Informal Poll: What Is The Worst Thing Scott Walker Has Done?
A friend told me the other day that the Walker administration's willful denial of 13 weeks of federally-funded unemployment compensation for the long-term out-of-work- - with the intimation that the jobless Wisconsinites would rather have the modest U.C. check than a workplace paycheck - - was "the worst thing Walker has done."
Which got me thinking: is it?
Worse than canceling collective bargaining for public employees? Or spiking an application for money to help prevent obesity, diabetes and lung cancer? Killing high-speed rail?
So I throw it open to you. What's your selection?
27 comments:
Drastically cutting Milwaukee County Transit funds (and other transit funding)? Giving tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations? Education funding cuts (and reneging on negotiated deals with teachers). Misleading on jobs creation? Drawing up an imaginary figure for damage to the state capitol building? Appointing an anti-public funding ideologue to the health services administation? His DNR appointments and clean air and water policies. His anti-green policies? Bringing up the Packers' Super Bowl victory when discussing education cuts in his recent "Face the Nation" appearance? Having to cancel his budget-signing appearance? Talking to a fake David Koch for twenty clueless minutes?
The worst thing Scott Walker has done is be born.
I think his original sin was keeping his agenda subterranean before the elections.
Conservatives (and remarkably, some journalists) seem to think the democratic process is akin to applying for an FCC broadcast license. All you have to meet is a vague public interest standard, and then you're free to program whatever asininity you like.
I think the answer is E) all of the above
I feel very strongly that no one policy or new law can be the ONE worst act.
The worst thing he has done has been the destruction of cherished assumptions we all had. The assault on those previously unassailable institutions, the way we saw ourselves as a people, as state. It's been like watching a guy take a dump on the flag. Each time he does it, his supporters cheer him on.
He has ushered in an era of nihilism. We were the nexus of the "mid-western Niceness Culture". We are not now. We will not ever be again.
Sorry folks, but that's a lot more serious, far-reaching, and impossible to reverse and much much "worse" than any union contract problem, or mine, or canceled train.
No need to get burdened down by nihilism.
Selling his soul to the Devil, i.e. the Koch brothers.
legalizing concealed weapons
Talk about a target rich environment.
I'll go with blocking the High Speed Rail money.
He did not go far enough in busting up the unions when he had a chance. Yes the contributions are a nice consolation prize, but it could have been so much more.
Photo ID law sticks in my craw like an infected molar. So nakedly political and racist, and patently unAmerican. Which is why Republicans in this state love this asshat.
High speed rail benefits everyone.
The issue that makes me the most viscerally angry is voter ID; the cynicism of GOP pols combined with the casual indifference of people throwing their fellow citizens under the bus was stunning.
But smashing Wisconsin's public education system will be Walker's most far-reaching and enduring legacy.
Governing by arrogance and by talk radio soundbite. It all generates from that BS attitude, and the train was the opening indication (not that any of us who watched him destroy Milw. Co. govt weren't surprised).
On a particular note, I'd say the selling off of public education to the voucher school interests. It's symptomatic of the overall problem of putting pay-to-play on steroids.
He and those who back him must be put in the swamp, never to return.
Being born
The parts that change how Wisconsin democracy operates -- Voter ID, giving himself veto power over administrative rules proposed by ELECTED agency heads, setting up Dennis Smith as head of DHS to be able to make administrative rules about Medicaid that SUPERSEDE STATUTE without so much as a public hearing or a legislative vote!
Runners-up: Gutting our excellent public schools, and massive privatization of that which oughtta be public.
Anons 9:20am and 6:48pm
"being born" is not an offense.
Agree with the response to the "being born" comments. I had said this was a serious question, so let's stick to policy, aina.
Casting a shroud over the people of Wisconsin that is breaking up communities, destroying the social fabric, and accelerating the disintegration of our United States..
Walker has shown us how quickly a nation can move into darkness.
Maybe you should have a "Best thing Scott Walker has done" just to see if anyone can come with anything.
I am deeply saddened that this man has shown to what extent our system's foundation is nothing more than a set of agreements that can be undone in the blink of an eye.
All the little things that add insult to injury and rub your nose in it -- cutting out the earned income tax credit, the one perk for low income people (undeserving); making unions recertify every single year; requiring referendums and supermajorities for tax increases, cutting the vocational school budget by 30 percent while saying we're "open for business," even though the schools are bursting with applicants.
Finally, though, it's calling the collective bargaining bill a "modest" or "moderate" change when speaking to the public, but calling it "the bomb" when speaking to "David Koch."
In this moment of darkness, our communities must shine brighter than ever before. God knows he's trying to snuff it all out.
As a Milwaukee County Supervisor, I'm waiting for the next series of shoes to drop. What's in the budget that will effect public safety? How about the pay for those workers? Will we indeed lose 10% of the public transit funding?
It's going to test our skills of organizing ourselves to support ourselves in these times of trouble that will be ahead. I'm a perpetual optimist even in the face of this, and so I hope that we'll somehow come out stronger in the end. I don't think we'll ever forget what he's done though.
Sign his pact with the devil.
I want my train back! OK, it's not the worst thing he's done, but it still smarts.
@cinnarose - - That Milw.-Madison I-94 corridor is torn up and slow and will be that way for years (Zoo Interchange and more freeway construction coming through 2024) so a train would have been terrific.
Soon High-Speed rail will bypass WI altogether.
Big win for the road-builders, carmakers, oil companies/Walker allies.
lol nice. Such an interesting topic. Congrats on your choice. After Builders Cleaning.
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