Walker's budget will 'lead to degradation of quality of life'

Wow, Howard Fuller is ready to abandon the Walker ship. The long-time champion of school choice is vehement in his opposition to lifting the income caps for the program, calling the plan 'egregious' and 'outrageous.' Says if this plan flies, “This is when I get off the train.”  (See this article.)

Then there's Gov Walker's great job growth scheme - turn down federal funds for high-speed rail, gut government, cut corporate taxes, give corporations tax breaks, get rid of the Dept of Commerce and put in place one of those public-private agencies, ease environmental regulations, privatize, well, anything you can, and magically 250,000 jobs will appear.  Here's what a former Secretary of Development under a Repub governor, Chandler McKelvey, had to say about this plan: 

So what is Wisconsin doing now? For one, we are doing everything we can to demoralize our workers. It doesn't take a particularly wise person to see that the attack on public employees is part of an attack on all workers.

We also are taking steps to ensure that the quality of the education provided by Wisconsin schools and state universities is going to decline...

The only employers likely to be attracted by those blandishments are those whose primary objective is to make quick profits based on low taxes, feeble environmental regulations and the ability to exploit their employees. We would be foolish to think that those particular companies are the ones on which we want to build our economic future...

The current ideas about what's good for our state are totally alien to Wisconsin's cherished traditions and culture and surely will lead to a degradation of our quality of life.

Oh well, nice try, Gov.

So what kind of employers are we talking about? How about open pit iron mining Up North. Right. Job creation - at great cost to the environment. Because what Walker's approach really is about is not so much job growth but what kind of industries will operate here in Wisconsin.

May environmentalists win this one - please! We can certainly find other ways to help people get back to work, jobs that help enhance the quality of life rather than diminish it.

I listened to most of the morning's webcast from the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families on Walker's proposed budget cuts (you can view here). Scary, what's going to be happening to already vulnerable populations if this all goes through. These folks make clear that revenue could be found to avoid these cuts - but that's not Walker's program. The one he has in mind will do what McKelvey says, "lead to a degradation of our quality of life."

Need some real leadership to push back on all of this. It is a frightening time for our state.

Our understanding of democracy has seriously eroded

So, back from a 4-day work trip and, well, things haven't improved much in my disgruntled state, have they?  I saw Walker on the news last night and was appalled at his intransigent, nasty tone.  Seems like the guy just can't get over the fact that becoming governor does not mean he can rule by fiat - even with his party in the majority in the legislature.

What we have here is a failed education in the meaning of democracy, so let me try to explain.  We have heard slogans shouted at protesters - "You lost, get over it." We've heard Walker say that the absent Democrats are not doing their jobs, which would be to come to the Senate chamber to hand him his big victory, that their job is to vote on bills.

Okay, yes, that is part of their job, and, yes, thanks to the woeful voter turnout last November and other factors, Democrats took it on the chin, to be sure. But here's the thing about democracy: it does not end at the ballot box (some of the world's most oppressive governments have elections, after all, and in those places it does stop there) and for legislators it does not rest solely in their votes on bills. Democracy is something you engage in, and sometimes have to defend, as part of what it means to live in a democracy at all.

So democracy is also advocacy and organizing and lobbying and protesting and writing news articles and sending out updates on Facebook and ordering pizzas for folks in the streets of Madison. It means that when you see injustice or an immoral or corrupt power play, you counter with whatever democratic tools you have. And for a minority party, it can mean using perfectly legitimate means to stop a majority from becoming tyrannical, from trying to ram through legislation no one has had time to read or digest or lobby about or debate or organize for or against - in other words time to apply democracy to that proposed legislation.

Sometimes, to stop a tyrannical move, a bunch of either placid or energized politicians, not having invited such a moment in their lives, must take a drastic step in defense of democracy - like denying a legislative chamber a quorum.

It is amazing to me how nasty, ugly, bully-ish, Walker and senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald have been in the face of an action that falls well within the bounds of this democracy. One of the more dramatic such actions was that of Abraham Lincoln who leaped out a window of the Illinois state legislature to avoid a quorum. Now his action didn't last long as he was returned to the chamber. Perhaps the Wisconsin 14 learned this valuable lesson - get out of town fast - from the tactic used by this old Republican.

My Sen. Chris Larson, one of the WI 14

Here's another valuable forgotten lesson about our version of democracy. At the federal level the founders established a republic in part to avoid the potential threat of "tyranny of the majority." For that reason, minorities are given tools to fight back when threatened by this kind of tyranny. The Wisconsin 14 have done a great service to the cause of democracy by staying out long enough for us to find out what is really going on, what Walker's agenda really is, who he actually represents, who funds his campaigns, whose interests he seeks to serve. If not for this, a budget repair bill would have been imposed, not legislated, and that is not how democracy works. In a democracy, information, access to information and knowledge, is everything.

And in that knowledge come the tools the citizens of my state need in order to exercise their rights, to assert their voices before draconian changes in Wisconsin's politics and its way of life, to express their hopes and desires, to take a position on Scott Walker's budget repair bill - and right now, it just so happens that their voices have become one considerable majority in this state.

