I love brats and the Packers and the Coulee Region. I love my State. I hate the Vikings and the Bears. Im proud enough of Wisconsin to have taken the time to protest Scott Walkers assault on unions and collective bargaining, by going to Madison and making my presence known, if only as 1 more in the sea of 10s of thousands. I get NRA robo calls warning me Mary Burke will take away my guns n ammo; get robo calls from an unidentified source pointing out that she runs a bike manufacturing company..BIKES for cryin out loud, what a liberal idea...etc etc. But what this election really comes down to is quality of life. Now and in the future. I love Wisconsin, and I also love visiting Minnesota. Something is just different there. Wellstone. Walz. Dayton. Humphrey. Pillsbury. McCarthy. Many progressive thinkers have helped shaped their state. Wisconsin, however, has a much richer history of Progressive thinkers. In fact, the roots of Minnesotas progressive movement, as well as all of the other progressive movements in the US can be traced back to Wisconsins first Governor, Fighting Robert LaFollette. Mr. Walker should take note that this was a different time, and LaFollette was part of, get this, the Progressive Republicans. Yes, Republicans with Progressive ideals. FoxNews would explode even thinking about that. MSNBC wouldnt handle it well either, I suspect. These were free-thinking Republicans that are a complete 180 from todays corporate-owned party. Robert LaFollettes Progressives believed that The business of government is to serve the people. Their platform included restricting the power of corporations (!) when that power interfered with the needs of individual citizens. RIGHT HERE in Wisconsin, La Follette and his progressive party created a system that made our State a nationwide symbol of Progressive reform. They called it The Wisconsin Idea, and the progressive plan stated that efficient government requires control of institutions by the voters and not special interest, and that the involvement of specialists in law, economics, and social and natural sciences will produce the most effective government. The Progressive movement in Wisconsin led to the enaction of legislation covering a multitude of issues revolving around the public good and good of the commons. The commons is the air / water / roads / schools, and everything that we all share and should co-equally respect. This legislation, most of which had a nationwide impact and was looked upon with great respect by the rest of the country, included regulation governing the power of railroads and the overseeing of highway systems, insurance companies, and corporate stock issues. Laws were created to regulate factory safety, to limit working hours for women and children, and the first workers compensation law to protect people injured on the job. Those early Wisconsin progressives were also big advocates of the environment, and passed groundbreaking forest and watershed conservation acts. Most historians will cite Wisconsins early progressive ideals as the basis for Roosevelts New Deal, Kennedys New Frontier, and Johnsons Great Society. I told myself I would shut the heck up about politics, it pushes my bloodpressure through the roof. But an online exchange yesterday with a smart fellow, but one who has given up on both parties, revved me up. I, you see, dont believe they are both the same and owned by corporations. So this Journal-Sentinel piece on the economy, which affects everything we do, from where we have to work (a lot of people cant just switch jobs whenever they want, because they are insurance slaves to the benefits provided by their employer-masters), to the potholes in the roads, is really poignant. The stark difference in the Economy of Wisconsin and our neighbor Minnesota is staggering, and the sheer ignorance of our current Governor is staggering as well. Those early progressives no doubt turn in their graves every time he takes a check from Club For Growth or the Koch Brothers, they turn in their graves again when he opens up the state for strip mining and frack-sand mining, they probably bristle at the sound of his voice when he talks about creating jobs after he turned down the 10s of thousands of direct and indirect jobs that would have been created with the $700 million Federal transportation grant. So when you are deciding who to vote for, or even whether or not to vote, please read the following article first. The economy shouldnt just be expanding for Walkers cronies. It takes a strong middle-class to make an economy work. Is the spirit of Fighting Bob La Follette alive? I sure hope so. Im not giving up on our State. But I ask a lot of people if they are going to vote, and they just shrug their shoulders. I dont want them to be shrugging their shoulders when their kids and grandkids ask What happened to Wisconsin?
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 18:40:26 +0000
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