Mixed Metaphors

Seeing Red — a state of irritation or annoyance, the psychological state of being irritated or annoyed.

Blue State —refers to the states whose residents predominantly vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate.

Seeing red does not quite express the visceral, emotional response I have to living in Wisconsin under Scott Walker, our absentee Governor and now Republican Presidential candidate. Seething red is probably more accurate; however, by itself it does not encompass the cornucopia of feelings I have and the behavior it inspires including: shame, disgust, incredulity, rebellion, defiance, and galvanizing a call to action. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, calls him “the most divisive Wisconsin politician in living memory”

Our Progressive Tradition

Wisconsin has a rich and proud tradition as a progressive liberal state, best exemplified by “Fighting Bob” LaFollette, Sr.  Originally a Republican, and later a Progressive, LaFollette served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was the Governor of Wisconsin, and a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin from 1906 to 1925. He ran for President of the United States as the nominee of his own Progressive Party in 1924, carrying Wisconsin and winning 17% of the national popular vote (Source: Wikipedia).

The following quotes by “Fighting Bob” Lafollette, Sr. are still cogent today. We are fighting the same fundamental battles, protecting representative government, ensuring social justice and equal protection under the law for all citizens, and holding our government officials accountable to the voters they represent and not the corporations and special interests who underwrite their campaign for pay-to-play financial gains and political favors.

“Corporations and individuals allied with corporations were invited to come in and take what they would…. I determined that the power of this corrupt influence, which was undermining and destroying every semblance of representative government in Wisconsin, should be broken.”

“Let no man think we can deny civil liberty to others and retain it for ourselves.”

“There never was a higher call to greater service than in this protracted fight for social justice.”

In recent months, Governor Scott Walker and Wisconsin’s Republican Legislature have enacted regressive and conservative ALEC legislation (American Legislative Exchange Council). They eviscerated the power of the unions and their ability to represent, protect, and negotiate contracts on behalf of workers, eliminated an historic guarantee that workers had a right to a day off of work and can now be asked by their employer to work seven days a week.

The Republican led Legislature enacted ACT 10, right-to-work and prevailing wage laws signed by Walker that further diminish a family’s ability to earn a living wage, underfunded public school education and the University of Wisconsin, dismantled environmental protections and oversight, disempowered government accountability and transparency, and tainted the State Supreme Court by allowing millions of dollars of campaign funds from private corporations and special interests to underwrite the campaigns of judges who then ruled on John Doe investigations of illegal campaign collusion and in turn destroyed records. Further efforts to change open records laws are underway to prevent the public’s right and access to know what goes on behind closed doors.

Dark Money and its Costly Consequences

Walker and his minions provided financial rewards and relaxed laws that benefited contributors to his campaigns, including financial underwriters: the Koch brothers, dark money contributors, the Wisconsin Club for Growth (WiCFG)  and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), mining interests, billionaire John Robert Menard Jr. of Menards, and Diane Hendricks, billionaire owner of ABC Supply. Walker privatized a public agency and created WEDC (Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation) providing millions of dollars of loans to political supporters and contributors under the guise of creating jobs. His promise to create 250,000 jobs fell terribly short, and the failure further plummeted the state to the bottom of economic recovery reports.  An audit followed, uncovering millions of dollars of unpaid loans, millions of dollars of Federal funds spent illegally, and loans to companies which were used to pay off existing debt rather than grow their businesses and create jobs.

While his supporters, campaign contributors, and special interests are being rewarded, Walker and the Legislature underfunded or ended programs that served and protected families, women’s health and reproductive choice, and the elderly and disabled. To further disempower the electorate, a voter I.D. law is now in effect as a supposed remedy for election day abuses (undocumented and unproven), making it more difficult for the aged, disabled, disenfranchised, minority and economically-challenged voter to get to the polls and cast their vote, essentially citizens who oppose Walker’s policies.  Money and power are taken from the many and redirected to the privileged few as a payback.

The irony is this, Walker stated during a campaign stump, “Our big, bold reforms in Wisconsin took the power from the big government special interests and put it firmly in the hands of the hardworking taxpayers.”

The reality, in my view is this — his regressive policies took the power and money from the hardworking taxpayers and put it in the pockets of corporate special interests.

With God on His Side

“Oh my name it is nothin’
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I’s taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that the land that I live in
Has God on its side” Lyrics by Bob Dylan, With God on Our Side

What should concern the public most about the possibility of Scott Walker becoming President of the United States is his lack of character. Whether you call it flip-flopping, back-tracking, position reversal, misspeaking, misquoted, misunderstood, and maligned, this is a man who will use his religious beliefs, humble origins, personal narrative as the preacher’s son, and Midwestern, Harley-Davidson riding, blue jean and  open-collared shirt wearing, “aw shucks” presentation as a means  to cloak just how dangerous he is.

He will say just about anything to further his own political career and obtain the financial backing required to promote his agenda and that of his special interest and corporate underwriters . His only consistent behavior is his hunger for power and his willingness to shape shift to achieve his end game.

A Bitter Pill to Swallow

When Scott Walker tells his story, he likes to present himself as “unintimidated,” the title of his book chronicling his battle with the citizens of Wisconsin, ironically many of the voters who elected him to one office or another, the unions and their members, teachers, public workers, fire-fighters and police, families, both the young and old, and the underserved and underprivileged, who he in turn characterized as “terrorists.”

When looking at how he describes those who disagree with him and the bills he’s signed into law, it’s Walker who is intimidating. He’s bullied his opponents then abandoned his office as Governor to pursue the nomination as the Republican candidate for POTUS.  See the definition below, particularly number 3.

Definition: Intimidated

verb (used with object), intimidated,intimidating.

1. to make timid; fill with fear.
2. to overawe or cow, as through the force of personality or by superior display of wealth, talent,etc.
3. to force into or deter from some action by inducing fear: to intimidate a voter into staying away from the polls.

How did this happen? It’s pretty straight forward. Scott Walker and the Republican Legislative majority were elected by those who voted at the polls and by those voters who stayed away because they may have thought their vote wouldn’t make a difference. Not only was he elected as Governor, he survived a recall and was re-elected to a second term.

The bitter pill we are required to swallow is that we have some responsibility for empowering Scott Walker and the regressive legislation that followed and was underwritten by his corporate funders and special interests.  You may ask, “What’s the remedy?”

First, it’s our individual responsibility to be informed. Next, we need to go to the polls and cast our votes — every vote counts including the uncast vote. We need to take action against policies and programs that don’t serve the greater good, but enrich the privileged few; we need to find our voice, protest peacefully, and “fight the good fight.” It’s also our responsibility to advocate for the larger community, our sisters and brothers, rather than just our own self-interest, and assist people to register to vote and to get to the polls.

It’s not too late to make a difference and to keep our progressive state blue.