According to a poll conducted by the conservative Wisconsin Policy Research Institute just mentioned on CNN, Walker's unfavorable rating has gone from 35% last November to a whopping 53% now. It has gone up by more than 10% in just the last 3 weeks. More to the point, 65% of those polled want Walker to "negotiate with Democrats and public employee's unions in order to find a compromise solution." See this article.

Why the growing distaste for our young gov? Because in this democracy we have a governor who refuses to negotiate with his opponents, to take into consideration the voices of the tens of thousands in the streets - the people he was elected to serve - and he has treated his elected opponents as so much detritus to try to brush out of his way. A real governor learns the art of negotiation, learns how to cut deals, to make compromises, because governance is always about the balancing of competing interests represented by elected politicians, interest groups, popular organizations of all kinds, etc. etc.

Right now, across the country, and here in Wisconsin, we have lost that balance because of the power of corporate money. Organized labor, people out in the streets, folks out getting signatures for recall efforts, lawyers getting ready to take Walker to court for his alleged violations of labor laws and possible ethics violations (see prank call from the faux David Koch) - these are all tools of a democracy available to the people to try to blunt the power of money or any other form of tyranny over the majority.

Lessons in democracy. We are learning them in abundance in my state right now. The Wisconsin 14 and the folks in the streets have done more to teach us these lessons than anyone in this state in a very long time.

Power play - a nasty one

Oh goodness, Republican state senators are charging the 'Wisconsin 14' with contempt of the Senate. They're prepared to drag 'em back in handcuffs. Force is allowed 'if necessary.'

This isn't helpful.

Of course, with a threat like this, how likely is it that the Democrats will come back any time soon?

This is absurd. The unreasonableness of one side, the unwillingness to negotiate and compromise (the art of governing) when a deal is offered - we accept the budget cuts in the budget repair bill if you separate out the provision that would crush collective bargaining rights - compared to protesters chanting things like, "Let us in, please."

But what punitive measures like this do is further poison the political atmosphere. They make it harder and harder to imagine this state legislature ever working together with its current membership. Next up are law suits and recall efforts in several Senate districts targeting both Democrats and Senators.

Thus has the Scott Walker power play rendered politics in my state uglier than it has ever been.  Friends, may we not respond in kind.

[I will be unable to post again until next Tuesday.]

Government by cruelty

"It is a hostile corporate takeover of the state of Wisconsin." Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton)

I try to use reasonable language, right? not to use extremes or hyperbole, even when emotions run high. But I stand by my headline. If Gov Scott Walker's budget became real in my dear state of Wisconsin, it would amount to government by cruelty - cruelty towards the most vulnerable of our populations, a taking of money from the poor and struggling and using it to subsidize the affluent and the millionaire and billionaire business people so favored by this poor example of a 'governor,' as in, one who governs for the welfare, rights, and interests of all.

Photo: Margaret Swedish

My dear Wisconsin voters, what have we done? So many of us, fueled by anger and resentment by our deteriorating quality of life, took out our frustrations in the polling booth not knowing what was really being prepared for this state. So many who have seen wages fall, home values plummet, jobs and benefits lost, who are falling between the widening cracks of a dysfunctional economy more and more at the service of the richest 1% of the population, who are angry and resentful, voted for this guy because they thought he cared about them.

He has just handed back to you a disastrous budget that will gut the quality of life in this state and do exactly what Sen. Erpenbach said yesterday - hand over the state to the Koch brothers and Heritage Foundation folks who helped write this budget (trust me, Walker was not capable of that) in a hostile bid to put this state into the hands of polluters, of people who want to increase their profits by vastly reducing their production costs - like labor and environmental costs.  They want your labor and our forests, waterways, air and other resources for free - or as close to free as they can get.

Here's a budget that would help them do that - if it passes.

For example, capital gains taxes will be cut or eliminated for the Koch brothers whose personal fortune approaches $100 billion. Meanwhile, this proposal would eliminate caps on the school voucher program, meaning that people who can afford to pay tuition for private schools could use them - meaning our tax dollars would subsidize the affluent to send their kids to private schools - another transfer of funds from the poor to the wealthy.

Another example: the elimination of recycling requirements all across the state. Oh, you can just see how folks like the Koch brothers and our new Senator, plastics manufacturer Ron Johnson, wanted that provision thrown in!! If you contribute to Walker's campaign, amazingly, tax breaks and lax regulations for your businesses do seem to follow. Public workers, inner city families with kids in public schools, poor folks in the BadgerCare system? Not so much.

What in the world is going on here? This is NOT about balancing budgets because there are other ways to do this - to balance a budget and keep vital services - for one thing, by increasing revenue from those who can well afford it.

But I can tell you what this budget proposal will do - it will divide this state further, it will throw fuel onto the seething fires of our growing resentments as more and more people suffer the effects of this most dangerous state and nationwide trend - the concentration of wealth in the top 1% of our population, the old champagne glass model of the economy where wealth bubbles up from below to the top, stealing from people's labor, our resources, our schools, our quality of life all the way up.

