dr.
Scott Walker: Christian Public Servant. ponderingprinciples.com. [Online]
Pondering Principles, March 26, 2014. [Cited: April 26, 2014.]
http://ponderingprinciples.com/2014/03/scott-walker-christian-public-servant/.
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