The GOP's Great (Lakes) Opportunity

[Geee]

American Thinker:

Democrats run Obama's home state of Illinois. That state's response to the profoundly serious economic problems facing so many states has been a massive increase in taxes. Republicans in neighboring states have an opportunity to showcase at the state level how their party would handle our nation's economic crisis. The landslide last November gave Republicans complete control of five state governments in the Great Lakes Region: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Republicans in those states not only control the governorships and both houses of the state legislatures, but the state legislative majorities are big, and Republicans won many secondary statewide elective offices as well. Now, more than any time in a generation, Republicans can actually implement their agenda, limited only by their political courage.

What should these governors and legislatures do? They should act in concert, not in competition, and create an oasis of business-friendly government in a region which desperately needs a true recovery. One first and vital step, as I have written before, is for all these five states to enact Right to Work laws. The cost of labor drops at once when forced union membership is prohibited. Business also has a great deal more flexibility in employing its workforce without union contracts and labor bureaucrats. When labor is cheap, business is more likely to hire people.