Friends, sadly, this budget was more than a shout-out from the extreme right; it is, indeed, a bold attempt at a hostile corporate takeover of our state.  And it must be stopped.

What are the possibilities that all that good will and energy that has occupied and surrounded our state capitol for the past 2 1/2 weeks can become a broad movement to reclaim our progressive values in this state? Because the answer to that question will decide whether this cruel budget, god forbid, ever becomes the program of our state government.


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To learn more about what is in Walker's budget proposal:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117212348.html
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117192683.html
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117193763.html
http://www.wuwm.com/programs/news/search_news.php?keys={mad}

Catholic Social Teaching rendered with eloquence

Rev. Bryan Massingale has always been eloquent and inspiring when he presents the best of Catholic Social Teaching, and so he was again in this morning's paper:

Catholic social teaching and Judeo-Christian values insist that workers must have an effective voice in ensuring safe working conditions, just wages and reasonable benefits. These basic principles honor the dignity of work and promote economic fairness. These gains were not easily won and must be protected today.

History is stained with the sweat and blood of those who struggled to win labor rights many of us now take for granted. Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker movement, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - to name just a few - all were inspired by their faith to stand with workers demanding living wages and working conditions consistent with human dignity...

...when the governor offers huge corporate tax breaks to some, yet refuses to even negotiate with tax-paying workers, this violates the principles of shared sacrifice and fiscal common sense. It's both immoral and fiscally irresponsible to ask those who teach our children, protect our communities and care for our sick loved ones to bear the greatest burden and give up basic rights that have provided economic opportunity for generations.

Read more here

Photo: Margaret Swedish

Big day in Madison. Gov Walker is clearly unsettled by the sleeping giant he has awakened. So they are trying to shut down the citizens' house in Madison to keep protesters from embarrassing him with chants and drumming during his speech this afternoon (4 CST) during which he will deliver a budget that will gut the well-being of all but the richest of this state, that is likely going to destroy school systems, collapse social services, rip to shreds health programs for the poorest and most vulnerable citizens - among other things.

Expect the sleeping giant to roar when these numbers come out.

We all know now this is not about balancing budgets; this is about collapsing government by de-funding it then balancing the budget on the backs of the poor and middle class. The budget can be balanced with the simplest of remedies - raising revenues by taxing the wealthiest and the big corporations (like the Koch brothers) who right now are on the state dole, a dole Walker intends to increase. This isn't about balancing budgets; it's about the transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to wealthy corporate financiers and private sector contractors.

When one looks at this battle through that lens, everything suddenly makes sense.

Many public workers heading for the door

It is becoming obvious that one of the immediate impacts of the Scott Walker power move against unions is that the state is about to lose the skills and experience of thousands of its most veteran public sector workers. Many of them face a decision to retire right now in order to get the full benefits of the pensions promised them over the course of their careers.  If they wait to see what happens to the budget debate over the next months, they could end up losing big money for their retirement.

But even this won't guarantee that pension funds won't be raided over time, as the Alternet article linked here indicates. And as Walker & Co. (like the groups funded by the Koch brothers who are stoking anti-union sentiments all across the country) continue their media assault on labor, the flames of resentment among private sector workers who have lost jobs or seen wages and benefits fall as a result of corporate power plays (you know, the take-it-or-leave-it approach to labor negotiations - take what we offer as we gut your livelihood or we'll move to Oklahoma or Mexico) are bound to rise. Folks like the Kochs and their Club for Growth buddies will be happy to fan those flames because it works so well...

...as you can see today if you read the 'letters to the editors' page in the seemingly anti-union Journal Sentinel.

Doesn't matter if you say that these angry folks going on and on about communists and socialists (say what?!?!?) and privileged lazy public workers have got it all wrong, that they don't know who the real 'enemy' is or why, really, their standard of living is sinking into the burgeoning class of working poor. The corporate guys with all the money and power are very happy to see us turn on one another in a blame game that has no good outcome.

You know, you can let Walker try to rule like that - or not.

But my challenge to public sector workers and their unions is this: taxpayers do indeed pay your salaries and finance your benefits, and private sector workers, especially those without college degrees, are getting hurt in a global economy that has less and less room for them - and no concern for them at all. If you want to maintain and build support for the cause of worker rights, it is crucial that you begin active, persistent, constructive solidarity with private sector workers. They are not up against elected officials that we voters can turn out of office. They are up against companies that operate solely for the bottom line and have no democracy at all, only a commitment to quarterly profit reports for their stockholders.

It is time for a massive reeducation in this state in regard to labor history and the decades-long struggle for worker rights, of why collective bargaining is crucial in a democracy. What it does is balance the power of corporate money with the power of organized labor. Without that, each worker is at the mercy of these powerful bosses.

Solidarity is the only way out of this mess. Many of us who are not public sector workers have been out in support of the folks in the rotunda and on the streets of Madison. The support must go both ways, otherwise this struggle for worker rights cannot be won.

Photos: Margaret Swedish