Voters Should See Romney As Walker On Steroids
Wisconsin residents with progressive values have learned the hard way that giving political control over government to "a severely conservative" chief executive, along with majorities in both houses of the legislature and on a compliant Supreme Court spells real trouble for social justice, basic services, budgets, public education, environmental protections and home rule.
Walker and his allies used State Act 10 to restrict local governments' ability to negotiate with public sector workers and then cut school funding while private school choice continues to drain away money.
The environment has taken a big hit.
Walker's DNR is dragging its feet on dozens of EPA compliance matters. Wetlands can now be more easily filled. A biomass power plant conversion in Madison was killed, as was the Amtrak line between Milwaukee and Madison - - though highway spending is up in Wisconsin, especially for new, major roads while local transit systems and street repair needs go begging.
Walker and his lieutenants talk a good, small government game, but have used state power to arrogate and consolidate rule-making power in the Governor's office while engineering and imposing a conservative agenda in localities.
Romney and his backers talk up states rights (Romney care in MA, good; Affordable Act nationally, bad), but if they were to win the presidency and the Congress you'd see national mandates from the top down on women's health and reproductive rights to collective bargaining to environmental disregard (off-shore drilling, the XL pipeline routing fast-tracked) to special-interest tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy that would further push Grover Norquist's blueprint for drowning government deeper into state and local governments.
Wisconsin tells the story.
For progressives, it's a national cautionary tale urgently grasped.
4 comments:
I agree with this, but I do not think that nationwide people get it. They think we are dumb and that they won't make the same mistake.
Good pivot-
I believe the the Maryland governor hammered Walker on national TV right to his face. Heard that on Sly this morning via John Peterson.
This is how you attack Walker and win!
NORAH O'DONNELL: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION.
We're now going to get the states' perspective on the Supreme Court's health care decision with Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who's joining us from Madison; and here in our studio with me, Democratic Government Martin O'Malley of Maryland.
Gentleman, let's cut right to this. The law now requires that the states set up a marketplace, otherwise, called an exchange for residents to buy this insurance. And many states, including Maryland, have already begun that process. Others like Wisconsin are waiting to-- to see-- well, waiting to see what the court decided. Governor Walker, let me ask you now, the ball is in your court, what are you going to do?
GOVERNOR SCOTT WALKER (R-Wisconsin): We're going to wait. We said all along that it was a legal step, that it was a political step, and then after each of those steps were exhausted we see what the future is holding. But very clearly the-- the court pointed out that the-- the law is upheld constitutionally, but it also pointed out very clearly it's a massive tax increase. That's what we've said all along. This is a tax increase and at a time when we're trying to help the private sector create more jobs in our state and across America. A massive tax increase is not the right answer. So my hope is for people whether it's in Wisconsin or anywhere else around the country who don't like Obamacare because of the tax increase, because of the impact in the economy and on the budget, now the only chance to repeal that is to put in place a new President, a new Senate majority, and to sustain the House majority and to ultimately repeal the law so that states like Wisconsin and others can push a free market alternative.
NORAH O'DONNELL: Governor O'Malley, is it a massive tax increase?
GOVERNOR MARTIN O'MALLEY (D-Maryland): That's the biggest falsehood being perpetuated by these unflinching ideologues that this is a massive tax increase. The massive so-called tax increase they're talking about is the freeloader penalty, which would affect at most one to two percent of people that could afford health care and instead want to be freeloaders on the rest of us with uncompensated care. We decided early on to be an early implementer of health care reform of Obamacare, because we know that's good for businesses. We know that that will allow businesses to invest money in expanding job creation, expanding middle-class opportunity, instead of, throwing it away on ever escalating health care costs.
In fact, Governor Walker also signed an executive order himself in 2011 before his ideological politics got in the way that would have had Wisconsin setting up the exchange, too. So, frankly, Norah, we think that we will have a competitive advantage on other states that are ruled by ideology when we engage in the hard work necessary to bring down health care costs.
Post a Comment