Friday, February 10, 2012

A Risk Worth Taking

The other day, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Falk made an amazingly bold statement.  She said that she would veto any budget that did not restore collective bargaining.

As news of this statement spread, you could hear Republicans' heads exploding across the state.

Jeff Wagner, afternoon squawker on WTMJ radio, was damn near in hysterics as he was predicting that such an act would do everything  short of causing the universe of imploding.  With panic in his voice, he was stating that this was so "reckless," "irresponsible" and that it would "endanger every person in the state."  He followed that up with a fear-filled blog post:
Let's break this down.  Falk has apparently promised to veto a $60 billion document unless it restores collective bargaining rights.  In other words, Falk is willing to potentially destroy the credit rating of the State, devastate municipal budgets, jeopardize public safety and bankrupt programs - all to appease her Union masters.
John Mercure, the late afternoon squawker on the same station was having the same level of histrionics.

In a frenzy, the right wing echo chamber started flailing about this.  One blogger called it "really stupid."  Another twit said that Falk would be "holding the state hostage."

Ernst-Ulrich Franzen, another pro-Walker blogger, disguised as a member of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board, tried to use it to prove that the recall is about just one issue, and in doing so insults every child, every parent, every senior citizen, every vulnerable citizen, every woman, every taxpayer, and every working man and woman in the state.  That's a whole lot of apologies he needs to do, and he still hasn't apologized to John Weishan yet.

And as you can imagine, the Koch Brothers, via one of their front groups, was practically apoplectic.

By the way they were acting, one would think that Falk had proposed making cannibalism an official state function, or even worse, saying that women shouldn't be treated as breeding stock.

As I watched this happen, amused and bemused, I started thinking about the absurdity of their statements.

First of all, as any intellectually honest person knows, the recall is about much, much more than just collective bargaining.  The abolishing of workers' rights is a big part of the movement, but not even the most of it, much less all of it.  There is so much more to it.

But when we recall Walker, what are we really risking?

Higher taxes? We already have higher taxes thanks to Walker.

Job losses?  Under the Walker plan, the state has seen six straight months of job losses, leading the nation for two of them, while the rest of the county has seen job growth.  In fact, Walker's record at losing jobs is nearly twice the rate of Governor Jim Doyle's rate, and Doyle had the full brunt of the recession to contend with.

Destruction of the economy?  Under the Walker plan, Wisconsin is ranked 50th in economic activity.  Dead last.  How could anyone destroy it more?

But there are things - besides job losses, higher taxes and a stagnant economy - that Wisconsin would risk by recalling Walker.  They include, but are not limited to:

  • Women being treated as breeding stock;
  • Senior citizens and disabled citizens not receiving services that would keep them out of nursing homes and other institutions;
  • Our children crammed into overcrowded classrooms and receiving a poor education;
  • Workers not receiving the necessary training for the few jobs remaining;
  • People not being allowed to vote just because they're poor or a student;
  • Having fresh air to breathe or clean water to drink;
  • Everyone receiving medical attention;
  • A government that is representative and responsive to the people;
  • An increase in transparency in government; and
  • A government that doesn't operate through a secret wireless router in a closet.
You know, come to think of it, it's a risk I'm willing to take.

11 comments:

  1. I haven't decided who to vote for in the primary yet, but,yes, Capper is right, very little risk involved here, if we want things to get better.

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  2. Well.....now we know what the minority wants

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  3. I don't like Falk's pledge, not at all. Not only does it look like she's kow-towing to the unions, but I thought we were rightfully up in arms about such a big non-fiscal policy change I think it's ridiculous to lock oneself in to the particular legislative means by which we win back collective bargaining. Vinehout and being in the budget in the first place?

    Barca are correct on this -- Falk and WEAC are wrong.

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    1. The pledge was a dumb move. If Falk wins the primary, Walker will have a field day running ads about how Falk is beholden to the union bosses.

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  4. I think I've spotted the key to the problem, Chris...

    "as any intellectually honest person knows"

    That's putting far to heavy a burdon on conservatives. It's too high a bar for them to get over.

