I would be hard-pressed to find anyone who does not believe that
Wisconsin is beautiful, even an Iowan transplant such as myself. The greens are
nearly as green as Ireland (but not quite.) The people are most friendly except
when they gather into gangs and chant weird stuff in athletic stadiums and they
do drink a bit; okay, quite a bit. But they are solid Midwestern stock that
seem trustworthy, care for each other and reliable, some even reportedly live
in Lake Woebegon, while as fictional as the people I repopulated my hometown
with in sermon illustrations, both reflect our character.
Wonderful people have come from our state; actors like Don Ameche
and Orsen Wells from Kenosha, Ellen Corby from Racine, Chris Farley from
Madison, Thomas Hulce from Whitewater, Fredric March from Racine, Pat O’Brien
and Charlotte Raefrom and Spencer Tracy
from Milwaukee, Gena Rolands from Camria. We have our musicians such as Loretta
Sell Hilldegarde, and Les Paul along with Woody Herman and oh yes, Liberace
from West Allis.
Did you know Harry Houdini came from Appleton? Jackie Mason came
from Sheboygan, funny folk. Carrie Chapman Catt (who my first cat was named for)
the suffragette came from Ripon.
George F. Kennan was a diplomat from Milaukee, Robert La Follette a
prominent politician was from Primrose (I find that poetic). William H. Rehninquist the noted jurist came
from Milwaukee.
Wisconsin is filled with people of talent and character and we
rightfully should be proud of our populace. Today one of the best of the
freshman congressional leaders, Tammy Baldwin is creating good legislation for
us and the country and providing great leadership.
And then we have Governor Scott Walker and Representative Paul
Ryan. Walker says that “he is thankful to live in a state where neighbors help
each other.” He does this while breaking the government workers unions (at
least those that don’t support him), gives money away from public schools for
private ones, fiddles away like Nero finally rejecting to do any state work for
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Big on a balanced budget he first
created a imbalance by giving tax breaks to businesses. He rejected subsidies
for high-speed rail loosing us jobs. Two investigation released Aug 25th
show he wasted tax dollars on high priced consultants in lieu of using our own
engineers. He also promoted expensive and unnecessary new road projects costing
between $1.2 and 2.1 billion for the state that included widening I-90 in
places only 10 years old and taking the most expensive options in most cases.
He may say he wants to protect the public purse, but he appears more a crony of
big business. Fiscal restraint my left toe.
And then we have the mastermind of the GOP budget Paul Ryan; well,
mastermind may not be accurate. With an ideological hero of Ayn Rand who was a
great proponent of selfishness to the extent of injuring others he has lived
down to her callousness. Ryan would cut funding for disaster relief in the
country, he would cut services for seniors in Social Security and Medicare. He
said, “This is not the time to go wobbly” when fellow Republicans suggested his
budget may adversely affect their ability to get elected. His tax system would
continue to brutalize the poor for the benefit of millionaires. The man has a
nice smile but seems incredibly dangerous.
Wisconsin seems to have a rather balanced approach to politics over
the years, sometimes a bit more conservative as it was during the Civil War.
Robert La Folette, a well known governor started as a Republican and then
revived the Progressive Party. We’ve had our whackos such as Joe McCarthy.
Recently we have had a conservative governor in Tommy Thompson and congressmen Sensenbrenner
balanced out by Democrats such as Senator Herb Kohl, Russ Feingold and
congressman David Obey.
Now Gov. Scott and Rep Ryan reflect the extreme elements of the
Republican Party and seem to have no interest in serving the public good, but
to continue of Plutocratic tendencies of Republicans of the last three decades.
These two men and others of their ilk do not represent the good
character of Wisconsinites. They are good at sleight of hand and opportunists
in a party that has splintered into many pieces. Politician should be a good
word. They are to be public servants doing those things to promote the common
good and serve all their constituents. These men are reflective of a big money
run society. We should toss them out on their collective ears. We have a
beautiful state and it should be run by those who reflect that beauty.
I’m glad I decided to be subtle today.
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