If Scott Walker wins today, he becomes instant top tier Presidential timber — as big as Ronald Reagan in 1968

If Scott Walker wins today, he becomes instant Presidential timber — as big as Ronald Reagan in 1968.

He’s a rock solid conservative on every issue. But he’s also soft-spoken, so doesn’t scare moderates and independents.

He is the son of a Baptist preacher. Though he carved his reputation in Wisconsin as a fiscal conservative, he’s also solidly pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and open about his Christian faith.

Scott Walker is the real deal.

He’s also a true leader.

He risked his political career by taking on the public sector unions, which were bankrupting Wisconsin and strangling the economy.

That’s what real leaders do. They do what they know is right even if it means they might lose everything. That’s what George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan did.

George Washington was a hero in the British army for his exploits in the French and Indian War. He had everything — was likely the richest man in America in 1776.

He risked it all to take on the British Empire.

For George Washington, doing what was right was far more important that protecting his fortune and standing with the Brits.

He then stepped down from the Presidency after serving two terms. He could have easily set up a dictatorship because of his popularity. But he didn’t. He did what was right.

Lincoln kept the union together — which cost him his life.

Reagan stood up to the Soviet Union and continued to pursue a missile defense shield, rather than appease the Soviets and give up the missile defense, going against Conventional Wisdom and just about the entire Political Class in Washington.

Reagan knew that was the right thing to do.

Reagan also went up against the Political Class (including then Republican Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole) to cut tax rates from a top rate of 70 percent to 28 percent, unleashing the longest sustained period of economic expansion in American history.

Again, Reagan knew what was right, and did it — in the face of relentless criticism from the media and the Political Class.

Reagan was comfortable in his own skin. He knew who he was and knew what he believed. I never once heard Reagan talk about polls. He talked only about his vision for the country — more freedom, less government.

Scott Walker reminds me a lot of Ronald Reagan. He doesn’t have Reagan’s great speech-making ability.

But he has a strong quiet demeanor. He, too, is comfortable in his own skin.

Scott Walker doesn’t run around spiking the football and beating his chest the way Obama does over the bin Laden killing.

Walker just quietly does exactly what he says he’s going to do.

Since Walker’s reforms took effect 18 months ago, the public sector unions have lost more than half their membership.

Gee, if more than half the members of your club quit your club the instant they aren’t forced by law to be members of your club, it’s probably time to rethink your club.

That’s what’s happening to the public sector unions in Wisconsin.

Since Walker was sworn in as Governor of Wisconsin on January 3, 2011, he has managed to turn an almost unimaginable $3.6 BILLION structural Wisconsin budget deficit into a $300 MILLION budget surplus.

Governor Walker has even put more than $60 MILLION into a “rainy day” fund so that Wisconsin can better cope with any unforeseen disasters. He did all this in just 18 months without raising taxes . . . and without laying off any teachers, police, or firefighters.

So what exactly were some of Walker’s reforms?

Well, he’s requiring teachers to contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries into their own pensions (instead of 0 percent) and all government employees to pay 12.6 percent of their health care premiums (about half what most employees in the private sector pay).

These modest reforms are saving local governments in Wisconsin about $750 million per year. Walker ended some collective bargaining rights for public sector unions and made public sector union membership voluntary. He also granted local governments and schools the authority to hire and fire teachers and other government workers based on merit — as also happens in the private sector.

By the way, his opponent in this recall election, Mayor Tom Barrett, is using Walker’s reforms to control spending in Milwaukee.

Had Walker caved under the pressure of the temper tantrum thrown by the public sector union bosses and not enacted these reforms, local school districts would have had no choice buy to lay off thousands of teachers across the state of Wisconsin.

Instead, Wisconsin now actually has more teachers than when Walker took office 18 months ago. Wisconsin also has more police and more firefighters.

In fact, the more Wisconsin’s teachers, police, firefighters, and government workers see how well Walker’s reforms are actually working (and have worked to help save their jobs) the more they appear to be coming around to support Scott Walker.

But the real story is how Wisconsin’s economy is now rebounding due to Walker’s reforms — in sharp contrast to neighboring Illinois. Here’s what THE WALL STREET JOURNAL says about what’s happening now in Wisconsin:

When Mr. Walker took office, a survey of major business owners by the state’s Chamber of Commerce found that only 10% thought Wisconsin was heading “in the right direction.” Now 94% say it is. Chief Executive magazine found that Wisconsin’s business climate in 2011 showed the greatest one-year improvement of any state in the history of the magazine’s ratings. After bleeding 150,000 jobs in the previous three years, Wisconsin added 10,000 jobs in 2011.

According to this survey of business owners by CHIEF EXECUTIVE magazine referenced in the WALL STREET JOURNAL article, Wisconsin in 2010 was ranked 41st in America in states favorable to business — in other words, among the nine worst states for business.

In just 18 months, Wisconsin has moved up 21 slots for being business-friendly. Walker says his goal is for Wisconsin to be the #1 state in America for doing business — because, as Walker says repeatedly, new jobs are created by businesses (especially small and start-up businesses), not by government.

Walker understands that if we don’t have businesses that are flourishing and profitable, we can’t have the jobs or the tax revenues to pay for teachers, police, firefighters, roads, bridges, and all the things we count on government to do.

Despite going against the headwinds of Obamanomics, Wisconsin is now creating jobs at a faster rate then the rest of America as a whole. Businesses are now stampeding into Wisconsin from Illinois (which just raised the income tax by 67 percent in contrast to no tax increases and massive deregulation in Wisconsin).

For all these reasons, look for Scott Walker to win big today.

This will then make him a conservative Republican superstar on the level of Ronald Reagan after Reagan had served two terms as Governor of California,

In fact, if you compare the two objectively, Walker achieved far more in 18 months as Governor of Wisconsin than Reagan achieved as Governor of California.

Conservatives have a wonderful hero for the future in Scott Walker.  Forget Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, or anyone else. We now have Scott Walker as our conservative standard bearer.

Read more at Ben Hart’s Escape Tyranny.com