Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me umpteen times, and you can call me “stupid” ― especially, if the trick you used to fool me the umpteenth time is the same trick you used to fool me every previous time. Yet, that’s exactly what Governor Scott Walker (R-WI), the other republican governors, and the republican leaders in Washington are doing: They are fooling us again and again and again with the same sequence of shenanigans. Actually, what they are doing goes beyond deception or deceit; their dishonesty is fraudulent and down-right abusive.
Consider, for example, the economic policy that Scott Walker and the republicans implemented in Wisconsin at the beginning of this year. First and foremost it was grossly unfair because it placed the burden of balancing Wisconsin’s budget on the backs of the middle class. All revenues, particularly money from the richest Americans with tax shelters in Wisconsin, were excluded. Entitlements were severely cut. Many public employees were fired; others were asked to do more work for less pay and less benefits (at a higher cost). And most public employees, especially teachers, lost their collective bargaining power, and the feelings of fairness Americans expect in our participatory democracy. Additionally, corporate tax brakes were handed out like trick or treat candy on Halloween, and tort-reform policies, protecting corporate Wisconsin against malpractice lawsuits were passed.
Of course, Governor Walker and the republicans offered, what appeared to be, a reasonable explanation for these radical changes in the state’s policies: “These were steps necessary for balancing the state budget,” they claimed. “These changes will create 250, 000 new jobs by 2014,” Walker argued. “These measures will attract new businesses to our state, and put Wisconsin on the right tract,” he suggested.
Now, a few months later, the republicans and the Walker Administration, which boasted after passing their budget this year ―not only had they balanced the state’s budget, but in fact, they created a surplus ― are fighting desperately to conceal the truth concerning Wisconsin’s future. They are trying to tell us that employment in the state is getting better; Governor Walker is doing a great job, and Wisconsin is on the right track.
Opposing their argument, however, are agencies whose data and accounts contradicts Walker and the republicans. Wisconsin Department of Revenue, for example, is predicting that Wisconsin’s job growth by 2014 will be closer to 150,000 than the 250,000 the Governor predicted. Chancellors in the UW system are predicting that the UW system will incur a $126 million in additional cuts by 2013. And those of us, who are paying careful attention to the current number of jobs, which can be attributed to stimulus money and defense contracts, are worried that the worst is yet to come. (I do!)
Yet, the new commercials promoting Gov. Scott Walker and the great job he is doing are on every Wisconsin television station. “Do not recall him!” we’re told. “He is a great governor, who has turned the state around,” they argue.
I simply wonder “How many of us are going to allow ourselves to be fooled ― again, for the umpteenth + 1 time!
by
James A. Porter
