Recall elections provide checks and balances
Sometimes it's difficult to know who and what to believe and sometimes it isn't.
Governor Scott Walker is advertising that his reforms are working. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported that between March 2011 and March 2012 Wisconsin lost 23,900 jobs. That's more lost jobs than any other state in the nation. Most were government jobs but the number of private-sector jobs lost topped the list as well. For this performance, Walker is cheering," We're No. 1, we're No. 1." Really?
Walker's campaign says that Tom Barrett would make a terrible governor because he is a terrible mayor. Barrett was elected mayor of Milwaukee in 2004, re-elected in 2008 with 79 percent of the vote and re-elected again in 2012 with over 70 percent. If he is so terrible why do so many want him back?
Walker's campaign says that Barrett is going backwards and will move Wisconsin backwards as well. But from what I've seen of Walker and the state Republican lawmakers it is they who are moving Wisconsin backward; back to the days before public and private-sector labor unions, back to before we cleaned up and began protecting everyone's air, water and soil through environmental protection regulations, back to the "good old days" when a handful of industrialists accumulated vast amounts of wealth at the expense of the environment and the backbones of the masses.
Why have so many jobs left Wisconsin and the rest of the U.S.? Because more money can be made with cheaper labor, less environmental regulations and less taxes. Therefore, Walker's solution to Wisconsin's problems is to make Wisconsin "Open For Business" by weakening labor, weakening environmental protection and lowering corporate tax rates. How are the reforms working?
We're No. 1! We're No. 1! We're No. 1!
This country was founded and made great by people who wanted a better way than their current situation. They raised their voices and took action. That's what the recalls are all about. There are some who say the teachers and other public workers are whiners. Is that what you would call the founders of this country too? If Walker had not excluded police and firefighters in his attack on the freedom to collectively bargain would they be whiners too if they stood up and let their voice be heard?
The recalls are about checks and balances. To say it is a waste of time is to say defending one's rights is a waste of time. To say it is a waste of money is to place a price on the countless lives that were sacrificed in order that we should be able to vote, to vote for freedom, and to recall someone who works to destroy those freedoms instead of enhance them.
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4 Comments for "Recall elections provide checks and balances "
Actually, it was founded and made great by the WEALTHIEST MEN in country, who wanted to ensure that they maintained their wealth, and hopefully build on it.
[quote] a handful of industrialists accumulated vast amounts of wealth at the expense of the environment and the backbones of the masses.[/quote]
There you go.
[quote]To say it is a waste of money is to place a price on the countless lives that were sacrificed in order that we should be able to vote[/quote]
Those lives can be counted. Just like the dollars spent on this idiotic recall can be counted. If you want to invoke these sacrificed lives, then you should provide your own [i]bona fides[/i].
lastpercentile May 02, 2012 12:17 PM
The teachers are whining...because it's all about cash for them. It's not about education..it's about wanting more and more from the taxpayers'. And because their gravy train has ended..they are stamping their feet & pouting & demanding in an attempt to get their way. How is that helping our education system? The teachers' union destroyed public education.
JustBecause May 02, 2012 9:51 PM
Governor Walker could have just as easily made a law telling the unions they have to pay a portion of their pension and more for their insurance, but instead, he decided to take away all collective bargaining, with the exception of wages...with a cap of course. While I'm not for recall elections unless based on misconduct in office or doing illegal activity, Governor Walker could have avoided all of this by allowing collective bargaining on all the other issues, non-monetary issues, that have nothing to do with the state.
independenthinker May 07, 2012 1:21 AM
Unions don't take up issues that don't involve money.
The reason collective bargaining needed to die is [u]because[/u] unions had become experts at making minor wage concessions in return for HUGE increases in other benefits: "we won't demand a raise this year, but we want to retire at 52 instead of 55" or ""we won't demand a raise this year, but we want to get paid for our lunch hour".
Unions were needed the most during the 19th century; unions were strongest mid-20th century, when organized crime was in bed with them; and now that unions have priced goods and services beyond (even their own) wallets - they are fair game.
Unions may not be the worst blight on the country, but they were the easiest to deal with, because they had outlived their purpose about 45 years ago.
lastpercentile May 07, 2012 7:35 AM