Sunday, June 28, 2015

Walker's false freedom narrative

[Updated] Walker drops the word "freedom" into his canned speeches - - and went back to it this weekend in Colorado - - but anyone following Wisconsin politics - - summary posting, here - - knows that facts reveal his purported embrace of "freedom" to be his phoniest ploy.

Walker has taken positions against, or has signed bills eliminating or restricting freedom in these area, among others:

[Updated] Freedom of speech denied to scores of protestors illegally arrested and fined during Act 10 demonstrations. Their dismissed cases and awards will cost Wisconsin under Walker an estimated $1 million.

*  Collective bargaining, organizing and workplace association heavily-restricted by Act 10.

*  Marriage equality and all its inherent property rights, as defined by the US Supreme Court.

*  Access to health insurance without regard to income, as defined by the US Supreme Court.

*  Unfettered ballot access, including early voting and voting place hours.

*  Access to medical services offered by clinics serving women, including abortion rights as defined by the US Supreme Court.

*  Access to clean water, as guaranteed by the Clean Water Act and Article IX of the Wisconsin State Constitution, but repeatedly threatened by Wisconsin polluters and connected insiders enabled by intentionally-weakened environmental inspections and enforcement by Walker's "chamber of commerce mentality" Department of Natural Resources.

*  Access to breathable, healthy air, as guaranteed by the Clean Air Act, but jeopardized in Wisconsin by Walker's opposition to clean air rules designed to reduce smokestack air pollution.

*  Equal access to publicly-financed transportation, along with its related access to housing and jobs routinely denied to minorities and lower-income citizens under Walker's budgets which deliberately underfund transit in cities, and statewide.

*  Academic freedom for UW faculty members which was extended upon their hiring and has long been provided as part of The Wisconsin Idea which Walker is substantively stripping from the state's publicly-financed universities.

*  Unjustifiable invasion by Big Government of personal privacy which is at the core of his plan, copied from other programs already ruled illegal, to drug-test public assistance recipients and put them risk of losing legally-mandated and family-supporting food stamps.

Walker the freedom candidate?

Free us from the falsehood.




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Freedom is being arrested by Scott Walker's palace guard because a group of 4 or more decided to show up and sing a song.

my5cents said...

Personally I don't think Walker understands what freedom is. His interpretation means that some people get freedoms and some don't.

Jake formerly of the LP said...

In RW world- freedom means the ability for white fundies to impose their rules and values on everyone else.

These are bad people with Fascist tendencies, but Walker is so amoral that he wants their votes, and would put their repressive policies in place if he thought it would help him get a promotion.

Jonathn Swift said...

You may want to add the freedom of local governments to decide local policies. We need a catalog of local gov't overrides by the "anti big gov't GOP" in Madison. People need to realize that these hypocrites are only anti big gov't if they are not in charge.