Updating the record
If the truth matters, Scott Walker has much to overcome if he is to survive the recall.
By
Bob Menamin
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Shock Doctrine. It's right here in Wisconsin with Walker in power. He has driven a wedge between people in this state. He has turned people against one another. He is governing with fear and hate. Eventually this will weaken and tire us to the point we will give in. With our psyche beat and state government in shambles, the stage is set for privatization of all aspects of governance. This is what Walker wants. This is what corporations want. This is what drives the Kochs.
Some think Walker is the poster child of the Republican party. He is more the poster child of what is wrong with America.
Fortunately we still have the recall process and we are roughly 3 weeks away from making a statement. What is shocking to me is that the people of this state are still nearly evenly split. Why can't more people see the damage Walker and the rightwing conspirators are doing? Why are so many good Wisconsinites siding with Walker and the Republican agenda to strip us of our freedoms and liberties?
Walker and Republicans do not represent smaller government. The only way they can make their agenda work is by restricting our freedoms and taking control of our lives. This type of tyranny means more government, bigger government, more intrusive government and government without liberties for the governed.
-Pietr Haikuu | Hurley, Wisc. | May 10, 2012
You couldn't be more right, but unfortunately the message just doesn't seem to get to the people that need their minds changed. I don't know if it's the echo chamber they live in, general ignorance or simple laziness, but people's lack of desire or inability to educate themselves on such important issues boggles the mind. The media doesn't help when they use the "well both sides do it" mentality, but it's the people that are the problem. I guess they will just end up with the leaders they deserve. Unfortunately so will the rest of us.
-William Lytton | Janesville | May 10, 2012
What liberties has he taken away? Let's see public employees now have a choice to be in a the union or not. Most would say that is freedom and liberty. Collective bargaining for public employees is not a right. It was a privilege the government gave them. They now have the same collective bargaining power as federal workers. I recall Obama froze their pay with out bargaining or good faith negotiations. Where was the outrage over that? Oh that's right he is your guy. The Right wing wants the government to run your life? Please! Last I checked you guys on the left really want the government to run your lives. Nothing would make you happier than government run health care. That's literally the government running or should I say deciding your life. Lastly Walker drove a wedge in this state? Who threw the temper tantrum? Who ran off to Illinois? Who got fake sick notes after abandoning the children they claim to care so much about? Who has been spewing hate and vengeance for a year? Who chanted obscenities at a little girl? Who disrupted a special Olympics award presentation? Etc etc.. Yep that was all Walkers fault making you do those things. I understand I did the same sorts of things when my parents made me do things I didn't like either. Now I see they were the ones putting the wedge between us it wasn't me acting like a spoiled brat.
-SW | Waukesha WI | May 10, 2012
SW,
Are you here to participate in a civil debate, or just to repeat the same angry taunts that we've all heard on AM radio? Are there things about this beautiful state - its assets, its challenges, the way we'd like it to look in 20 years - upon which we can agree? Perhaps, if we want a constructive conversation, we should start there.
I'm not going to defend the unconstructive behavior we've seen on either side.
But I CAN share what it's like to watch my health care options dwindle before my eyes. Our governor and the GOP Legislature just made it harder for me - an uninsured private sector worker and farmer's wife - to get my next mammogram. They dramatically cut funding to my children's schools. By gutting Homestead Credit, they increased my family's taxes as well as those of my parents, who are in their 80s.
What they've done to collective bargaining ... yes, this bothers me a lot. But this is not the main reason I'm urging everyone I know to vote for Barrett. I'm doing what I can to replace Walker and his friends because of what they've done to Wisconsin's youngest, most vulnerable, and most troubled citizens, to the working class, and to Wisconsin's future.
If you can be civil and refrain from calling names, yes, let's talk.
-Ms Reason | Elkhart Lake, WI | May 12, 2012