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  5. OK, how did it hash my comment up that badly? Let's try again.

    I don't like Falk's pledge, not at all. Not only does it look like she's kow-towing to the unions, but I thought we were rightfully up in arms about such a big non-fiscal policy change being in the budget in the first place?

    I think it's ridiculous to lock oneself in to the particular legislative means by which we win back collective bargaining. Vinehout and
    Barca are correct on this -- Falk and WEAC are wrong.

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  6. At 61 years of age I learned years ago to discount promises by politicians. In fact, if a politican signs a pledge I automatically expect them to violate it due to a later need to reach a compromise and "bring people together".

    If Democrats retake the Senate and the Assembly they will repeal the laws prohibiting collective bargaining and any Democratic Governor will sign those bills into law.

    If one house is still controlled by Republicans collective bargaining won't be restored no matter how many times a new Governor vetoes the budget.

    A work-around could be done at that point through various administrative means, for instance, the law prohibits collective bargaining but it doesn't prevent the Governor from holding discussions with unions and issuing Executive Orders. Based on those discussions union dues could be deducted from paychecks, work rules reformed, a process of grievances re-established amongst other things. There wouldn't be a formal contract but a lot could be done without one until the Democrats have a majority in both houses of the legislature. The extraordinary powers of the line-item-veto will also come in handy.

    To me, the signing of a pledge is a rather pointless exercise and just feeds the right-wing memes as we've already seen. Likewise the demands by NARAL that Democratic candidates sign their pledge is only serving to degenerate the Democratic primary into a contest of single issue lobbys at a point when statewide solidarity is needed.

    Republicans have done very well over the last few decades dividing the working class using single issue campaigns, it would be a shame for us to set the table for them on this again. This is why I find the smear campaign by Falk surrogates against Vinehout on the issue of birth control so disturbing.

    While I support womens' reproductive rights, I don't remember 150,000 people protesting at the Capitol over the issue, but maybe it's just me. There is no reason why candidates can't express their future plans on all issues without signing worthless pledges.

    If Falk wants to confirm an identity as a Madison liberal beholding to special interests she should go ahead and sign all the pledges she can. How this will play upstate and in the rural areas is anyone's guess. My opinion is that Walker wins under those circumstances unless he is arrested first.

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    1. "While I support womens' reproductive rights, I don't remember 150,000 people protesting at the Capitol over the issue"

      Agreed - what I remember is 150,000 people protesting over the destruction of unions. And while Walker and the republicans have hurt so many more people, so many more ways since then, finding a way to keep unions in existence has to be one of the main pillars of the recall effort.

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    2. The people were protesting the union busting, but also much, much more. Including women's rights.

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  7. I don't know if this pledge is the smartest thing to do, but I do believe that bargaining rights will be restored when the teafolks lose control, and I do like the effect.

    "squawker on WTMJ radio, was damn near in hysterics" because "Kathleen Falk ... said that she would veto any budget that did not restore collective bargaining." " the right wing echo chamber started flailing about" ... and "said that Falk would be 'holding the state hostage.'"

    The nerve of that woman. Using a teafolk terror tactic that should only be used at the national level. Enjoy! Have a healthy dose of your own medicine!

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  8. Restoring collective bargaining rights should be a "no-conditions" demand we put on any candidate that runs for the Dems against Walker. But to pledge to veto the entire state budget to do so is stupid politics, takes the emphasis OFF of the collective bargaining issue, and makes the GOP squawk of "this is nothing more than union thugs" argument seem to be somewhat legit (even though we all know that's bullshit). For Falk to do that, and for WEAC to endorse before all candidates are in reeks of the backroom deals that we can't stand, and shouldn't be trying to copy.

    Over the last 12 months, I recall people recognizing that the removal of collective bargaining rights as a Koch-driven move that was a continuance of corporate-controlled politicians trying to smash the middle class. That's why you've seen the anti-Wall Street signs and chants from day 1, and that's what makes this movement so great- people of all classes and backgrounds GOT IT. Not coincidentally, inequality and the lack of good-paying jobs have taken over for budget-cutting and austerity as this country's biggest issues being talked about.

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