How It Is with Politics - Part Deux

So let's continue the conversation on politics--and we'll carry on from where we left off here.

I will say, so that you know I'm not so "liberal" that I can't see the other side, that Democrats who've run for office haven't exactly followed through with the promises they made in their campaigns. For example, President Obama had said as part of his platform that if we ever had to fight for worker's rights, he would personally stand in the picket lines with the workers to protest. In his defense, it could just be that he hasn't had the chance to do so yet--I certainly won't say the fat lady has even thought about singing yet in that regard. However, we have never, ever seen a tactic, I'll call it, as shocking and as blatantly wrong as what we're seeing right now from Scott Walker.

So let's get down to business here, now that we know a little more about the "politics" behind this Scott Walker business.

Who is Scott Walker, anyway???

Here's a little history on Mr. Walker. He was born and raised in Colorado Springs, CO under a preacher. His family then lived in Iowa, and finally, Delevan, Wisconsin. Sounds innocent enough, right? Well here is the turning point of his life: he was chosen to take part in Boys Nation, where he travelled to Washington, D.C., met none other than Ronald Reagan, and decided he had found his hero (as referenced, also, in the prank call we've recently heard about).

He then attended Marquette University, where he spent 4 years earning a C average before dropping out for a "good job."

Put shortly, since then, he's had a long stint of representing parts of Wisconsin in the State Assembly and County Executive areas, opposing progressive legislature, and, to the shock of 47% of the state, is now the Governor.

What does he stand for?

Oh, you know...the usual, such as cutting wages for the middle class while giving tax breaks to the wealthy; opposing more progressive legislature such as a public high-speed rail system (that the Federal Government would have paid for) between Madison and Milwaukee; absolutely no abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, or to save the mother's life; abstinence-only sex education (because, yeah, that works); the rights of pharmacists to refuse filling birth control prescriptions on religious or moral grounds...nothing extraordinary.

Wait a minute...really???

Yep.

Look it up for yourself if you don't believe it.

So what is he doing now that's causing such an uproar?

Put simply, he's trying to pass a radical and uncalled-for bill, in a hurry, and he's not negotiating about it.

Well it can't be that bad, can it?

Haha. This fake conversation stuff is kind of fun.

Well first of all, this bill is called the "Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill." It's supposed to reduce the Wisconsin budget shortfall by $137 million. So that's cool.

But wait--Walker just passed some tax breaks for businesses, didn't he? Oh yeah...that's right, it was for $140 million.

Something seems a little off...well what else is in the bill?

Oh, not much...just some wording that will make underpaid public union members have to pay for their benefits and their pensions, and that will simultaneously cut funding to the already suffering public school system.

Now that in itself has caused quite a stir. I'm not sure whether you know this or not, but teachers work hard. Teachers care. They go in to school early every day to prepare for lessons, teach those lessons while trying to take care of kids (many if not half of whose parents don't give a crap, therefore making it that much harder to keep them in line), they stay after school to help the kids, and then they go home, grade papers, and begin to prepare for the next lessons. They grade papers on weekends. They take field trips to show the kids things they couldn't otherwise see. They shape the future of our nation. And they don't get paid much to do it. (The average Wisconsin teacher with a Master's degree (that's at least 6 years of college, mind you) going into the field can expect to make 25% less than someone with a Master's degree going into the private sector.) So, first of all, taking things away from teachers, in specific, is not really fair.

But teachers are reasonable people, so they are willing to accept the fact that they may have to pay a little more in benefits out of their salaries and take a decent pay cut (even though most of them have been taking pay cuts instead of getting raises for the last decade). So what else is the problem?

That will be continued in the next chapter of How It Is.